Popes Used Forged Document to Declare Themselves Sovereign Over Western Europe
The Middle Ages’ greatest hoax, and one with a major historic impact, was the so-called “Donation of Constantine“. It was a document recording a generous gift from Roman emperor Constantine the Great, transferring authority over Rome and the entire Western Roman Empire to Pope Sylvester I (reigned 314 – 335) and his successors. The donation of such vast territories to the Popes elevated them from mere priests and religious leaders to independent princes and sovereign rulers of territory in their own right.
In reality, the Donation was forged in the 8th century by some unknown monks, hundreds of years after both Constantine the Great and Sylvester I were dead and buried. The forgery had little impact when it was concocted, but centuries later, during a period of political upheavals that wracked Medieval Europe, the Donation would play a huge role in shaping Christendom and the West.
The forged text describes how Pope Sylvester I miraculously cured Constantine from leprosy, which convinces the emperor to convert to Christianity. The emperor goes on to demonstrate his gratitude by making the Pope supreme over all other bishops, and “over all the churches of God in the whole earth“. Vast landed estates throughout the Roman Empire are also granted, for the upkeep and maintenance of the churches of Saint Paul and Saint Peter. And to top it off, the Holy Father and his successors were granted imperial regalia, a crown, the city of Rome, and all of the Western Roman Empire.
After it was created, the forgery was stashed away and forgotten for hundreds of years, until Pope Leo IX dusted it off in the mid 11th century, and cited it as evidence to assert his authority over secular rulers. Surprisingly, the Donation was widely accepted as authentic, and almost nobody questioned the document’s legitimacy. For centuries thereafter, the Donation of Constantine carried significant weight whenever a Pope pulled it out to figuratively wave in the face of secular rulers.
It was not until the Renaissance and the spread of secular humanism that the Donation’s authenticity was finally challenged. With the revival of Classical scholarship and textual criticism, scholars took a fresh look at the document. It quickly became clear that the text could not possibly have dated to the days of Constantine the Great and Pope Sylvester I. One hint was the use of language and terms that did not exist in the 4th century, but only came into use hundreds of years later. Additionally, the document contained dating errors that a person writing at the time could not possibly have made. The Popes did not officially renounce the document, but from the mid-1400s, onwards they stopped referencing it in their Bulls and pronouncements.