The Making of Medieval Rome: A New Profile of the City, 400 - 1420

348 Pages·2021·9.13 MB·English

by  Hendrik Dey

T H E M A K I N G O F M E D I E V A L R O M E
’
IntegratingthewrittensourceswithRomessurvivingremainsand,mostimport-
’
antly,withtheresultsofthepasthalf-centurysworthofmedievalarchaeologyin
fi fi ’
the city, The Making of Medieval Rome is the rst in-depth pro le of Romes
transformationduringthemedievalmillenniumtoappearinanylanguageinover
’
forty years. Though the main focus rests on Romes urban trajectory in topo-
graphical, architectural, and archaeological terms, Hendrik Dey folds aspects of
ecclesiastical,political,social,military,economic,andintellectualhistoryintothe
narrativeinordertoillustratehowandwhythecityscapeevolvedasitdidduring
the thousand years between the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the
’
Renaissance. Awide-rangingsynthesisof decades worthofspecialized research
and remarkable archaeological discoveries, this book is essential reading for
anyone interested in how the ancient imperial capital transformed into the
spiritual heart of Western Christendom.
HendrikDeyspentyearslivingandteachinginRome,wherehealsoheldatwo-
yearRomePrizeattheAmericanAcademy.HisbooksincludeTheAurelianWall
271–855 2011
and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome, AD ( ), and The Afterlife of
theRomanCity:ArchitectureandCeremonyinLateAntiquityandtheEarlyMiddle
2015
Ages ( ).

T H E M A K I N G
O F M E D I E V A L
R O M E
fi 400–1420
A New Pro le of the City,
H D
E N D R I K E Y
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Title:ThemakingofMedievalRome:anewprofileofthecity,400–1420/HendrikDey,HunterCollege,City
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Description:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2021.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2020058379(print)|LCCN2020058380(ebook)|ISBN9781108838535(hardback)|
ISBN9781108971560(paperback)|ISBN9781108975162(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Rome(Italy)–History–To476.|Rome(Italy)–History–476–1420.
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CONTENTS
Preface page vii
1
Introduction
1
CHAPTER
400 10
The Eternal City on the Brink: Rome in AD
2
CHAPTER
401–552 33
: From Imperial Metropolis to Provincial Town
3
CHAPTER
552–705 69
: Byzantine Rome
4
CHAPTER
705–882 “ ” 102
: A Papal Republic of the Romans
5
CHAPTER
882–1046 137
: The Long Twilight of the Early Middle Ages
v
VI CONTENTS
6
CHAPTER
1046–1230 170
: Church Reformed, Senate Reborn, Rome Renascent
7
CHAPTER
1230–1420
: Barons, Babylonian Captivity, and Black Death:
214
The Apogee and Agony of Late Medieval Rome
EPILOGUE
1447–55 255
Rome and Pope Nicholas V ( )
262
Notes
308
References
332
Index
PREFACE
T
HIS BOOK PURPORTS TO bethefullesttreatmentinanylanguageof
’
Romes urban evolution across the full medieval millennium to
1980
appearinoverfortyyears,sincethepublication,in ,ofRichard
’ fi 312–1308
KrautheimersjustlyrenownedRome,Pro leofaCity .As
such, it has a staggering amount of ground to cover and needs to inform and
(ideally) please a dauntingly wide range of prospective readers. It is a robust
’
testament to the reach and quality of Krautheimers book that it remains, even
–
today, a standard resource for practicing scholars, for students, and one
–
assumes forthatlegendaryandmuchsought-afterbeastinacademicpublishing
“ ”
circles, the educated general reader. Throughout the writing process, it has
fi
been my intent that all of the above likewise be able to use and pro t from the
present volume. I am aware of the risks inherent in trying to satisfy everybody
and will make no apologies here for having made the attempt. I will, however,
fl
very brie y explain some of the editorial choices I have made.
Desiring to keep the text uncluttered by critical apparatus, I have remanded
thenotestotheendandreducedtheirnumberbyplacingthemonlyattheendof
paragraphs. Each paragraph or sequence of related paragraphs thus receives
a more or less discursive endnote. Given that a mere list of all the bibliography
relevant tothe topicscoveredinthe followingpages,or evenofthe studiesthat
1980 fi
haveappearedsince alone,woulditself llabooklongerthanthisone,the
fi
sourcesthatmadethe nalcutarenecessarilythesurvivorsofapitilessprocessof
winnowing. My intention has been to permit students or less specialized
vii
VIII PREFACE
fi
researchers to nd one or more, usually recent, to the manuscript, suggesting improvements and
starting points from which to begin exploring corrections that far exceeded the common run of
’
a topic in greater depth, and to provide experts readers reports in both quantity and quality.
with enough information to gauge who or what These kind, perspicacious counselors and
has done most to shape my thinking on a given I naturally do not agree on everything, and
fi
subject. I include the syntheses that I nd most I have occasionally persisted in my own views
valuable, of course, but tend to favor the primary despite suggestions to the contrary, undoubtedly
sources,bywhichImeanbothmedieval textsand at my own peril, which leaves them all the more
the reports produced by those responsible for the blameless for whatever travesties of fact and good
fi
scienti c excavation and/or analysis of medieval judgment remain. Their formidable erudition,
Roman sites in recent decades. More detailed or unstintingly shared, has saved me from number-
fi
technicaldiscussionthancancomfortably tinthe lesserrorsofcommissionandomission,andsens-
main text may also appear in the notes. ibly enhanced whatever virtues this book has.
Ihavenotgonesofarincateringtostudentsand A host of others helped to sustain this project
nonspecialistsastoprivilegeEnglish-languagepubli- anditsauthoracrossyearsofresearch,writing,and
cations,thoughwhensomethinginEnglishwilldoas production. For sharing their knowledge (and
wellasanythingelse,Imayoptforit.Ihave,however, written work, published and otherwise) of medi-
fl
eshed out the primary sources in the bibliography evalRomewithme;facilitatingaccesstositesand
bycitingEnglishtranslationsofmostoftheeditions monuments, and memorable site visits in their
listed. As I like to remind my students, and anyone company; invitations to speak on the book or
elsewhowilllisten,itisalmostalwaysbettertobegin topicsintegraltoitsconception;helpwithacquir-
–
with the original sources with what people (or, ing images and/or the rights to reproduce them;
indeed, things) from the period in question have to and a host of other acts of personal and profes-
tellus,ratherthanwithwhatmoderncommentators sional kindness, large and small, I thank Marco
fi
saytheysaid.Asforthemaintext,Ihavetriedtobe Aimone,FrancoAstol ,LiaBarelli,DouglasBoin,
fi
clear enough to engage the novice, yet suf ciently GiuliaBordi,NicolaCamerlenghi,RobertCoates-
fi
precise to inform the expert, and withal to bore Stephens, Lavinia Cozza, Alessandro Del no,
fi
everyone as little as possible. Should tedium super- Valeria di Cola, Phil Ditch eld, Judson Emerick,
vene nonetheless, the fault is probably mine, for it Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai, Giorgio Fusconi,
surely cannot lie with the city whose material riches Federico Guidobaldi, Dario Internullo, Paolo
andcentralityontheworld-historicalstagecombine Liverani, Manfred Luchterhandt, Daniele
tomakeitauniquelyfascinatingplace. Manacorda, Maura Medri, Roberto Meneghini,
Nor,certainly,canthefaultliewiththosewhose Ian Mladjov, Alessandra Molinari, Fabrizio
wisdomandgenerosityhelpedmebringthisbook Oppedisano, Carlo Pavolini, Giorgio Rascaglia,
to light. Special thanks are due to Paolo Squatriti, Alessia Rovelli, Amy Russell, Michele Salzman,
whotoughenedupadraftofthewholemanuscript Rita Santolini, Mirella Serlorenzi, Sister Josepha
with his typically relentless critical acumen. and the nuns of the Fraternità di Gerusalemme at
Lucrezia Spera, Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani, S. Sebastiano al Palatino; the Augustinian nuns of
and Nicoletta Giannini dissected smaller but still SS.QuattroCoronati;theMinisteroperibeniele
–
lengthy chunks and helped me in countless other attività culturali Museo Nazionale Romano; the
ways besides. The two anonymous readers Sovraintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali; the
engaged by Cambridge Press likewise devoted librariansandarchivistsattheAmericanAcademy
a humbling quotient of care and critical acumen in Rome, the Fototeca Unione at the American
PREFACE IX
Academy, the École Française de Rome, the academic year, and a second sabbatical year
British School at Rome; and the indefatigable granted shortly thereafter by my home institu-
ILL staff at the Hunter College library. Beatrice tion, Hunter College, which also generously
Rehl and her editorial team at Cambridge Press helped to cover the cost of publishing my many
were, as always, a pleasure to work with. Finally, color images. Without this teeming village of
I gratefully acknowledge the institutional sup- dear friends and esteemed colleagues, I would
fi
port that afforded me the time and resources never have managed to raise my pro le of
’
needed for sustained intervals of research and Romes medieval millennium to maturity, nor
fl
writing, chie y a fellowship in Byzantine Studies been half so delighted and inspired by the pro-
2016–17
at Dumbarton Oaks during the cess of doing so.