Donation Of Constantine Definition

noun
A document fabricated probably during the 8th century, in which the emperor Constantine I purportedly grants to the Papacy temporal dominion over Italy and other western regions. Used throughout much of the Middle Ages as evidence in justifying Papal claims in secular affairs, it was demonstrated to be false in the 15th century.
American Heritage

Donation Of Constantine Sentence Examples

  • The so-called Donation of Constantine was long ago shown to be spurious, but the document is of very considerable antiquity and, in Dellinger's opinion, was forged in Rome between 752 and 777.

  • The donations of Pippin and Charlemagne established him as sovereign de facto; the donation of Constantine was to proclaim him as sovereign de jure.

  • He was a member of the council of Basel, and dedicated to the assembled fathers a work entitled De concordantia Catholica, in which he maintained the superiority of councils over popes, and assailed the genuineness of the False Decretals and the Donation of Constantine.

  • Valla by one vigorous effort destroyed the False Decretals and exposed the Donation of Constantine to ridicule, paving the way for the polemic carried on against the dubious pretensions of the papal throne by scholars of the Reformation.

Related Articles

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to Donation of Constantine using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

DDODON

Words Ending With

ENEINE

Words Starting With D and Ending With E

Starts With D & Ends With EStarts With DO & Ends With EStarts With D & Ends With NE

Word Length