📰 Rome · page 2

After the end of the Severan dynasty in AD 235, the Empire entered into a 50-year period known as the Crisis of the Third Century, during which numerous generals fought for power and the central authority in Rome weakened dramatically.81 Around the same time, the Plague of Cyprian (c. 250–270) afflicted the Mediterranean.[49]82 Instability caused economic deterioration, and there was a rapid rise in inflation as the government debased the currency in order to meet expenses.83 The Germanic tribes along the Rhine and north of the Balkans made serious uncoordinated incursions that were more like giant raiding parties rather than attempts to settle.84 The Persian Empire invaded from the east several times during the 230s to 260s but were eventually defeated.[50]85 The civil wars ended in 285 with the final victory of Diocletian, who undertook the restoration of the State.86 He ended the Principate and introduced a new authoritarian model known as the Dominate, derived from his title of dominus ("lord").87 His most marked feature was the unprecedented intervention of the State down to the city level: whereas the State had submitted a tax demand to a city and allowed it to allocate the charges, from his reign the State did this down to the village level.88 In a vain attempt to control inflation, he imposed price controls which did not last.89

Diocletian divided the empire in 286, ruling over the eastern half from Nicomedia, while his co-emperor Maximian ruled the western half from Mediolanum (when not on the move).[50]90 The empire was further divided in 293, when Diocletian named two caesar, one for each augustus (emperor).91 Diocletian tried to turn into a system of non-dynastic succession, similar to the Antonine dynasty.92 Upon abdication in 305, both caesars succeeded and they, in turn, appointed two colleagues for themselves.[50]93 However, a series of civil wars between rival claimants to power resulted in the unification of the empire under Constantine the Great in 324.94 Hereditary succession was restored, but the east–west division was maintained.95 Constantine undertook a major reform of the bureaucracy, not by changing the structure but by rationalising the competencies of the several ministries.96 The so-called Edict of Milan of 313, actually a fragment of a letter from his co-emperor Licinius to the governors of the eastern provinces, granted freedom of worship to everyone, including Christians, and ordered the restoration of confiscated church properties upon petition to the newly created vicars of dioceses.97 He funded the building of several churches and allowed clergy to act as arbitrators in civil suits (a measure that did not outlast him but which was restored in part much later).98 In 330, he transformed Byzantium into Constantinople, which became his new capital.99 However, it was not officially anything more than an imperial residence like Mediolanum, Augusta Treverorum, or Nicomedia until given a city prefect in 359 by Constantius II.[51]100

Constantine, following Diocletian's reforms, regionalised the administration, which fundamentally changed the way it was governed by creating regional dioceses.101 The existence of regional fiscal units from 286 served as the model for this unprecedented innovation.[52]102 The emperor quickened the process of removing military command from governors.103 Henceforth, civilian administration and military command would be separate.104 He gave governors more fiscal duties and placed them in charge of the army logistical support system as an attempt to control it by removing the support system from its control.105

Christianity in the form of the Nicene Creed became the official religion of the empire in 380, via the Edict of Thessalonica issued in the name of three emperors – Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius I – with Theodosius clearly the driving force behind it.106 He was the last emperor of a unified empire: after his death in 395, his young children, Honorius and Arcadius, inherited the western and eastern empires respectively.107 The seat of government in the Western Roman Empire was transferred to Ravenna in 408, but from 450 the emperors mostly resided in Rome.[53]108

Rome, which had lost its central role in the administration of the empire, was sacked in 410 by the Visigoths led by Alaric I,[54] but very little physical damage was done, most of which was repaired.109 What could not be so easily replaced were portable items such as artwork in precious metals and items for domestic use (loot).110 The popes embellished the city with large basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore (with the collaboration of the emperors).111 The population of the city had fallen from 800,000 to 450–500,000 by the time the city was sacked in 455 by Genseric, king of the Vandals.[55]112 The weak emperors of the fifth century could not stop the decay, leading to the deposition of Romulus Augustus, who resided on Ravenna, on 4 September 476.113 This marked the end of the Western Roman Empire and, for many historians, the beginning of the Middle Ages.[51]114

The decline of the city's population was caused by the loss of grain shipments from North Africa, from 440 onward, and the unwillingness of the senatorial class to maintain donations to support a population that was too large for the resources available.115 Even so, strenuous efforts were made to maintain the monumental centre, the Palatine, and the imperial baths, which continued to function until the Gothic siege of 537.116 The Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal Hill were even repaired in 443, and the extent of the damage exaggerated and dramatised.[56]117

However, the city gave an appearance overall of shabbiness and decay because of the large abandoned areas due to population decline.118 The population declined to 500,000 by 452 and 100,000 by AD 500 (perhaps larger, though no certain figure can be known).119 After the Gothic siege of 537, the population dropped to 30,000 but had risen to 90,000 by the papacy of Gregory the Great.[57]120 The population decline coincided with the general collapse of urban life in the West in the fifth and sixth centuries, with few exceptions.121 Subsidized state grain distributions to the poorer members of society continued right through the sixth century and probably prevented the population from falling further.[58]122 The figure of 450,000–500,000 is based on the amount of pork, 3,629,000 lbs. distributed to poorer Romans during five winter months at the rate of five Roman lbs per person per month, enough for 145,000 persons or 1/4 or 1/3 of the total population.[59]123 Grain distribution to 80,000 ticket holders at the same time suggests 400,000 (Augustus set the number at 200,000 or one-fifth of the population).124

Middle Ages

Further information: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476, Rome was first under the control of Odoacer and then became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom before returning to East Roman control after the Gothic War, which devastated the city in 546 and 550.125 Its population declined from more than a million in AD 210 to 500,000 in AD 273[60] to 35,000 after the Gothic War (535–554),[61] reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins, vegetation, vineyards and market gardens.[62]126 It is generally thought the population of the city until AD 300 was 1 million (estimates range from 2 million to 750,000) declining to 750–800,000 in AD 400, then 450–500,000 in AD 450 and down to 80–100,000 in AD 500 (though it may have been twice this).[63]127

The Bishop of Rome, called the Pope, was important since the early days of Christianity because of the martyrdom of both the apostles Peter and Paul there.128 The Bishops of Rome were also seen (and still are seen by Catholics) as the successors of Peter, who is considered the first Bishop of Rome.129 The city thus became of increasing importance as the centre of the Catholic Church.130

After the Lombard invasion of Italy (569–572), the city remained nominally Byzantine, but in reality, the popes pursued a policy of equilibrium between the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Lombards.[64]131 In 729, the Lombard king Liutprand donated the north Latium town of Sutri to the Church, starting its temporal power.[64]132 In 756, Pepin the Short, after having defeated the Lombards, gave the Pope temporal jurisdiction over the Duchy of Rome and the Exarchate of Ravenna, thus creating the Papal States.[64]133 Since this period, three powers tried to rule the city: the pope, the nobility (together with the chiefs of militias, the judges, the Senate and the populace), and the Frankish king, as king of the Lombards, patricius, and Emperor.[64]134 These three parties (theocratic, republican, and imperial) were a characteristic of Roman life during the entire Middle Ages.[64]135 On Christmas night of 800, Charlemagne was crowned in Rome as Emperor by Pope Leo III: on that occasion, the city hosted for the first time the two powers whose struggle for control was to be a constant of the Middle Ages.[64]136 This event marks the beginning of the Carolingian Empire, the first phase of the Holy Roman Empire.137

In 846, Muslim Arabs unsuccessfully stormed the city's walls, but managed to loot St. Peter's and St. Paul's basilica, both outside the city wall.[65]138 After the decay of Carolingian power, Rome fell prey to feudal chaos: several noble families fought against the pope, the emperor, and each other.139 This period saw the rise of figures like Theodora and her daughter Marozia, concubines and mothers of several popes, and of Crescentius, a powerful feudal lord, who fought against the Emperors Otto II and Otto III.[66]140 The scandals of this period forced the papacy to reform itself: the election of the pope was reserved to the cardinals, and reform of the clergy was attempted.141 The driving force behind this renewal was the monk Ildebrando da Soana, who once elected pope under the name of Gregory VII became involved into the Investiture Controversy against Emperor Henry IV.[66]142 Subsequently, Rome was sacked and burned by the Normans under Robert Guiscard who had entered the city in support of the Pope, then besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo.[66]143

During this period, the city was autonomously ruled by a senatore or patrizio.144 In the 12th century, this administration, like other European cities, evolved into the commune, a new form of social organisation controlled by the new wealthy classes.[66]145 Pope Lucius II fought against the Roman commune, and the struggle was continued by his successor Pope Eugenius III: by this stage, the commune, allied with the aristocracy, was supported by Arnaldo da Brescia, a monk who was a religious and social reformer.[67]146 After the pope's death, Arnaldo was taken prisoner by Pope Adrian IV, which marked the end of the commune's autonomy.[67]147 Under Pope Innocent III, whose reign marked the apogee of the papacy, the commune liquidated the senate, and replaced it with a Senatore, who was subject to the pope.[67]148

In this period, the papacy played a role of secular importance in Western Europe, often acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs and exercising additional political powers.[68][69][70]149

In 1266, Charles of Anjou, who was heading south to fight the Hohenstaufen on behalf of the pope, was appointed Senator.150 Charles founded the Sapienza, the university of Rome.[67]151 In that period the pope died, and the cardinals, summoned in Viterbo, could not agree on his successor.152 This angered the people of the city, who then unroofed the building where they met and imprisoned them until they had nominated the new pope; this marked the birth of the conclave.[67]153 In this period the city was also shattered by continuous fights between the aristocratic families: Annibaldi, Caetani, Colonna, Orsini, Conti, nested in their fortresses built above ancient Roman edifices, fought each other to control the papacy.[67]154

Pope Boniface VIII of the Caetani family was the last pope to fight for the church's universal domain; he proclaimed a crusade against the Colonna family and, in 1300, called for the first Jubilee of Christianity, which brought millions of pilgrims to Rome.[67]155 However, his hopes were crushed by the French king Philip the Fair, who took him prisoner and held him hostage for three days at Anagni.[67]156 The Pope was able to return to Rome, but died a month later, it was said of shock and grief.157 Afterwards, a new pope faithful to the French was elected, and the papacy was briefly relocated to Avignon (1309–1377).[71]158 During this period Rome was neglected, until a plebeian man, Cola di Rienzo, came to power.[71]159 An idealist and a lover of ancient Rome, Cola dreamed about a rebirth of the Roman Empire: after assuming power with the title of Tribuno, his reforms were rejected by the populace.[71]160 Forced to flee, Cola returned as part of the entourage of Cardinal Albornoz, who was charged with restoring the Church's power in Italy.[71]161 Back in power for a short time, Cola was soon lynched by the populace, and Albornoz took possession of the city.162 In 1377, Rome became the seat of the papacy again under Gregory XI.[71]163 The return of the pope to Rome in that year unleashed the Western Schism (1377–1418), and for the next forty years, the city was affected by the divisions which rocked the Church.[71]164

Early modern history

Main article: Roman Renaissance

In 1418, the Council of Constance settled the Western Schism, and a Roman pope, Martin V, was elected.[71]165 This brought to Rome a century of internal peace, which marked the beginning of the Renaissance.[71]166 The ruling popes until the first half of the 16th century, from Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library, to Pius II, humanist and literate, from Sixtus IV, a warrior pope, to Alexander VI, immoral and nepotist, from Julius II, soldier and patron, to Leo X Medici, who gave his name to this period ("the century of Leo X"), all devoted their energy to the greatness and the beauty of the Eternal City and to the patronage of the arts.[71]167

During those years, the centre of the Italian Renaissance moved to Rome from Florence.168 Majestic works, as the new Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity, although on Roman foundations) were created.169 To accomplish that, the Popes engaged the best artists of the time, including Michelangelo, Perugino, Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli.170