Fried Johannes. Donation of Constantine and Constitutum Constantini

De Gruyter, 2007. — 202 p.The Donation of Constantine is the most outrageous and powerful forgery in world history. The question of its precise time of origin alone kept generations of researchers occupied. But, what exactly is the Donation of Constantine? To find the answer, it is necessary to approach the question on two different semantic levels: First, as the Constitutum Constantini, a fictitious privilege, in which, among other things, rights and presents were bestowed on the catholic church by a grateful Emperor Konstantin. Secondly, as a reflection of the Middle Age mindset, becoming part of the culture landscape midway through 11-th century A.D. The author not only reinterprets the origin of this forgery (i.e. puts it down to the Franks' opposition of Emperor Louis the Pious), but retells, as well, the history of its misinterpretation since the High Middle Ages. In an appendix, all relevant texts are printed in the original language, an English translation is provided.Johannes Fried (b. 1942, in Hamburg) is a German historian and medievalist. Fried studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctorate in 1970 and his habilitation in 1977. He was professor at the University of Cologne 1980-1983 and holds the Chair of Mediaeval History at the University of Frankfurt am Main since 1983. He has been visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton 1995-1996. Fried is a member of several learned societies and was president of the Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (German Society of Historians) 1996-2000.