‘Donation of Constantine’: A Medieval Forgery for Authority
The Donation of Constantine was most likely written, and almost certainly used, to coerce Pepin the Short to give up land. Introduction The Donation of Constantine (Donatio Constantini or the Donatio) is a medieval forgery dated to the 8th century CE purporting to be an original 4th-century CE document in which the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306-337 CE) granted[…]