De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione declamatio

On the Donation of Constantine

Lorenzo Valla was one of the most important humanists of his time, famous for his critical philological methodology. His outspoken criticism provoked conflict with the pope, with whom he reconciled only many years later. According to the Donation of Constantine, Constantine the Great, Roman emperor between 306 and 337, had been baptised by Pope Sylvester and subsequently miraculously cured of leprosy. To show his gratitude, Constantine had allegedly granted the pope power over Rome, Italy and the western regions of the Roman Empire. Valla discovered several philological inconsistencies, anachronisms and errors which indicated that the document could not possibly have been written during the 4th century. For example, some words used in the document, such as ‘satrap’, were not in use when Constantine supposedly dictated the Donation. Valla also noticed that the Donation referred to Constantinopolis (today’s Istanbul), even though the city got this name only after the death of Constantine. Valla also examined the document from another perspective, as a historical source of information about an allegedly highly important event. On that basis, too, he dismissed the Donation as unreliable, because it was not supported by any other contemporary document. Thus, Valla concluded that the Donation had been forged many centuries after its supposed writing, with the goal of consolidating the power and status of the pope. Today, specialists such as Johannes Fried and Germana Gandino estimate that the Donation of Constantine was probably drafted after the middle of the 8th century or in the early 9th century (Fried, 2007; Gandino, 2009). Martin Luther was inspired by Valla’s essay in his radical criticism of the pope, whom he decided to name the Antichrist. The treatise was displayed in the temporary exhibition ‘Fake for Real. A History of Forgery and Falsification’ hosted in the House of European History from October 2020 to January 2022.