page_title: History of Rome
section_title: Formation of the Holy Roman Empire
hierarchical_section_title: History of Rome / Medieval Rome / Formation of the Holy Roman Empire
caption_attribution_description: The three columns mark the corner of the temple of the Deified Vespasian, and behind to the right rises the massive back of palazzo Senatorio, Rome's city hall, built atop what used to be called the Tabularium, ancient Rome's Public Record Office.
context_page_description: The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced many modern legal systems. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:
  Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding by Romulus.
  The period of Etruscan dominance and the Regal Period, in which according to tradition, Romulus was the first of seven kings.
  The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 BC when kings were replaced with rule by elected senators. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC, Ancient Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power.
  The Roman Empire - with the rise of Julius Caesar, the Republic waned, and by all measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar in 27 BC over Mark Antony.
context_section_description: On 25 April 799 the new Pope, Leo III, led the traditional procession from the Lateran to the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina along the Via Flaminia (now Via del Corso). Two nobles (followers of his predecessor Hadrian) who disliked the weakness of the Pope with regards to Charlemagne, attacked the processional train and delivered a life-threatening wound to the Pope. Leo fled to the King of the Franks, and in November, 800, the King entered Rome with a strong army and a number of French bishops. He declared a judicial trial to decide if Leo III were to remain Pope, or if the deposers' claims had reasons to be upheld. This trial, however, was only a part of a well thought out chain of events which ultimately surprised the world. The Pope was declared legitimate and the attempters subsequently exiled. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.
  This act forever severed the loyalty of Rome from its imperial progenitor, Constantinople. It created instead a rival empire which, after a long series of conquests by Charlemagne, now encompassed most of the Christian Western territories.
  Following the death of Charlemagne, the lack of a figure with equal prestige led the new institution into disagreement. At the same time the universal church of Rome had to face emergence of the lay interests of the City itself, spurred on by the conviction that the Roman people, though impoverished and abased, had again the right to elect the Western Emperor. The famous counterfeit document called the Donation of Constantine, prepared by the Papal notaries, guaranteed to the Pope a dominion stretching from Ravenna to Gaeta. This nominally included the suzerainty over Rome, but this was often highly disputed, and as the centuries passed, only the strongest Popes were to be able to assert it. The main element of weakness of the Papacy within the walls of the city was the continued necessity of the election of new popes, in which the emerging noble families soon managed to insert a leading role for themselves. The neighbouring powers, namely the Duchy of Spoleto and Toscana, and later the Emperors, learned how to take their own advantage of this internal weakness, playing the role of arbiters among the contestants.
  Rome was indeed prey of anarchy in this age. The lowest point was touched in 897, when a raging crowd exhumed the corpse of a dead pope, Formosus, and put it on trial.
caption: From the Forum, the medieval and Renaissance Senate House stands directly upon the Tabularium, ancient Rome's repository of archives.
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