Constitutio Romana

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The Constitutio Romana, in nine articles, was drawn up in 824 when Pope Eugene II needed the help of Lothair, son of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious to establish his papacy in the face of a challenge to his election by Zinzinnus who was the choice of the common people of Rome. Lothair took this opportunity to establish an agreement which reinforced the authority of the Frankish emperors in Rome.

1 Contents
2 Revokation
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Contents

The constitution advanced the imperial pretensions in the city of Rome, but also established a system to check the power of the nobles. It decreed that those who were under the special protection of the pope or emperor were to be inviolable, and that proper obedience be rendered to the pope and his officials; that church property was not to be plundered after the death of a pope; that only those to whom the right had been given by the deceased Pope Stephen III, in 769, should take part in papal elections; that two commissioners were to be appointed, the one by the pope and the other by the emperor, who should report to them how justice was administered, so that any failure in the administration might be corrected by the pope, or, in the event of his not doing so, by the emperor; that the people should be judged according to the relevant law (Roman, Salic, or Lombard) they had elected to live under; that its property be restored to the Church; that robbery with violence be put down; that when the emperor was in Rome the chief officials should appear before him to be admonished to do their duty; and, finally, that all must obey the Roman pontiff. By command of the pope and Lothair the people had to swear that, saving the fidelity they had promised the pope, they would obey the Emperors Louis and Lothair; would not allow a papal election to be made contrary to the canons; and would not suffer the pope-elect to be consecrated save in the presence of the emperor's envoys and an oath of homage from the newly-elected Pope.^[1]

[edit] Revokation

Sixty years later, the Constitutio Romana was effectively revoked by Pope Marinus I when he issued a decree stating that the emperors would not interfere, either directly or through their ambassadors, in the election of a pope.