The Queen's Court and Green Mountain Manuscripts, With Other Forgeries of the Czech Revival

David Cooper

The Queen's Court and Green Mountain Manuscripts, With Other Forgeries of the Czech Revival

The Donatio Constantini (ca. 8th CE) is one the most important forgeries in all the western world, arguably the most important in all of human history. Purportedly written in the fourth century, the document’s guarantee was left unquestioned for hundreds of years and, in certain sectors, its authenticity is mustered to legitimate actions and discourse even to this day. Very likely commissioned by Constantine the Great, the “Donation” critically guaranteed that the papacy, at a time of its tenuousness, did indeed have authority over its historical Roman see, and, by dint of such a claim, geopolitically far beyond Italy. At moments when protestation swelled against the Church, when the papacy teetered towards being unseeded or superseded, the “Donation” could be mustered to contravene any and all arguments against its authority. Like the Green Mountain and the Queen’s Court manuscripts, the Donatio’s provenance was questioned from within and deep linguistic-philological research was employed to dispute its origin. The recurring disputations repeatedly opened up wounds that made visible the very core of the institution that “required” the retrograde creation of its own legitimacy.

Winner 2019 AATSEEL Book Award, Best Scholarly Translation

2018