Duchy of Rome

Dvcatvs Romanvs Δουκᾶτον Ῥώμης
Duchy of the Byzantine Empire
Late 7th century–756
Duchy of Rome within the Byzantine Empire in 717
Capital	Rome
History
• Establishment	Late 7th century
• Establishment of the Papal States	756
Preceded by Succeeded by Exarchate of Ravenna Papal States
Today part of	Italy Vatican City

This article is part of a series on
Vatican City
History Duchy of Rome (554–751) Donation of Pepin (750s) Papal States (754–1870) Annates Congregation for Borders Fundamental Statute for the Secular Government of the States of the Church Capture of Rome (1870) "Prisoner in the Vatican" (1870–1929) Roman Question Law of Guarantees Lateran Treaty (1929) Vatican City (1929–present) Governorate of Vatican City State 2010 Vatican employee sex scandal History of the Catholic Church since 1962 History of the Papacy Roman Historical Institutes Savoyard Era Vatileaks scandal Vatican Historical Museum Vatican City during World War II
Law Acta Apostolicae Sedis Fundamental Law of Vatican City State Capital punishment in Vatican City Crime in Vatican City Lateran Treaty Legal status of the Holy See (Alperin v. Vatican Bank) (Doe v. Holy See) Temporal power of the Holy See Tribunal of Vatican City State Canon law 1983 Code of Canon Law Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus LGBTQ rights in Vatican City
Politics and government Archives Association of Vatican Lay Workers Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State President President: Giuseppe Bertello Pontifical Commission Secretariat for Communications Holy See Press Office L'Osservatore Romano (Vatican City newspaper) L'Osservatore della Domenica List of newspapers in Vatican City Vatican Radio lawsuit Vatican Information Service .va (Vatican City internet sites) Vatican Publishing House Vatican Radio Vatican Television Center Secretariat of State Secretary: Pietro Parolin Fabric of Saint Peter Foreign relations of the Holy See Papal apocrisiarius Governorate of Vatican City State Governor of Vatican City College of Cardinals Camerlengo (Chamberlain) Dean Vical General Court of Cassation President: Dominique Mamberti Court of Appeals President: Pio Vito Pinto Tribunale President: G. di Sanguinetto Military in Vatican City Swiss Guard Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City Corps of Firefighters of the Vatican City State
Papacy Pope Popemobile Catholic Church Latin Church Holy See Diocese of Rome Roman Curia Universi Dominici Gregis Papal conclave (Papal elections) Universi Dominici gregis Recent conclaves 1978 (Oct) 2005 2013 Papal household Papal Gentleman Prefecture of the Pontifical Household
Foreign relations Section for Relations with States Concordats Multilateral foreign policy Status in international law Lateran Treaty Section for Relations with States (Roman Curia) Secretary for Relations with States: Paul Gallagher Undersecretaries for Relations with States: Antoine Camilleri List of diplomatic missions of the Holy See Nuncios Vatican City and Holy See passports Visa requirements Visa policy The Holy See and the United Nations Holy See–Italy relations Holy See–United States relations Holy See–Israel relations Holy See–Palestine relations
Economy Institute for the Works of Religion Telephone numbers in Vatican City Tourism in Vatican City Transport in Vatican City Rail transport in Vatican City Secretariat for the Economy Financial Information Authority Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See Vatican euro coins Vatican lira Properties of the Holy See
Symbols Flag List of Papal flags Anthem Coat of arms of Vatican City 00120 (Vatican postcode) Papal tiara Papal coronation
Culture Vatican Museums Vatican Library Music of Vatican City Sistine Chapel Choir Languages of Vatican City Women in Vatican City Vatican Christmas Tree Sport in Vatican City Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah Postage stamps and postal history of Vatican City Public holidays in Vatican City Pontifical Academy of Sciences Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences The Story of the Vatican, 1941 documentary
Buildings/geography Apostolic nunciature Apostolic Palace Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Borgia Apartments Bramante Staircase Domus Sanctae Marthae Fountains of St. Peter's Square Gardens of Vatican City Geography of Vatican City Gregorian Tower Mater Ecclesiae (monastery) Monument to the Royal Stuarts Palace of the Holy Office Palazzi Pontifici Papal Apartments Saint Peter's Basilica Saint Peter's Square Saint Peter's tomb Lateran Basilica Lateran Palace Leonine City Niccoline Chapel Old St. Peter's Basilica Papal tombs Papal tombs in Old St. Peter's Basilica Paul VI Audience Hall Tomb of the Julii Torre San Giovanni Scala Regia Via della Conciliazione Vatican Climate Forest Vatican Heliport Vatican Hill Vatican Necropolis Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah Postage stamps and postal history of Vatican City Public holidays in Vatican City Vatican Secret Archives St. Peter's Baldachin Sala Regia San Pellegrino in Vaticano Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope Vatican Observatory Vatican Pharmacy Bibliotheca Palatina Cappella Giulia Cappella Paolina Cardinal Secretary of State Casina Pio IV Circus of Nero Redemptoris Mater Chapel Saints Martin and Sebastian of the Swiss Santo Stefano degli Abissini Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi Teutonic Cemetery Cortile del Belvedere Passetto di Borgo Porta San Pellegrino
Vatican Museums Vatican Museums Vatican Gallery of Maps Gallery of Sistine Chapel ceiling Collection of Modern Religious Art Raphael Rooms Redemptoris Mater Chapel Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes Sistine Chapel Sistine Chapel ceiling The Last Judgment by Michelangelo
Outline Index Vatican City portal Catholicism portal
v t e

The Duchy of Rome (Latin: Ducatus Romanus) was a state within the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title of dux. The duchy often came into conflict with the Papacy over supremacy within Rome. After the founding of the Papal States in 756, the Duchy of Rome ceased to be an administrative unit and 'dukes of Rome', appointed by the popes rather than emperors, are only rarely attested.

It is uncertain when exactly the Duchy of Rome was established, but it was most likely in the late 7th century, given the lack of earlier references to such a territory. The dux of Rome was subservient to the Exarch of Ravenna, who wielded the highest imperial authority in Italy.^[1] Within the exarchate, the two chief districts were the country about Ravenna where the exarch was the centre of Byzantine opposition to the Lombards, and the Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Southern Etruria north of the Tiber and of Latium to the south as far as the Garigliano (with the exception of Casinum and Aquinum).^[2] There the Pope led the opposition to the Lombards.^[3]

The strategic importance of the Duchy of the Pentapolis (Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, Ancona) and the Duchy of Perugia lay in their ability to retain control of the districts between Ravenna and Rome, and with them communication over the Apennine Mountains. If this strategic connection were broken, it was evident that Rome and Ravenna could not singly maintain themselves for any length of time. This was also recognized by the Lombards. The same narrow strip of land broke the connection between their Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento and the main portion of the king's territories in the north. The Lombards made multiple attacks against this front to wrest control of the peninsula from the Byzantines.

In 728 the Lombard King Liutprand took the Castle of Sutri, which dominated the highway at Nepi on the road to Perugia. However, Liutprand, softened by the entreaties of Pope Gregory II, restored Sutri "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul".^[3]

This expression of the Liber pontificalis was erroneously interpreted to mean that in this gift the beginning of the States of the Church was to be recognized. This is incorrect inasmuch as the Popes continued to acknowledge the imperial government, and Greek officials appeared in Rome for some time longer. It is true, however, that here for the first time the association of ideas on which the States of the Church were to be constructed is met. The Pope asked the Lombards for the return of Sutri for the sake of the Princes of the Apostles and threatened punishment by these sainted protectors. The pious Liutprand was undoubtedly susceptible to such pleas, but never to any consideration for the Greeks. For this reason he gave Sutri to Peter and Paul, that he might not expose himself to their punishment. What the Pope then did with it would be immaterial to him.^[3]

The belief that the Roman territory (at first in the more restricted, but afterwards also in the wider sense) was defended by the Prince of the Apostles became more and more prevalent. In 738 the Lombard duke Transamund II of Spoleto captured the Castle of Gallese, which protected the road to Perugia to the north of Nepi. Pope Gregory III made a large payment to the duke to restore the castle to him. The pope then sought an alliance with Duke Transamund to protect himself against Liutprand. However, Liutprand conquered Spoleto, besieged Rome, laid waste the Duchy of Rome, and seized four important frontier fortresses (Blera, Orte, Bomarzo, and Amelia), thereby cutting off communication with Perugia and Ravenna.^[4]

This caused the pope in 739 to turn for the first time to the powerful Frankish kingdom, under the protection of which Boniface had begun his successful labours as a missionary in Germany. He sent to Charles Martel, "the powerful mayor of the palace" of the Frankish monarchy and the commander of the Franks in the famous battle at Tours, undoubtedly with the consent of the Greek dux, and appealed to him to protect the tomb of the Apostle. Charles Martel replied to the embassy and acknowledged the gifts, but was unwilling to offer aid against the Lombards, who were helping him against the Saracens.^[5]

Accordingly, the successor of Gregory III, Pope Zachary, changed the policy that had been previously followed toward the Lombards. He formed an alliance with Liutprand against Transamund, and in 741 received in return the four castles as the result of a personal visit to the camp of the king at Terni. Liutprand also restored a number of patrimonies that had been seized by the Lombards, and furthermore concluded a twenty years' peace with the Pope.^[6]

The duchy now had a respite from Lombard attacks. The Lombards fell upon Ravenna, which they had already held from 731 to 735. The Exarch Eutychius had no other recourse than to seek the aid of the pope. Liutprand did in fact allow himself to be induced by Zachary to surrender the greater part of his conquests. Nor was it unimportant that these districts too once owed their rescue to the pope. Only a short time after Liutprand's death in 744, Zachary was successful in further postponing the catastrophe.^[7]

In 751 the Exarchate of Ravenna fell to the Lombards under King Aistulf. Rome, under Pope Stephen II, attempted diplomatic negotiations with Aistulf, and upon the failure of those negotiations, entreated King Pepin the Short of the Franks to intervene on its behalf.^[8] Pepin defeated the Lombards by 756 and granted the lands of the Duchy of Rome as well as some of the former Lombard possessions associated with the Exarchate of Ravenna to the Papacy in what is referred to as the Donation of Pepin, marking the true beginning of the Papal States.^[9]

The dukes were initially appointees of the exarch, but by mid-century they were created by the Pope.

• Peter ( –725)^[10]
• Marinus (725– )^[11]
• Stephen (fl. 743)^[12]
• Toto (767–68)^[13]
• Gratiosus (769–72)^[14]
• John (772– )^[15]
• Theodore (fl. 772×95)^[16]

The office of Duke of Rome disappeared around 778–81, but there are scattered references to dukes among the Papal officers, who may be successors of the dukes of Rome:

• Leoninus (fl. 772×95)^[17]
• Sergius (815)^[18]

• Gustav Schnürer (1913). "States of the Church" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• AA.VV., Atlante storico-politico del Lazio, Regione Lazio, Editori Laterza, Bari 1996. (in Italian)
• Galasso G., Storia d'Italia, Vol I, Utet, Torino 1995. (in Italian)
• Bavant B., Le Duché byzantin de Rome, Mélanges de l’Ecole Française de Rome 1979. (in French)
• Liber pontificalis. (in Latin)