Lorenzo Valla

The Donation of Constantine is the most famous forgery in European history. Written in the eighth century, it was allegedly a fourth-century document by which the Emperor Constantine the Great gave extensive privileges and property to Pope Sylvester I. This document was accepted as genuine for seven centuries and was cited by at least ten popes in contentions for the recognition of papal control. Lorenzo Valla's 1440 treatise established the Donation of Constantine was forged, and made him a pioneer of modern historical criticism. The reprint is of the 1922 edition of Valla's treatise and presents the Latin text and English translation of it and the forged donation document on facing pages.

"His extant Latin letters are fewer those of many of his contemporaries, since he never collected or consciously preserved them....More plentiful are the letters of others to him, which place him at the center of a humanist network that extended from Venice to Naples....These letters, including one previously unpublished, are now edited for the first time alongside Valla's own correspondence. The translation is the first into any modern language."--Front inside flap of dust jacket.