Book contents
- Rome in the Ninth Century
- British School at Rome Studies
- Rome in the Ninth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Ninth-century Popes
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Rome in 800: The Pontificate of Leo III
- 3 Paschal I, the Church of Santa Prassede and the Question of a ‘Carolingian Renovatio’ in Rome
- 4 Paschal I: Other Projects
- 5 Eugenius II, Gregory IV and Sergius II
- 6 The Gathering Storm: The Pontificate of Pope Leo IV (847–55)
- 7 Benedict III, Nicholas I and Hadrian II, and the Continuing ‘Greek’ Presence in Rome
- 8 The Last Hurrah: John VIII (872–82)
- 9 ‘Not with a Bang but a Whimper’
- Afterword
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - The Last Hurrah: John VIII (872–82)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2023
- Rome in the Ninth Century
- British School at Rome Studies
- Rome in the Ninth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Ninth-century Popes
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Rome in 800: The Pontificate of Leo III
- 3 Paschal I, the Church of Santa Prassede and the Question of a ‘Carolingian Renovatio’ in Rome
- 4 Paschal I: Other Projects
- 5 Eugenius II, Gregory IV and Sergius II
- 6 The Gathering Storm: The Pontificate of Pope Leo IV (847–55)
- 7 Benedict III, Nicholas I and Hadrian II, and the Continuing ‘Greek’ Presence in Rome
- 8 The Last Hurrah: John VIII (872–82)
- 9 ‘Not with a Bang but a Whimper’
- Afterword
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter is devoted to the pontificate of John VIII (872–882) and the significant physical threat to the city of Rome posed principally although not exclusively by Muslim marauders from North Africa, particularly in the aftermath of the death of Emperor Louis II in 875. Papal efforts to find new military champions were largely unsuccessful, although a significant victory was scored by the Byzantine imperial fleet at the mouth of the Tiber in 880. John VIII also constructed fortifications to defend the church and monastery of San Paolo fuori le mura, hoping to present a repeat of the sack of 846. Although the papal court is known to have been a hotbed of intellectual activity, little has survived from this era in the way of material culture except for the conversion of the temple of Portunus into the church of Santa Maria de Secundicerio by a senior lay official, Stephen secundicerius. Surviving fragments of its mural decorations reveal the influence of both apocryphal texts about the life of Mary as well as contemporary Byzantine hagiographic literature. This leads to a discussion of the place of origin of certain contemporaneous Byzantine manuscripts which share the same style as the murals, most notably the Paris Sacra Parallela (BnF gr. 923).
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- Rome in the Ninth CenturyA History in Art, pp. 196 - 234Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023