The Eternal City Rome - Assignment Example

Rome, the eternal has seen the heights of glory and the depths of despair, and the period between 500 CE and 1200 CE can be said to be one of the most uncertain, anarchic, yet interesting times in its eventful past. Even before the fall of the Western Roman empire in 476 CE , Rome had already been sacked once by the barbarians in 410 CE. When we look at Rome in the year 500 CE, it already had a much diminished appearance. It was now a city ruled by the Goths from Ravenna, suffering the ravages of the wars between Goths and Byzantines over its occupation well into the 6th century. There was a vacuum created by the collapse of the city's secular government, extensive vandalization by barbarians and the reduction of the senate to almost a municipal organization. Plagues and floods took their toll. More crucially, the aqueducts which had formed the backbone of the efficient and complex water supply system that served most of Rome fell into disrepair after barbarian raids, leading to the population shrinking towards the river Tiber and around the Campus Martius, and falling to less than 50,000 people. Into this situation the popes of Rome stepped in, creating a serviceable network of churches and ecclesiastical institutions in order to govern the city. The city was thus introduced to Christianity and soon laid claims to being the most important Christian spiritual center. But the Church was not alone in wanting to govern Rome. By 552CE, Rome came to be occupied by the Byzantine empire, and thus began a conflict of interest between the church and the Byzantine regime that was to last for the next few centuries. Under the Byzantine rule, trade, commerce and administration deteriorated, and Rome became a shadow of its former self. The Byzantine emperor Constans II visited Rome in 663 CE, only to strip the city of all its metal from buildings and statues in order to make armaments. The Byzantine city of Constantinople soon emerged to usurp all the commercial successes of Rome, and its former influence in trade in Europe and Asia. With the decimation of the aristocratic class of Rome, a huge market of luxurious goods eventually disappeared taking away prosperity from the common people of Rome, many of whom had found jobs in the trade or manufacture of luxury items. A lot of the famous Roman skills in artisanship also disappeared due this lack of market. More and more people began leaving Rome. Trade in Rome also suffered due to insecure road and maritime travel at the mercy of Germanic and barbarian tribes in what was left of the mighty Roman empire. After Pope Gregory I took over in the 6th century and began to exert more influence than the Byzantine imperial exarchs, the populace of Rome got divided into the clergy, nobility, soldiers, and the lowest class, thus introducing a sphere of Christian influence in socio-political scenario in Rome. But the Church and its members that wanted to govern Rome along with the Byzantian empire were more interested in self-aggrandizement than in the benefit of the city itself, having become too used to the luxurious ways of the erstwhile Roman elite. Even before the fall of Rome, the popes had concentrated their energies in developing their own domain at the eastern edge of the city far away from other Roman habitations, called the Lateran. It is to Lateran that the church limited most of its activities in Rome largely ignoring the disrepair to which the city gradually fell. The pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Peter, where the saint's holy remains were supposed to have been interred, became a sort of commercial activity around which a suburb developed after a fashion, but even the visiting pilgrims who came to pay their homage failed to make any difference to the state of Rome and its gradual decline. Even after the suzerainty of Rome to the Byzantine empire was formally over in the 800CE with the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III, the papacy was not able to consolidate its hold over the city, and the Arabs sacked Rome in 846CE. The following centuries were full of turmoil because despite Rome now formally being under papal rule, the election of the popes had become a matter of contention. Rival members of the powerful nobility the Frangipani and Pierleone families, for example, and subsequently the Orsini and the Colonna, emerged in support of different candidates for the post of the legitimate pope, which often led to strife, sparring and anarchy. Rome got divided into individual fortresses of the noble families who fought for control over the city till almost 1000CE. While Rome was enveloped in political turmoil, other city- states like Milan, Florence and Venice prospered as centers of commerce, not to mention the Eastern city of Constantinople which became one of the most important cities of the early medieval era. The cities under the control of the Byzantine empire continued to prosper because trade was facilitated by a stable administration. Cities like Florence had bishops of their own, and thus had Christian seats of power as well as avenues of economic attainment. Rome, despite being home to one of the primary seats of Christanity continued to suffer under conflicted administrations and constant power struggles all seeking control of the once glorious city. It saw a brief respite in the hands of Alberic who siezed power in 932 CE, but went back to its rudderless state soon after. The setting up of a commune by Arnold of Brescia in 1144-55 was the next challenge to papal authority, but by 1200 CE, Rome was not in much better a state than it was in 500 CE. Thus, despite being a spiritual attraction, power struggles and lack of upkeep prevented it from becoming a prosperous and peaceful city that could emerge as a dominant entity in the city system that was evolving around it. The eternal city would have to wait for the age of Reformation and Renaissance in the 15th century and thereafter to regain some of its former glory. Read More