I read the first volume of the history of the papacy, from St. Peter's (30-67 AD) to Gregory IX (1227-1241 AD) and I must say that I was really impressed.
The book is very well written, the historical research is thorough but always clear and legible. The popes (and their antipopes) are presented individually and accompanied by their portrait. What I liked the most is how the relationships between the popes are presented and the temporal power, kings and emperors, from east and west and then the first communes of Italy. The history of the Church, with the councils and falsifications, is well explained, always highlighting the consequences of the main actions of the popes.
Great personalities like that of Leo the Great (440-461 AD) confronting in Peschiera the king of the Huns, Attila, saving Rome, alternate with immoral and brutal characters from the Roman aristocracy (and not) in the hands of matrons of dubious faith Catholic such as Marozia, true dominator of Rome between the 925 and the 935 dCL and struggles for power between Tusculum and Crescenzi will bring on the papal throne elements such as Benedict IX (1032-1044), one of the cruellest and ignoble popes of the entire history of church in my opinion, capable of murder, to sell the office of pope and to enter the papal throne for good three times staining every kind of crime. And what about the councils of Nicea, the false deeds of donation of Constantine, used for create the juridical bases of the temporal power of the church ... all of this exhibited masterfully, thanks also to the help of the Liber pontificalis and the works of Gregorovius, historian of the 800.
Ultimately, the book can not miss in the library of every home!
Alessandro Rugolo
