Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The 50,000-seat Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, is inaugurated by the emper-
or Titus. Five thousand animals are slaughtered in the 100-day opening games.
285
To control anarchy within the Roman Empire, Diocletian splits it into two. The eastern half is later in-
corporated into the Byzantine Empire; the western half falls to the barbarians.
313
A year after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the emperor Constantine issues the Edict
of Milan, officially establishing religious tolerance and ending Christian persecution.
476
The fall of Romulus Augustulus marks the end of the Western Empire. This had been on the cards
for years: in 410 the Goths sacked Rome; in 455 the Vandals followed suit.
754
Pope Stephen II and Pepin, king of the Franks, cut a deal resulting in the creation of the Papal States.
The papacy is to rule Rome until Italian unification.
800
Pope Leo III crowns Pepin's son, Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor during Christmas mass at St
Peter's Basilica. A red disk in the basilica marks the spot where it happened.
1084
Rome is sacked by a Norman army after Pope Gregory VII invites them in to help him against the be-
sieging forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV.
1300
Pope Boniface VIII proclaims Rome's first ever Jubilee, offering a full pardon to anyone who makes
the pilgrimage to the city. Up to 200,000 people are said to have come.
1309
Fighting between French-backed pretenders to the papacy and Roman nobility ends in Pope Clement
V transferring to Avignon. Only in 1377 does Pope Gregory XI return to Rome.
1347
Cola di Rienzo, a local notary, declares himself dictator of Rome. Surprisingly, he's welcomed by the
people; less surprisingly he's later driven out of town by the hostile aristocracy.
1378-1417
Squabbling between factions in the Catholic Church leads to the Great Schism. The pope rules in
Rome while the alternative antipope sits in Avignon.
