Previously, Otto III had revoked the Pope's rights as secular ruler by denying the " Donation of Constantine " and by amending the " Diploma Ottonianum ".
22.
In 1054, Pope Leo IX sent a letter to Michael C�rularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, that cited a large portion of the forgery called the Donation of Constantine, believing it genuine.
23.
The myth of the " Donation of Constantine " is embellished further in a 5th-century hagiographic text " Vita S Silvestri " ( or " Actus S Silvestri " ).
24.
Compared with the Donation of Constantine, a medieval forgery giving temporal and spiritual supremacy over most of civilization to Pope Sylvester I, the Kennedy papers _ even Hitler's diary _ are small potatoes.
25.
This was no doubt suggested by the Donation of Constantine, but it now came to be used only at the coronation of Popes, starting with Gregory XI in 1370 and his successor Urban VI in 1378.
26.
In 1433 he identified the " Donation of Constantine " as a fake, confirmed by Lorenzo Valla a few years later, and revealed the forgery of the " Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals ".
27.
Sometimes, in the case of forged documents, they can actually change history itself : the " Donation of Constantine " and the " Protocols of the Elders of Zion " are two such fakes.
28.
For example, the mid-eighth-century document purporting to be the " Donation of Constantine " repeatedly declares that its grant of imperial prerogatives and patriarchal primacy is made to " the most holy Roman Church ".
29.
In one of the 41 sections of his letter he also speaks of privileges granted by the emperors, quoting from the " Donation of Constantine " document, which he believed to be genuine ( section 20 ).
30.
The " Donation of Constantine ", an 8th-century forgery used to enhance the prestige and authority of popes, places the pope more centrally in the Julius I ( 337-352 ) during the life of Constantine.
