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Medieval Rome

Type Object Region Southern Europe Time 400–1500

Medieval Rome refers to the city's form from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire to the eve of the Renaissance, when the population plunged from…

Timeline

  1. 400–700Rome · ItalyBarbarian invasions, plagues, and the abandonment of the water supply caused Rome's population to plummet; residents clustered along the Tiber and around churches, and ancient forums and palaces became quarries.
  2. 700–1000Rome (papal district) · ItalyThe pope became the city's actual master, a religious core formed around St. Peter's Basilica and the Lateran, noble families competed for papal offices, and the city took on a fragmented patchwork of church territories.
  3. 1021–1030Rome · ItalyThe Cluniac reform and millennial anxieties fueled a pilgrimage boom; Rome, as an apostolic holy site, drew European faithful, churches were repaired and the monastic network expanded, and signs of slow commercial and artisanal recovery appeared.
  4. 1400–1500Rome · ItalyThe papacy attracted humanists and artists, churches and palaces were rebuilt atop classical ruins, and the medieval form of Rome gradually gave way to Renaissance urban planning.

Sources