Garrido, Antonio - The Scribe

Theresa’s hand clamped around the stylus under her dress. She did not trust Alcuin. But if she had to risk her life to save her father, she wouldn’t hesitate, so she nodded and sat down again. The monk was pleased with her decision and sat himself at the other end of the table. Then he tidied several documents before looking at Theresa.

“Biscuit?” he offered.

She declined with a grim expression. He gulped it down in one mouthful, then he held out the document she had been working on.

“As you know, you’ve been transcribing a reproduction of the original document that was lost many years ago, a parchment with the Emperor Constantine’s seal granting lands and rights to the Roman Papacy.”

Theresa nodded, but she didn’t release the stylus.

“The parchment legitimized Rome’s power in the face of the Byzantine Empire. Perhaps you are not aware of the current situation of the Papacy, but forty years ago, following the conquest of Ravenna by the Lombards, Pope Stephen II requested assistance from Byzantium to defend himself against the pagans.” He poured a little milk into a badly washed chalice. “When he received no response from Byzantium, the pope crossed the Alps and appeared before the king of the Franks at the time, Charlemagne’s father, Pepin. Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin and his sons, bestowing upon them the title of Patrician of the Romans, and in exchange he asked for their protection in the fight against the Lombards. Are you sure you don’t want a biscuit?”

Theresa declined again with a gesture. Though she could not yet understand the relationship between Alcuin’s story and the recent spate of murders, she patiently waited for him to finish.

“At the pope’s request, Pepin and his troops traveled to Italy, where they crushed the Lombards,” he continued. “Their victory won the Exarchate of Ravenna for the Papacy, comprising the cities of Bologna and Ferrara, among others. It also secured the March of Ancona, with the Pentapolis, Rome itself, and the recovery of the rest of the duchy occupied by the Lombards. In short: The Lombards attacked Rome, and Rome asked Byzantium for help. When they did not obtain it, they turned to Pepin again, who after defeating the Lombards returned the occupied territories to Rome.”

He looked at Theresa to make sure she was following him. Then he continued, “Up to this point, all would have been well if Byzantium had not demanded that the pope hand over the Exarchate of Ravenna, a territory that prior to the Lombard invasion had belonged to them. Rome wanted to enforce the Donation of Constantine, the document that allocated these lands to the Papacy, but Byzantium took no notice of their demand and maintained their claim on the territories. And not only that: Constantinople itself supported the Barbarians in their re-conquering of the lands that the Frankish king had taken from them.”

“You’re saying Byzantium helped the Lombards to defeat the Romans?”

“Christians against Christians—a tragedy, is it not? Yet, what is politics if not a thirst for power? Just look at the envy that drove Cain to kill his brother. With the support of the Greeks, the Lombards defeated the pope, confining him to a few arpents of land. However, Rome still had the parchment—the document that legitimized their demands—so the recently appointed Roman Pope Adrian I went to France to brandish the document before Charlemagne.”

Alcuin left and returned with more biscuits. He bit into one and offered the other to Theresa, who finally accepted.

“Charlemagne led his army to Italy, where he swept aside the Lombards, restoring the lands to the Papacy and warning the Byzantines of their obligations to the Papal States. The restitutions included the donation of Bologna, Ferrara, other cities of the lower Po and the north of Tuscany such as Parma, Reggio, and Mantua, and even Venice and Istria in the north, and the Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. He gave the Papacy practically all of southern Italy with the exception of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily and the enclaves of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, which were under Byzantine rule at the time, as well as the island of Corsica, Sabina, and levies in Tuscany and Spoleto. A few years later, Charlemagne added some cities to the south of Tuscany—like Orvieto and Viterbo. And in Campania, he added Aquino, Arpino, and Capua. All of this, evidently, did not sit well with Byzantium.”

Theresa was silent, but from her face Alcuin could tell he was overdoing it.

“Sorry,” he apologized. He rummaged through his papers, pretending to arrange them. “In short, the important thing is that Charlemagne managed to enforce the terms stated in the Donation of Constantine, thereby earning the eternal gratitude of the Papacy.”

Theresa drummed her fingers on the table. Alcuin looked at her and nodded. “Allow me to finish and perhaps you will understand the reasons for what is happening now.” He smoothed his hair and took a deep breath before continuing. “Byzantium begrudgingly accepted their losses, in part because of the indolence of their emperor, Constantine VI—and in part for fear of Charlemagne’s host. Things stayed calm until a couple of years ago. Then, Irene of Athens, Constantine VI’s mother, and a relative of the Devil I would say, ordered that her son be arrested and have his eyes gouged out so that she could be crowned Empress of Byzantium.”

“She murdered her son?”

“No, all she did was imprison and blind him. A caring mother, don’t you think? Well, as you can imagine, the harpy soon started plotting against the Papacy. Not long after she ascended to the throne she sent an assassin to Rome with the intention of stealing the document in which the legacy was recognized.”

“The Donation of Constantine.”

“Exactly.”

Theresa looked at the parchment with the feeling that the enigma was slowly revealing itself. Yet, she was still confounded by Alcuin’s behavior.

The monk continued. “Through bribery, the empress’s assassin gained access to the document, which he managed to destroy before he was caught by the papal custodian. The thief was executed, but the document lay charred on the Vatican floor. Since then Irene has questioned the validity of the Donation through diplomatic missions, particularly after finding out that Pope Leo III wants to crown Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor.”

Theresa could not hide her astonishment. Everyone knew that the emperor was the Byzantine monarch.

“Well, the pope doesn’t think so,” Alcuin continued. “Rome wishes to strengthen its relationship with an emperor who is both energetic and understanding, a monarch who has demonstrated his valor and generosity. But Irene sees this decision as a maneuver that will drain Byzantium’s power, thus she wants to prevent it. By destroying the document, the empress has got rid of the proof of the legitimacy of the Papacy’s possessions, and without physical proof to validate it, nothing can prevent her from attacking Rome to stop Charlemagne being named emperor.”

“But it makes no sense. How can the existence of the document be so significant? It’s nothing more than parchment.” She was beginning to grow weary of Alcuin’s lecture, never forgetting that all the while her father was dying in a meat safe.

“You might think so, but sooner or later Irene will die, just as we all will. And those who will follow us will have the same desires, the same ambitions. It’s not just a question of the whim of one powerful woman: The very future of humanity is at stake. To win this battle the Papal States must secure legal ownership of their possessions, which will in turn protect Charlemagne’s ascension to Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne will guide the Western Empire along the path of Our Lord, promote learning, fight heresy, crush the pagans and the infidels, spread the Word of God, unify believers, and subjugate blasphemers. This is the real reason why the document must be finished. Otherwise, we will witness endless battles that will continue for centuries until Christendom is destroyed.”