Urban Transformation of Medieval Rome, 312-1420

"Any discussion of medieval Rome immediately confronts a fundamental dilemma: where should one start? Historians will probably never agree upon an answer to this question. And it can be of course argued that the problem is an artificial one, since it is always futile to set boundaries in time or to mark out strictly defined periods in the continuous flow of history. Some scholars suggest AD 410 as the beginning of the Roman Middle Ages, when Rome was sacked by the Goths for the first time. For other historians the conventional date set for the end of the Roman Empire was AD 476, when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Visi-goth general, Odoacer. Others have suggested that a suitable date for the beginning of the middle ages for Italy at large could be AD 568, when the Lombards unexpectedly invaded Friuli and spread quickly over the whole northern part of the Apennine Peninsula. The following study, however, will start with Constantine the Great, undeniably the most eminent figure of the later Roman Empire and the one who opened the door to a new age."Magnuson, Torgil is the author of 'Urban Transformation of Medieval Rome, 312-1420', published 2004 under ISBN 9789170421679 and ISBN 9170421676.