Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 11  Num. 79
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                     ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE
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Allegedly,   the   Roman   emperor   Constantine   converted   to
Christianity in 312 A.D.  The Donation of Constantine references,
in part, a supposed donation that Constantine gave to the  bishop
of Rome, who was one of many scattered bishops at that time.  The
alleged  donation  supposedly consisted of Constantine's imperial
symbols and regalia.

What is known  formally  as  "The  Donation  of Constantine" is a
document describing the above donations of symbols  and  regalia,
and  other  things  as  well.  But the document, "The Donation of
Constantine," is now known  to  be,  without question, a forgery.
Who forged it? The papal chancery. [1]

The document claims that Constantine declared the local bishop of
Rome as "Vicar of Christ."  It further claims that, as the  newly
appointed  Vicar  of  Christ,  the  bishop  of  Rome returned the
imperial regalia  to  Constantine.   According  to  the concocted
document, this set a precedent:  the Pope could supposedly create
kings.

In 496 A.D., Clovis I was the Merovingian  king.   He  was  of  a
special  bloodline going back to Jesus the King, and on back from
there to the House of David.   The  Roman Church at that time was
not dominant; it competed with  other  sects,  such  as  Arianism
which denied Jesus' divinity.

King  Clovis  had  several  secret  meetings with his wife, Queen
Clotilde's, confessor, Saint  Remy.   From  these secret meetings
emerged a pact between King Clovis  and  the  Roman  Church.   In
return  for  Clovis  being  proclaimed "Novus Constantinus" ("New
Constantine," emperor  of  a  to-be-created  Holy  Roman Empire),
Clovis would use his armies to crush any sects competing with the
Roman Church.  "The pact between Clovis and the Roman Church" was
"an indissoluble bond" binding the  Merovingians  and  the  Roman
Church "in perpetuity." [1]

Dagobert II of the Merovingian line was born in 651 A.D. Upon his
accession  to the throne, King Dagobert II was lax in serving the
wishes  of  the   Roman   Church,  and  "incurred  ecclesiastical
displeasure."  [1] The Mayor of the Palace  was  Pepin  the  Fat.
Pepin  the Fat aligned himself with Rome and, on December 23, 679
A.D., Dagobert II was  assassinated.   The Roman Church "promptly
endorsed the actions of the king's assassins." [1]

The successive Mayors of the Palace -- Pepin II, Charles  Martel,
and  Pepin III -- gained increasing power.  But Pepin III was not
satisfied with just being Mayor, he wanted to be a king.  He came
to an arrangement with the Pope,  and  the Pope, by virtue of the
spurious document, "Donation of  Constantine,"  proclaimed  Pepin
III  as  king.   But  this  was  "a  brazen  betrayal of the pact
ratified with Clovis two  and  a  half centuries before."  [1] By
what right did the Pope elevate Pepin III to kingship -- supposed
to be based on bloodline -- and cause the  true  king,  Childeric
III,  to  be  deposed  and imprisoned?  Why, it was by right of a
crucial document "discovered" just the year before:  The Donation
of Constantine.

---------------------------<< Notes >>---------------------------
[1] *Holy Blood, Holy  Grail*  by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh,
and Henry Lincoln. ISBN: 0-440-03662-3.

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For related stories, visit:
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html
http://www.netcom.com/~feustel

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