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The Leonine City (in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 Civitas Leonina) is that part of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 around which Pope Leo IV
Pope Leo IV

Pope Saint Leo IV was pope from April 10, 847 to July 17, 855.A Rome by birth, he was unanimously chosen to succeed Pope Sergius II. When he was elected, on April 10, 847, he was cardinal of Santi Quattro Coronati, and had been subdeacon of Pope Gregory IV and archpriest under his predecessor....
 commissioned the construction of the Leonine Wall. It is on the opposite side of the Tiber
Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea....
 from the seven hills of Rome
Seven hills of Rome

The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the Servian Wall of the ancient city.The seven hills are:...
. The Vatican City
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
 is within that area, but the Leonine City, containing also the Roman rione
Rione

Rione is the name given to a ward in several Italian cities, the best-known of which is rioni of Rome. Unlike a quartiere, a rione is usually an official administrative subdivision....
 of Borgo
Borgo (rione of Rome)

Borgo , is the 14th historic district of Rome. It lies on the west bank of the Tiber, and has a trapezoidal shape. Its Coat of Arms shows a lion , lying in front of three mounts and a star....
, is much more extensive than the tiny Vatican City.

Leonine Wall, which defines the Leonine City, was constructed following the sack of St.Peter by Saracens in 846.






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The Leonine City (in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 Civitas Leonina) is that part of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 around which Pope Leo IV
Pope Leo IV

Pope Saint Leo IV was pope from April 10, 847 to July 17, 855.A Rome by birth, he was unanimously chosen to succeed Pope Sergius II. When he was elected, on April 10, 847, he was cardinal of Santi Quattro Coronati, and had been subdeacon of Pope Gregory IV and archpriest under his predecessor....
 commissioned the construction of the Leonine Wall. It is on the opposite side of the Tiber
Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea....
 from the seven hills of Rome
Seven hills of Rome

The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the Servian Wall of the ancient city.The seven hills are:...
. The Vatican City
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
 is within that area, but the Leonine City, containing also the Roman rione
Rione

Rione is the name given to a ward in several Italian cities, the best-known of which is rioni of Rome. Unlike a quartiere, a rione is usually an official administrative subdivision....
 of Borgo
Borgo (rione of Rome)

Borgo , is the 14th historic district of Rome. It lies on the west bank of the Tiber, and has a trapezoidal shape. Its Coat of Arms shows a lion , lying in front of three mounts and a star....
, is much more extensive than the tiny Vatican City.

History

The Leonine Wall, which defines the Leonine City, was constructed following the sack of St.Peter by Saracens in 846. Built from 848 to 852 as the only extension to the walls of Rome, this three-kilometre wall completely encircled the Vatican
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
 area (Civitas Leoniana). In addition, chain-towers were also built on either side of the Tiber
Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea....
 river to repel Saracen assaults by water. Pope Leo IV used his estate workers, inhabitants from the surrounding countryside and captured Saracens, along with an imperial Frankish donation, to construct the wall.

Pope Gregory VII

After refusing to crown Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV was King of Germany from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century....
 as the next Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor

Image:HRR 14Jh.jpgThe Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480....
, Pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII

Pope Saint Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Soana , was papacy from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal authority and the new canon law governing...
 found himself under siege within the Leonine City. After Henry took the city, Gregory fled to Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome, initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family....
. Gregory attributed the loss of the Leonine City to famine and negligence and not so much "the courage of Henry's men".

Lateran Treaty

In 1870, when the military forces of the Kingdom of Italy overthrew what was left of the Papal States
Papal States

The Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia ....
, the Italian government intended to allow the pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 to keep the Leonine City as a small remnant Papal State. However, Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was Pope from June 16, 1846 until his death. His was the longest reign in Church history, lasting 32 years....
 would not agree to that arrangement, and thus there was a 59-year standoff
Prisoner in the Vatican

A prisoner in the Vatican is what Pope Pius IX claimed to be after the army of the Kingdom of Italy entered Rome , as a component of Italian unification, and ending the millennial temporal power of the popes over central Italy....
, settled in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty, which recognized the sovereignty and independence of the Vatican City.

See also

  • Borgo
    Borgo (rione of Rome)

    Borgo , is the 14th historic district of Rome. It lies on the west bank of the Tiber, and has a trapezoidal shape. Its Coat of Arms shows a lion , lying in front of three mounts and a star....
  • Trastevere
    Trastevere

    Trastevere is Rioni of Rome XIII of Rome, on the west bank of the Tiber, south of Vatican City. Its name comes from the Latin trans Tiberim, meaning literally "beyond the Tiber"....