Rosamond McKitterick (editor) - Old Saint Peters, Rome

Saint Peter's basilica in Rome is arguably the most important church in western Christendom, and is among the most significant buildings anywhere in the world. However, the church that is visible today is a youthful upstart, only four hundred years old in comparison with the twelve-hundred-year-old church whose site it occupies. A very small proportion of the original is now extant, entirely covered over by the new basilica, but enough survives to make reconstruction of the first Saint Peter's possible and much new evidence has been uncovered in the past thirty years. This is the first full study of the older church, from its late antique construction to Renaissance destruction, in its historical context. An international team of historians, art historians, archaeologists and liturgists explores aspects of the basilica's history, from its physical fabric to the activities that took place within its walls and its relationship with the city of Rome.

Rosamond Mckitterick is Professor of Medieval History in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. She has published on literacy, manuscript transmission, perceptions of the past and political culture in the early Middle Ages. In addition to many articles, chapters in books, edited books and monographs, her most recent books include History and Memory in the Carolingian World (Cambridge, 2004), Charlemagne: the Formation of a European Identity (Cambridge, 2008) and Rome across Time and Space: Cultural Transmission and the Exchange of Ideas, c. 5001400 (with C. Bolgia and J. Osborne, Cambridge, 2011).

John Osborne is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa. His publications cover topics as varied as the Roman catacombs, the fragmentary mural paintings from excavated churches such as San Clemente and Santa Maria Antiqua, the decorative programme of the church of San Marco in Venice, seventeenth-century antiquarian drawings of medieval monuments, cultural transmission between western Europe and Byzantium, and the medieval understanding and use of Rome's heritage of ancient buildings and statuary.

Carol M. Richardson is Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. Her book Reclaiming Rome: Cardinals in the Fifteenth Century (2009) was described as a milestone in the history not only of artistic patronage but also of the papacy in fifteenth-century Rome [which] will become a standard work for scholars to return to again and again (Simon Ditchfield, Art History 34/1 (2011)). She has also edited a number of Open University text books which are widely used to teach history of art on both sides of the Atlantic.

Joanna Story is Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester, specializing in interdisciplinary research into the history and archaeology of Europe in the age of Charlemagne. She has published widely on the contacts between Anglo-Saxon England and the Continent at this time, focusing especially on manuscripts and inscriptions, and the links between England and Rome.

British School at Rome Studies builds on the prestigious and longstanding Monographs series of the British School at Rome. It publishes both definitive reports on the School's own fieldwork in Rome, Italy and the Mediterranean, and volumes (usually originating in conferences held at the School) on topics that cover the full range of the history, archaeology and art history of the western Mediterranean.

For a list of titles published in the series, please see .

Old Saint Peter's, Rome

Edited by

Rosamond McKitterick

John Osborne

Carol M. Richardson

and

Joanna Story

University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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The British School at Rome 2013

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First published 2013

Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Old Saint Peters, Rome / edited by Rosamond McKitterick, John Osborne, Carol M. Richardson and Joanna Story.

pagescm (British School at Rome studies)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-107-04164-6 (hardback)

1. Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano History.

2. Vatican City Antiquities.

3. Vatican City Buildings, structures, etc.

4. Church architecture Vatican City.

5. Church history Middle Ages, 6001500.

I. McKitterick, Rosamond,

1949 author, editor of compilation.

II. Osborne, John, 1951 author, editor of compilation.

III. Richardson, Carol M.,1969 author, editor of compilation.

IV. Story, Joanna, 1970 author, editor of compilation.

NA5620.S9O432013 726.5093763 dc232013013112

ISBN 978-1-107-04164-6 Hardback

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For Maria Pia Malvezzi