THE CHARTER BY THE EMPEROR OTTO I
s.l., 962 February 13th
Purple parchment, 1015x395 mm, golden Carolingian writing
ASV, A.A., Arm. I‑XVIII, 18
The document, commonly called «Privilegium Ottonianum», is a solemn example, contemporary to the original charter (lost), with which the Emperor Otto I, on the occasion of his crowning (on 2nd February 962 in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, by Pope John XII), reconfirms the donations made by Pepin and Charlemagne (with a formulary which, according to Sickel, seems to remind Leo III’s concessions to Charlemagne) to the Roman Catholic Church and it also regulates the imperial rights over Rome and the papal election, according to Lotario’s Constitutio Romana (year 824): on the basis of the «Privilegium», before being consecrated, the Pope canonically elected will be obliged to promise loyalty to the emperor and to swear not to allow his officials to evade the imperial jurisdiction, as explicitly mentioned in one of the most important passages of the document (from line 43: Et ut ille qui ad hoc sanctum et apostolicum regimen eligitur nemine consentiente consecratus fiat pontifex priusquam talem in presentia missorum nostrorum vel filii nostri seu universae generalitatis faciat promissionem qualem domnus et venerandus spiritalis pater noster Leo sponte fecisse dinoscitur).