Donation of Constantine

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2020 Cambridge University Press - Academic - Rome and the Invention of the Papacy: The Liber Pontificalis
321 In AD 321 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great declared the Christian Church could hold and transmit property. This was the first legal basis for the possessions of the Church of Rome. Subsequently, they were augmented by donations. Constantine himself probably gave the Church the Lateran Palace in Rome. Constantine's gifts formed the historical nucleus for the network of myth that gave rise to the forged document known as the "Donation of Constantine".[1]
Composed probably in the 8th century, it was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy.
Investiture Controversy
Pseudo-Isidore
The Donation of Constantine (Latin: Donatio Constantini) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome...