You can tell the author is a bit of a comedian. It begins
with a starving city falling to the invaders, and they bring out the governor
of the city, alive. What does he do? He commands that the invaders leave! The
sardonically humorous barbarian invader listens politely, then kills the
governor.
The Donation of Constantine is a fine work of historical
fiction. Much of it consists of dialogue between characters, some fictional,
some real life. It portrays Pope Stephen II as a conflicted individual, often
wondering if he is of any value with regard to his office as head of the
church. My only problem with this book is that those who are unfamiliar with
the topic of the Byzantine Empire may find this book confusing. Unfortunately,
there isn’t much written about the Byzantine Empire with regards to the middle
ages, while there was a whole lot going on in Catholic Europe.
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