Lecture Access

This lecture will be available to view until 5 October 2026

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OVERVIEW

Watch on Demand | Online Lectures


For more than two millennia, the papacy has shaped the spiritual and political life of the Western world. Yet the institution we recognise today was far from inevitable. 

The Bishop of Rome began as one voice among many in the early Christian church — and the story of how that office transformed into a sovereign power commanding the obedience of kings and emperors is one of history's most remarkable journeys. 

In this first of a four-part series, Dr Eireann Marshall examines the foundations of papal authority, tracing the complex interplay of theology, politics, and ambition that shaped the medieval church. From Constantine's legalisation of Christianity and the great councils of the early church, to the power vacuum left by the crumbling Western Roman Empire, she reveals how the bishops of Rome steadily accumulated both spiritual prestige and temporal power. The forged Donation of Constantine, the landmark Donation of Pepin, and the sweeping claims of Boniface VIII all feature in a story that ends – for now – on a collision course with the French crown.

LECTURER

Biography

Eireann is an Honorary Research Associate and Associate Lecturer with The Open University. Raised in the Veneto and educated at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the Universities of Birmingham and Exeter, she brings a rich international perspective to classical civilisation. With extensive experience as a lecturer and tour leader across Italy, Tunisia, Sicily and beyond including Venice, Pompeii and Ravenna – Eireann is bilingual in English and Italian, and combines scholarly rigour with engaging storytelling. Her lectures for Academy Travel invite listeners to explore the ancient world not just as history but as a living dialogue between past and present – bringing monuments, art and ideas vividly to life.

Dr Eireann Marshall

Classicist & Historian