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4 unusual facts about The Ring and the Book


Cadaver Synod

Robert Browning's lengthy poem, The Ring and the Book, devotes 134 lines to the Cadaver Synod, in the chapter called The Pope.

Pope Innocent XII

Innocent XII appears as one of the narrators in Robert Browning's long poem "The Ring and the Book" (1869), based on the true story of the Pope's intervention in a historical murder trial in Rome during his papacy.

The Ring and the Book

After Browning's death, a cache of documents relating to the case almost twice the size of the Yellow Book was found in an Italian library in the 1920s; the true story of the murder is told in Derek Parker, 'Roman Murder Mystery', London, Sutton, 2001.

Having been found guilty despite his protests and sentenced to death, Franceschini then appeals—unsuccessfully—to Pope Innocent XII to overturn the conviction.



see also