Abstract
(First paragraph) I used the "Correspondence of Pope Saint Gregory the Great,” Abbe Migne's Edition, as the principal source material. I have also employed the edition of the Epistolae published by Paul Ewald and L. M. Hartman in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin, 1887-1899), which is the best critical text available. The letters still extant total eight hundred fifty-four. On reading these, I discovered slxty addressed to various Papal agents and dealing primarily with the conduct of what is called the Patrimony of Saint Peter or the Papal Patrimony.|It is my purpose therefore to examine these letters carefully, and so to determine what may have been the policy of Gregory in his care for the Papal Estates and what he accomplished through the exercise of his authority over them as the landlord,|A man who has won the title "the Great", and retained It unchallenged down the ages, must Indeed have exercised an influence felt not only in his own day but in succeeding generations. It will be Interesting to discover to what extent Gregory’s management of the Papal Estates, as evidenced by the letters selected, helped to establish this enviable distinction.