Papal States

Papal States,

Ital. Lo Stato della Chiesa, from 754 to 1870 an independent territory under the temporal rule of the popes, also called the States of the Church and the Pontifical States. The territory varied in size at different times; in 1859 it included c.16,000 sq mi (41,440 sq km) extending north-south on the Italian peninsula, from the Adriatic Sea and lower course of the Po River to the Tyrrhenian Sea, thus including the present regions of Latium, Umbria, Marche, and eastern Emilia-Romagna.

Accumulation of Land

The nucleus of the states consisted of endowments given to the popes from the 4th cent. in and around Rome, in other areas of the Italian mainland, and in Sicily, Sardinia, and other lands; these came to be called the Patrimony of St. Peter. The popes gradually lost their more distant lands, but in the duchy of Rome papal power became stronger and increasingly independent of the Eastern emperors and of the other states in Italy.

In 754 (confirmed 756), Pepin the ShortPepin the Short
(Pepin III), c.714–768, first Carolingian king of the Franks (751–68), son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne. Succeeding his father as mayor of the palace (741), he ruled Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his brother Carloman (d.
..... Click the link for more information. gave to Pope Stephen IIStephen II,
d. 757, pope (752–57), successor of Pope St. Zacharias. When Rome was threatened by the Lombard king Aistulf, Stephen went to Gaul and appealed to Pepin the Short for help. He became the first pope to cross the Alps.
..... Click the link for more information. the exarchate of RavennaRavenna
, city (1991 pop. 135,844), capital of Ravenna prov., in Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, near the Adriatic Sea (with which it is connected by a canal). It is an agricultural market, canal port, and an important industrial center.
..... Click the link for more information. and the Pentapolis (Rimini, Ancona, Fano, Pesaro, and Senigallia). (Like Pope ZachariasZacharias or Zachary, Saint
, pope (741–52), a Calabrian Greek; successor of St. Gregory III. He was the first pope after Gregory the Great not to seek confirmation of his election from the Byzantine emperor.
..... Click the link for more information. , Pope Stephen II had recognized Pepin as rightful king of the Franks, and Pepin now needed papal assistance against the Lombards.) Over these vast territories the popes were long unable to exercise effective temporal sovereignty. In 774, CharlemagneCharlemagne
(Charles the Great or Charles I) [O.Fr.,=Charles the great], 742?–814, emperor of the West (800–814), Carolingian king of the Franks (768–814).
..... Click the link for more information. confirmed the donation of his father, Pepin the Short; moreover, to give the papal claim to temporal power greater antiquity, the so-called Donation of Constantine (see Constantine, Donation ofConstantine, Donation of,
Lat. Constitutum Constantini, forged document, probably drafted in the 8th cent. It purported to be a grant by Roman Emperor Constantine I of great temporal power in Italy and the West to the papacy.
..... Click the link for more information. ) to Pope Sylvester ISylvester I, Saint,
pope (314–35), a Roman; successor of St. Miltiades (St. Melchiades). He was pope under the reign of Emperor Constantine I, who built for him the Lateran and other churches. St.
..... Click the link for more information. was forged. On its basis later popes also claimed suzerainty over Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. In 1115, Countess MatildaMatilda,
1046–1115, countess of Tuscany, called the Great Countess; supporter of Pope Gregory VII in the papal conflict with the Holy Roman emperors. Ruling over Tuscany and parts of Emilia-Romagna and Umbria, she controlled the most powerful feudal state in central Italy.
..... Click the link for more information. of Tuscany, by leaving her territories to the church, helped to precipitate a long struggle between popes and emperors.

In Rome itself, the popes' temporal power, almost nonexistent in the 10th cent., remained greatly limited until the 14th cent. by the interference of the emperors, by the power of the nobles, and by the ambitions of the commune of Rome, which contended that its authority also extended over the Papal States. In the 13th and 14th cent., the emperors renounced their claims to the duchy of Spoleto, the RomagnaRomagna
, historic region, N central Italy, bordering on the Adriatic Sea in the east, now included in the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Tuscany. Although its boundaries varied at different times, the Romagna is now understood to occupy Forlì and Ravenna provs.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the March of Ancona; however, the free communes and petty tyrannies that dominated these regions long resisted effective papal control. The Comtat Venaissin, a papal possession in S France until 1791 (though not a part of the Papal States), was acquired in 1274; in 1309, AvignonAvignon
, city (1990 pop. 86,440), capital of Vaucluse dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm market with a wine trade and a great variety of manufactures.
..... Click the link for more information. became the seat of the popes. From 1309 to 1417, during the "Babylonian Captivity" at Avignon and the Great SchismSchism, Great,
or Schism of the West,
division in the Roman Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. There was no question of faith or practice involved; the schism was a matter of persons and politics.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Papal States were in chaotic condition, only temporarily relieved by the efforts of Cardinal AlbornozAlbornoz, Gil Álvarez Carrillo de
, 1310?–1367, Spanish and papal statesman and general, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Under Alfonso XI of Castile he became archbishop of Toledo and distinguished himself fighting the Moors at Tarifa and Algeciras.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Control of the Territories

Actual control by the papacy of its territories began in the 16th cent., when Cesare BorgiaBorgia, Cesare or Caesar
, 1476–1507, Italian soldier and politician, younger son of Pope Alexander VI and an outstanding figure of the Italian Renaissance.
..... Click the link for more information. , son of Pope Alexander VI, conquered the petty states of the Romagna and Marche; after his fall (1503) most of them passed directly under papal rule. In the early 16th cent., Pope Julius IIJulius II,
1443–1513, pope (1503–13), an Italian named Giuliano della Rovere, b. Savona; successor of Pius III. His uncle Sixtus IV gave him many offices and created him cardinal.
..... Click the link for more information. consolidated papal power by abolishing local autonomies and by participating effectively in the Italian WarsItalian Wars,
1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous rival states, most of which sought foreign alliances to increase their
..... Click the link for more information. . The last principalities to lose their autonomy to the popes were Ferrara (1598) and Urbino (1631). The duchy of Castro was added in 1649. ParmaParma
, city (1991 pop. 170,520), capital of Parma prov., in Emilia-Romagna, N Italy, on the Parma River and on the Aemilian Way. It is a rich agricultural market, a transportation junction, and a major industrial center.
..... Click the link for more information. and Piacenza were alienated (1545) through the nepotism of Pope Paul IIIPaul III,
1468–1549, pope (1534–49), a Roman named Alessandro Farnese; successor of Clement VII. He was created cardinal by Alexander VI, and his influence increased steadily.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Dissolution and Resolution

After the Counter ReformationCounter Reformation,
16th-century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Protestants' revulsion at the corrupt conditions in the church, there was present
..... Click the link for more information. (16th cent.) the spiritual power of the papacy grew while its political power waned. Papal troops, mostly Swiss and other mercenaries, offered almost no resistance to the French invaders under Napoleon Bonaparte (see Napoleon INapoleon I
, 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b. Ajaccio, Corsica, known as "the Little Corporal." Early Life

The son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte (or Buonaparte; see under Bonaparte, family), young Napoleon was sent (1779) to French military schools at
..... Click the link for more information. ) in 1796. Pius VIPius VI,
1717–99, pope (1775–99), an Italian named G. Angelo Braschi, b. Cesena; successor of Clement XIV. He was created cardinal in 1774. Early in his reign he was faced with the attempts of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II to "reform" the church by suppressing
..... Click the link for more information. and his successor, Pius VIIPius VII,
1740–1823, pope (1800–1823), an Italian named Barnaba Chiaramonti, b. Cesena; successor of Pius VI, who had created him cardinal in 1785. He conducted himself ably during the period of the French Revolution, showing sympathy for the social aims of the
..... Click the link for more information. , saw their states curtailed, occupied, and twice abolished between 1796 and 1814. The Congress of Vienna fully restored (1815) the states of the papacy and placed them under Austrian protection.

Conspiracies and revolutions (notably of 1831 and 1848–49) characterized the following decades. Pius IXPius IX,
1792–1878, pope (1846–78), an Italian named Giovanni M. Mastai-Ferretti, b. Senigallia; successor of Gregory XVI. He was cardinal and bishop of Imola when elected pope.
..... Click the link for more information. was liberal at his accession and granted his states a constitution, but the events of 1848 turned him against the revolutionists. During the RisorgimentoRisorgimento
[Ital.,=resurgence], in 19th-century Italian history, period of cultural nationalism and of political activism, leading to unification of Italy. Roots of the Risorgimento
..... Click the link for more information. , only French intervention at Rome prevented the total absorption of the Papal States. After the Austrians left (1859) Bologna and the Romagna, both united (1860) with the kingdom of Sardinia, as did Marche and Umbria. Giuseppe GaribaldiGaribaldi, Giuseppe
, 1807–82, Italian patriot and soldier, a leading figure in the Risorgimento. He remains perhaps the most popular of all Italian heroes of the Risorgimento, and a great revolutionary hero in the Western world.
..... Click the link for more information. invaded the remaining Papal States twice but was prevented from taking Rome—in 1862 by the intervention of Victor Emmanuel IIVictor Emmanuel II,
1820–78, king of Sardinia (1849–61) and first king of united Italy (1861–78). He fought in the war of 1848–49 against Austrian rule in Lombardy-Venetia and ascended the throne when his father, Charles Albert, abdicated after the defeat
..... Click the link for more information. of Italy, and in 1867 by Napoleon IIINapoleon III
(Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), 1808–73, emperor of the French (1852–70), son of Louis Bonaparte (see under Bonaparte, family), king of Holland. Early Life
..... Click the link for more information. .

The fall of Napoleon permitted Victor Emmanuel to seize Rome in 1870. However, Pius IXPius IX,
1792–1878, pope (1846–78), an Italian named Giovanni M. Mastai-Ferretti, b. Senigallia; successor of Gregory XVI. He was cardinal and bishop of Imola when elected pope.
..... Click the link for more information. refused to recognize the loss of temporal power and became a "prisoner" in the Vatican; his successors followed his example. The so-called Roman Question was only resolved in 1929 by the Lateran TreatyLateran Treaty,
concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. One of the important negotiators was Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII.
..... Click the link for more information. , which, among other things, established Vatican CityVatican City
or Holy See,
officially Holy See (State of the Vatican City), independent state (2015 est. pop. 1,000), 108.7 acres (44 hectares), within the city of Rome, Italy, and the residence of the pope, who is its absolute ruler.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See L. M. Duchesne, The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes, A.D. 754–1073 (1898, tr. 1908); D. P. Waley, The Papal State under Martin V (1958); P. Partner, The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance (1972). See also bibliography under papacypapacy
, office of the pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is pope by reason of being bishop of Rome and thus, according to Roman Catholic belief, successor in the see of Rome (the Holy See) to its first bishop, St. Peter.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Papal States

(Stato Pontificio), from the eighth through 19th centuries, a theocratic state located in central Italy and headed by the pope. The capital of the Papal States was Rome.

The Frankish king Pepin the Short laid the foundation for the Papal States in 756, when he donated to Pope Stephen II the area around Rome, part of the territory of the former Exarchate of Ravenna, and the Pentapolis. The Papal States were originally located within the Carolingian Empire, but in 962 they became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Under Pope Innocent III (ruled 1198–1216) they became independent of the emperors, and in 1274 the Hapsburg emperor Rudolf I officially proclaimed their sovereignty. The borders of the Papal States changed frequently.

The secular power of the popes in the Papal States was insignificant, except during certain periods when the papacy was relatively strong. In the tenth through 12th centuries only the territory of Rome and its surrounding districts were actually under papal authority. The antipapal uprising of 1143 led to the collapse of the pope’s secular authority in Rome. Pope Innocent III restored and significantly broadened the papal authority over the former territory of the Papal States.

During the Middle Ages the Papal States were economically among the most backward regions of northern and central Italy. Only some of the cities (Bologna, Perugia, Spoleto, and Rome) had highly developed handicrafts and a significant volume of trade. In general, serfdom survived longer in the Papal States than in other parts of Italy. The population suffered from the wars between the popes and the emperors and from the feudal wars between the popes and the aristocracy. In the 14th century the secular authority of the pope in the Papal States was undermined by the uprising led by Cola di Rienzi in Rome and by antipapal uprisings in a number of towns and cities, including Perugia (1368–69, 1371, and 1375) and Bologna (1376). Of the cities in the Papal States, only Rome and Rimini remained under papal authority by 1377.

From the 15th century the popes concentrated on territorial expansion. In the 16th through 18th centuries an absolutist regime developed in the Papal States. During the period of Napoleonic rule in Italy (late 18th century to 1814), the Roman Republic (1798–99) was established on papal territory. A large part of the Papal States was incorporated into France in 1809. After the restoration of the Papal States by the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), the feudal-clerical reaction was stronger there than in any other region of Italy. At the same time, the Papal States became a focal point for revolutionary ferment (secret societies, conspiracies, and uprisings). In 1848–49 papal Rome became one of the chief centers of the bourgeois revolution in Italy. The papal authority was overthrown in February 1849, and a Roman republic was proclaimed. After the suppression of the revolution and the overthrow of the republic, the secular authority of the pope in the Papal States was maintained by the troops of the French interventionists. During the Revolution of 1859–60, Romagna (March 1860), as well as Umbria and Marche (November 1860), broke away from the Papal States and became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Papal States ceased to exist in 1870, when Rome was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (created in 1861). A small papal state was reestablished on part of the territory of the city of Rome in 1929, in accordance with the Lateran Treaty.

Papal States

Pa·pal States

Papal States

Pa′pal States′

Papal States

Papal States,

Accumulation of Land

Control of the Territories

Dissolution and Resolution

Bibliography

Papal States

Papal States

Words related to Papal States

noun the temporal dominions belonging to the pope (especially in central Italy)

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