Bologna, Concordat of

an agreement concluded in Bologna in 1516 between the French king Francis I and Pope LeoX.

The Concordat of Bologna defined the reciprocal relations of the king and the pope with the Gallican Church. The king’s power made several concessions to the papacy and yielded a number of positions which had been proclaimed by the king of France in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438. The Concordat of Bologna did not mention the rights of church councils; the annates were restored, and the papacy kept the right to be the highest authority of the ecclesiastical court. However, under the Concordat of Bologna the king acquired the right to appoint people to the highest church offices; thus, by having at his disposal church incomes and benefices, the king was able to reward the nobility.