Map of the Papal States (green) at their greatest extent in 1789, including its exclaves ofBenevento andPontecorvo in southern Italy, and theComtat Venaissin andAvignon in southern France
ThePapal States (/ˈpeɪpəl/PAY-pəl;Italian:Stato Pontificio;Latin:Dicio Pontificia), officially theState of the Church,[9] were a conglomeration of territories on theItalian peninsula under the directsovereign rule of thepope from 756 to 1870.[10] They were among the majorstates of Italy from the 8th century until theunification of Italy, which took place between 1859 and 1870, culminating in their demise.
During theEarly modern period, the papal territory expanded greatly, and the pope became one of Italy's most important rulers as well as the head ofWestern Christianity. At their zenith, the Papal States covered most of the modern Italian regions ofLazio (which includesRome),Marche,Umbria,Romagna, and portions ofEmilia. The popes' reign over these lands was an exemplification of theirtemporal powers as secular rulers, as opposed to their ecclesiastical primacy.
By 1860, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by theKingdom of Italy, except Lazio, which remained under the pope's control. By 1870, only theLeonine City within Rome was retained, the Italian kingdom refraining from occupying it militarily, despite its annexation. In 1929, theItalian fascist leaderBenito Mussolini, the head of theItalian government, ended the "Prisoner in the Vatican" period by negotiating theLateran Treaty, signed by the two parties. This treaty acknowledged the sovereignty of the Holy See over theVatican City, a newly createdcity-state within Rome.
The Papal States were also known as thePapal State; although the plural is usually preferred, the singular is equally correct as the polity was more than a merepersonal union. The territories were referred to variously as theState(s) of the Church, thePontifical States, theEcclesiastical States, thePatrimony of St Peter or theRoman States (Italian:Stato Pontificio, alsoStato della Chiesa,Stati della Chiesa,Stati Pontifici, andStato Ecclesiastico;Latin:Status Pontificius, alsoDicio Pontificia "papal rule").[12] To some extent, the name used varied with the preferences and habits of the European languages in which it was expressed.
For its first 300 years, within theRoman Empire, theChurch was persecuted and unable to hold or transfer property.[13] Early congregations met in rooms set aside for the purpose in the homes of wealthy adherents, and a number oftitular churches located on the outskirts of Rome were held as property by individuals, rather than by any corporate body. Nonetheless, the property held nominally or actually by individual members of the Roman churches would usually be treated as a common patrimony handed over successively to the legitimate "heir" of that property, often its seniordeacons, who were, in turn, assistants to the local bishop. This common patrimony became quite considerable, including as it did not only include houses etc. in Rome or nearby but also landed estates, such aslatifundia, whole or in part, across Italy and beyond.[14]
A law ofConstantine the Great, promulgated in 321, allowed the Christian Church to possess property and restored to it any property formerly confiscated; in the larger cities of this empire the property restored would have been quite considerable, the Roman patrimony not least among them.[13] TheLateran Palace was gifted to the patrimony, most probably from Constantine himself.[13]
Other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. However, the Roman Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, not as a sovereign entity. Following thefall of the Western Roman Empire, the papacy found itself increasingly placed in a precarious and vulnerable position. As central Roman authority disintegrated throughout the late 5th century, control over the Italian peninsula repeatedly changed hands, falling under theArian suzerainty ofOdoacer in 473, and in 493,Theodoric, king of theOstrogoths. The Ostrogothic kings would continue to rule much of Italy until 554. The Roman Church submitted of necessity to their sovereign authority, while asserting its spiritual primacy over the whole of Christendom.[15]
Beginning in 535, theByzantine EmperorJustinian I launched a series ofcampaigns to wrest Italy from the Ostrogoths which continued until 554 and devastated Italy's political and economic structures. The Byzantines established theExarchate of Ravenna of which theDuchy of Rome, an area roughly coterminous with modern dayLazio, was an administrative division. In 568 theLombards entered the peninsula from the north, establishing their ownItalian kingdom, and over the next two centuries wouldconquer most of the Italian territory recently regained by Byzantium. By the 7th century, Byzantine authority was largely limited to a diagonal band running roughly fromRavenna, where the emperor's governor, orexarch, was located, to Rome and south toNaples, plus coastal exclaves.[16] North of Naples, the band of Byzantine control contracted, and the borders of theRome-Ravenna corridor became extremely narrow.[17][18][19]
With effective Byzantine power weighted at the northeast end of this territory, the pope, as the largest landowner and most prestigious figure in Italy, began by default to take on much of the ruling authority that the Byzantines were unable to exercise in the areas surrounding the city of Rome.[20] While the popes legally remained "Roman subjects" under Byzantine authority, in practice the Duchy of Rome became an independent state.[21]
Popular support for the popes in Italy enabled several to defy the will of the Byzantine emperor:Pope Gregory IIexcommunicated EmperorLeo III during theIconoclastic Controversy.[22] Nevertheless, the Pope and the exarch still worked together to limit the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the papacy assumed an ever-larger role in protecting Rome from the Lombards, but lacking direct control over sizable military assets, the pope relied mainly ondiplomacy to achieve as much.[23] In practice, these papal efforts served to focus Lombardaggrandizement on the exarch and Ravenna. A climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries contained in the Lombardic KingLiutprand'sDonation of Sutri (728) toPope Gregory II.[24]
When theExarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751,[25] theDuchy of Rome was completely cut off from the Byzantine Empire, of which it was theoretically still a part. The popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of theFranks. In 751,Pope Zachary hadPepin the Short crowned king in place of the powerlessMerovingian figurehead KingChilderic III. Zachary's successor,Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the titlePatrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, defeated the Lombards, thus taking control of northern Italy, and made a gift of the lands formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope.
From the 9th century to the 12th century, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes andemperors – and between the Papal States and theEmpire – was disputed. It was unclear whether the Papal States were a separate realm with the Pope as their sovereign ruler, or a part of theFrankish Empire over which the popes had administrative control, as suggested in the late-9th-century treatiseLibellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma, or whether the Holy Roman emperors were vicars of the Pope rulingChristendom, with the Pope directly responsible only for the environs of Rome and spiritual duties.
The Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed when it was subdivided amongCharlemagne's grandchildren. Imperial power in Italy waned and the papacy's prestige declined. This led to a rise in the power of the local Roman nobility, and the control of the Papal States during the early 10th century passed to a powerful and corrupt aristocratic family, theTheophylacti. This period was later dubbed theSaeculum obscurum ("dark age"), and sometimes as the "rule by harlots".[26]
In practice, the popes were unable to exercise effective sovereignty over the extensive and mountainous territories of the Papal States, and the region preserved its old system of government, with many small countships and marquisates, each centred upon a fortifiedrocca.
Over several campaigns in the mid-10th century, the German rulerOtto I conquered northern Italy;Pope John XII crowned him emperor (the first so crowned in more than forty years) and the two of them ratified theDiploma Ottonianum, by which the emperor became the guarantor of the independence of the Papal States.[27] Yet over the next two centuries, popes and emperors squabbled over a variety of issues, and the German rulers routinely treated the Papal States as part of their realms on those occasions when they projected power into Northern and Central Italy. As theGregorian Reform worked to free the administration of the church from imperial interference, the independence of the Papal States increased in importance. After the extinction of theHohenstaufen dynasty, the German emperors rarely interfered in Italian affairs. In response to the struggle between theGuelphs and Ghibellines, theTreaty of Venice was signed in 1177. In the treaty, the rights of the Crown inRome and in thePatrimony of Saint Peter were left vague, while papal rights of possession, including the Prefecture of the City of Rome, were recognized but "saving all the rights of the empire".[28] By 1300, the Papal States, along with the rest of the Italian principalities, were effectively independent.
From 1305 to 1378, the popes lived in the papal enclave ofAvignon, surrounded byProvence and under the influence of the French kings.[29][30][31][32][33] This period was known as the "Avignonese" or "Babylonian Captivity".[34] During this period the city of Avignon itself and the surroundingComtat Venaissin was added to the Papal States; it remained a papal possession for some 400 years even after the popes returned to Rome, until it was seized and incorporated into the French state during theFrench Revolution.
During theAvignon Papacy, localdespots took advantage of the absence of the popes to establish themselves in nominally papal cities: thePepoli in Bologna, theOrdelaffi inForlì, theManfredi inFaenza, and theMalatesta inRimini all gave nominal acknowledgment to their papal overlords and were declared vicars of the Church.
In Ferrara, the death ofAzzo VIII d'Este without legitimate heirs (1308[35]) encouragedPope Clement V to bring Ferrara under his direct rule: however, it was governed by his appointed vicar, KingRobert of Naples, for only nine years before the citizens recalled theEste from exile (1317). Interdiction and excommunications were in vain because in 1332, John XXII was obliged to name three Este brothers as his vicars in Ferrara.[36]
In Rome itself, theOrsini and theColonna struggled for supremacy,[37] dividing the city'srioni between them. The resulting aristocratic anarchy in the city provided the setting for the fantastic dreams of universal democracy ofCola di Rienzo, who was acclaimed Tribune of the People in 1347,[38] and met a violent death in early October 1354 as he was assassinated by supporters of the Colonna family.[39] To many, rather than an ancient Roman tribune reborn, he had become just another tyrant using the rhetoric of Roman renewal and rebirth to mask his grab for power.[39] AsGuido Ruggiero states, "even with the support ofPetrarch, his return to first times and the rebirth of ancient Rome was one that would not prevail."[39]
The Rienzo episode engendered renewed attempts from the absentee papacy to re-establish order in the dissolving Papal States, resulting in the military progress of CardinalGil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, who was appointed papal legate, and hiscondottieri heading a small mercenary army. Having received the support of thearchbishop of Milan,Giovanni Visconti, he defeatedGiovanni di Vico, lord ofViterbo, moving againstGaleotto Malatesta of Rimini and theOrdelaffi of Forlì, theMontefeltro ofUrbino and the da Polenta ofRavenna, and against the cities ofSenigallia andAncona. The last holdouts against full Papal control wereGiovanni Manfredi of Faenza andFrancesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì. Albornoz, at the point of being recalled, in a meeting with all the Papal vicars on 29 April 1357, promulgated theConstitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ, which replaced the mosaic of local law and accumulated traditional 'liberties' with a uniform code of civil law. TheseConstitutiones Aegidianae (as they are informally known) mark a watershed in the legal history of the Papal States; they remained in effect until 1816.Pope Urban V ventured a return to Italy in 1367 that proved premature; he returned to Avignon in 1370 just before his death.[40]
During theRenaissance, the Papal territory expanded greatly, notably under PopesAlexander VI andJulius II. The Pope became one of Italy's most important secular rulers as well as the head of the Church, signing treaties with other sovereigns and fighting wars. In practice, though, most of the Papal States were still only nominally controlled by the Pope, and much of the territory was ruled by minor princes. Control was always contested; indeed it took until the 16th century for the Pope to have any genuine control over all his territories.
Papal responsibilities were often in conflict. The Papal States were involved in at least three wars in the first two decades of the 16th century.[41] Julius II, the "Warrior Pope", fought on their behalf.
This period saw a gradual revival of the pope's temporal power in the Papal States. Throughout the 16th century, virtually independentfiefs such as Rimini (a possession of the Malatesta family) were brought back under Papal control. In 1512 the state of the church annexed Parma and Piacenza, which in 1545 became an independentduchy under an illegitimate son ofPope Paul III, albeit as a Papal fief. This process culminated in the reclaiming of theDuchy of Ferrara in 1598,[45][46] and theDuchy of Urbino in 1631.[47]
Although the Papal States underwent significant administrative centralisation, in practice their government rested on two pillars: a clerical core at the centre and a network of urban patriciates in the provincial towns, especially in regions such as theMarch of Ancona, where thiscivic nobility formed a kind of diarchic arrangement between the Roman curia and the local urban patriciates.
This surface was maintained until 1791, when theFrench Revolution affected the temporal territories of the Papacy as well as the Roman Church in general. In 1791 areferendum inComtat Venaissin andAvignon was followed by occupation by Revolutionary France.[48] Later, with theFrench invasion of Italy in 1796, the Legations (the Papal States' northern territories[48]) were seized and became part of theCispadane Republic.
Two years later, French forces invaded the remaining area of the Papal States, and in February 1798 GeneralLouis-Alexandre Berthier declared aRoman Republic.[48]Pope Pius VI fled from Rome toSiena and died in exile inValence in 1799.[48] In October 1799,Neapolitan troops under KingFerdinand invaded the newfound republic and restored Papal States, ending the republic. The French quickly drove the Neapolitans out and reoccupied the Papal States, but didn't bother restoring the republic, as they continued their invasion to Naples, where they establishedanother republic. In June 1800,French Consulate formally concluded the occupation and restored the Papal States, with the newly electedPope Pius VII taking residence in Rome. Yet, in 1808 theFrench Empire underNapoleon invaded again. Then on 2 April 1808, Napoleon decreed that the Papal territories of Urbino, Ancona, Macerata, and Camerino (essentially the region known as the Marches) were to be annexed to the NapoleonicKingdom of Italy. Approximately 13 months later on 17 May 1809, the remainder of the Papal States (including Rome) was annexed to the First French Empire,[48] forming thedépartements ofTibre andTrasimène.
Following the fall of the First French Empire in 1814, theCongress of Vienna formally restored the Italian territories of the Papal States, but not the Comtat Venaissin or Avignon, to Vatican control.[48]
Upon restitution of sovereignty to the Papal States, Pius VII decided to abolish feudalism, transforming all the noble titles (temporarily abolished during the Napoleonic occupation) into honorifics disconnected from territorial privileges. In 1853,Pope Pius IX put an end to the centuries-old duality between thePapal nobility and the Roman baronial families by equating the civic patriciate of the city of Rome with the nobility created by the Pope.
From 1814 until the death ofPope Gregory XVI in 1846, the popes followed areactionary policy in the Papal States. For instance, the city of Rome maintained the lastJewish ghetto in Western Europe.
Italian nationalism had been stoked during the Napoleonic period but dashed by the settlement of theCongress of Vienna (1814–15), which sought to restore the pre-Napoleonic conditions: most of northern Italy was under the rule of junior branches of theHabsburgs and theBourbons. The Papal States in central Italy and the BourbonKingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south were both restored. Popular opposition to the reconstituted and corrupt clerical government led to revoltsin 1830 andin 1848, which were suppressed by the intervention of theAustrian army.
The nationalist and liberal revolutions of 1848 affected much of Europe. In February 1849 aRoman Republic was declared,[49] and the hitherto liberally-inclinedPope Pius IX had to flee the city. The revolution was suppressed withFrench help in 1849 and Pius IX switched to a conservative line of government. Until his return to Rome in 1850, the Papal States were governed by a group of cardinals known as theRed Triumvirate.[50]
In 1860, with much of the region already in rebellion against Papal rule, Piedmont-Sardiniainvaded and conquered the eastern two-thirds of the Papal States, cementing its hold on the south. Bologna, Ferrara, Umbria, the Marches, Benevento and Pontecorvo were all formally annexed by November of the same year. While considerably reduced, the Papal States nevertheless still covered theLatium and large areas northwest of Rome.
A unifiedKingdom of Italy was declared and in March 1861 the firstItalian parliament, which met inTurin, the old capital of Piedmont, declared Rome the capital of the new kingdom. However, the Italian government could not take possession of the city because a French garrison in Rome protected Pope Pius IX.
Barricades atPorta San Giovanni, photographed on 21 September 1870, after the breach of the Aurelian Walls
The opportunity for the Kingdom of Italy to eliminate the Papal States came in 1870; the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War in July prompted Napoleon III to recall his garrison from Rome and the collapse of theSecond French Empire at theBattle of Sedan deprived Rome of its French protector.
KingVictor Emmanuel II at first aimed at a peaceful conquest of the city and proposed sending troops into Rome, under the guise of offering protection to the Pope. When the Pope refused, Italy declared war on 10 September 1870, and theRoyal Italian Army, commanded by GeneralRaffaele Cadorna, crossed the frontier of the Papal territory on September 11 and advanced slowly toward Rome.
The Italian Army reached theAurelian Walls on September 19 and placed Rome under a state of siege. Although the Pope's tiny army was incapable of defending the city, Pius IX ordered it to put up more than token resistance to emphasize that Italy was acquiring Rome by force and not consent. This incidentally served the purposes of the Italian State and gave rise to the myth of theBreach of Porta Pia, in reality, a tame affair involving a cannonade at close range that demolished a 1600-year-old wall in poor repair. The defence of Rome was not however bloodless, with 12 dead and 47 wounded amongst the Papal forces and 32 dead plus 145 wounded of the Italian troops.[53]
Pope Pius IX ordered the commander of the Papal forces to limit the defence of the city in order to avoid bloodshed.[54] Thecity was captured on 20 September 1870. Rome and what was left of the Papal States were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy as a result of aplebiscite the following October. This marked the definitive end of the Papal States.[48]
Despite the fact that the traditionally Catholic powers did not come to the Pope's aid, the papacy rejected the 1871 "Law of Guarantees" and any substantial accommodation with the Italian kingdom, especially any proposal which required the Pope to become an Italian subject. Instead, the papacy confined itself (seePrisoner in the Vatican) to theApostolic Palace and adjacent buildings in the loop of the ancient fortifications known as theLeonine City, onVatican Hill. From there it maintained a number of features pertaining to sovereignty, such as diplomatic relations since in canon law these were inherent in the papacy.
As the plural name Papal States indicates, the various regional components retained their identity under papal rule. The Pope was represented in each province by a governor, who bore one of a number of titles. These included "papal legate", as in the former principality ofBenevento, or atBologna, inRomagna, and theMarch of Ancona; and "papal delegate", as in the former Duchy of Pontecorvo and in theCampagne and Maritime Province. Other titles like "PapalVicar", "Vicar General", and also several titles ofnobility, such as "count" or even "prince" were used.
Until the 17th century, the administrative organization of the Papal States was based on theEgidian Constitutions, which divided the territory in 5 traditional provinces or legations::[56]
The provinces were financially self-sufficient; Rome only exercised coordination. The supreme authority of each individual province was thePapal Legate, who operated with full powers in the name of the Pontiff. The legate governed together with theRector. The territorial physiognomy of the various provinces remained uncertain for a long time. Only underPope Pius IV (1559–1565) was a certain and specific identification established for each province.
Until 1540 all the northern territories (Romagna) were administered by a single papal legation. The Cardinal Legate, head of the local government, resided inBologna, the largest city in the region which becamede facto capital. In 1540,Pope Paul III decided to nominate an apostolic Legate toRavenna, splitting the Provincia of Romagna into two: one legate in Bologna and other in Ravenna.
Following the incorporation of some important territories such as theDuchy of Ferrara, theDuchy of Urbino and theDuchy of Castro, which took place between 1598 and 1649, the Holy See created two new legations: that ofFerrara (during the pontificate ofPope Clement VIII, (1592–1605) and that ofUrbino (strongly desired byPope Urban VIII). The territory of Castro, although dependent onViterbo, continued to enjoy a broad autonomy.[a] In those same years some dioceses of Lazio and Umbria asked for the creation of a new province,Sabina, withCollevecchio as its capital (1605).
In 1627, aCongregation for Borderswas created. This body was responsible for preventing abuses and mediating frequent disputes regarding territorial jurisdiction between the various provinces and, within these, between dioceses or municipalities. During the 17th century, the Egidian Constitutions, although still formally in use, proved increasingly inadequate to the new times.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century,Clement XI and his successor,Innocent XIII, acknowledging the changes that had occurred in the previous century, gave further and more decisive impetus to the process of reforming the political and administrative structure of the state, with the creation of new provinces and the reorganization of the various constituencies on a more homogeneous territorial basis. The aim was to achieve more widespread control over the territory and mitigate the harmful effects of the many aristocratic and municipal privileges that impeded the proper functioning of the state.
The new and more detailed provincial division, not yet drawn up in 1701, at the time of the first (partial) census of the 18th century, would find full implementation in the twenty years that followed and would be entirely reflected in the subsequent census (1767–1769). This division was composed of:
Alongside directly administered territories, the Papal States included numerousfeudal baronies held by ecclesiastical bodies and noble families who exercised jurisdiction over their communities. These territories were governed by their respective lords yet remained within the broader framework of Papal sovereignty.[57]
In the census of 1701 the feudal lands together contained about 264,000 inhabitants and were organized into more than 500 parishes. Most of these territories were controlled by the Papal aristocracy while a smaller portion belonged to religious institutions.[57]
At the time of the 1701 census, the main feudal proprietors within the Papal States included theabbot of Subiaco, the cardinal dean ofVelletri, the DukeCesarini, PrinceBarberini, PrincePamphili, PrinceBorghese, and the ConstableColonna. These ecclesiastical and aristocratic landlords together held roughly one third of the feudal lands of the state, including some of its most densely inhabited districts.[57]
In 1815, with the second restoration following the collapse of Napoleonic control, the Papal government reoccupied its territories and reasserted sovereignty. In the provinces recovered in July 1815 - Bologna, the Legations, the Marche, and Benevento - feudal jurisdictions were abolished outright. In Umbria and Lazio they formally remained in force, but new fiscal burdens led most barons to renounce their rights within a few years.[58]
The reform of 1816 introduced administrative uniformity across the state, revoked municipal statutes and reorganized the territory into delegations headed by papal delegates. Barons who wished to retain jurisdiction were required to contribute substantially to state expenses, which encouraged renunciation of feudal powers. Subsequent reforms further reduced special jurisdictions, completing the transition into a standardized provincial administration.[58]
Men and women in traditional dress seated on a rocky outcrop in theRoman countryside, c. 1850–1853
Population counts in the Papal States began relatively late compared to other Italian states. While parts of Italy carried out censuses as early as the 15th century, the Roman State followed this example only in the mid-17th century.[61]
During the 17th century the Papal States experienced marked population decline. Contemporary observers reported significant reductions in several provinces and dioceses, with some areas losing up to a third of their inhabitants within a few decades. By the 1670s it was claimed that in less than 40 years the state had lost about one third of its subjects.[62]
In 1656 the first general census ordered byPope Alexander VII recorded about 1.8 million inhabitants.[63] The census of 1701 recorded about 1.95 million inhabitants. Population growth between 1656 and 1701 was modest at a few thousand persons per year. A further census in 1708 showed only a slight increase to nearly 1.96 million inhabitants, as grain shortages and epidemics at the beginning of the 18th century slowed demographic expansion.[57]
Between 1708 and 1736 overall population growth remained modest. By 1736 the state had about 2 million inhabitants.[64] Growth was driven mainly by Rome while the provinces increased only slightly. By 1769 the population reached about 2.2 million, and by 1782 about 2.35 million with a marked acceleration after 1769 as the provinces gained more than 150,000 inhabitants in little over a decade.[64]
The population of the Papal States grew steadily during the first half of the 19th century, rising from about 2.36 million inhabitants in 1816 to roughly 2.73 million in 1833, 2.93 million in 1844, and just over 3.13 million by 1853.[60]
According to the 1853 census, 99.7% of the population was Catholic. Jews were the largest non-Catholic group, numbering 9,237, and were concentrated mainly in theComarca of Rome [it] and the provinces of Ancona, Ferrara, and Pesaro e Urbino. All other non-Catholic groups combined accounted for 263 people.[65]
In the 17th century the Papal States faced chronic financial crisis. Revenues of just over 2 millionscudi were largely consumed by debt interest, and public debt rose sharply from about 15 million scudi in the 1620s to around 50 million by the 1670s.[66] Extraordinary levies were also imposed during times of crisis, including a subsidy of about 700,000 scudi during the famine of 1647 to 1648.[67] By 1676 the state carried a public debt that imposed an annual interest burden of about 2.4 million scudi.[67] Heavy fiscal pressures and war expenses contributed to widespread poverty and economic stagnation.
In the 18th century the finances of the Papal States were marked by structural imbalance between ordinary revenue and growing expenditure. In 1729 annual income stood at about 2.7 million scudi against roughly 2.4 million scudi in expenditure, yet tax exemptions and salary increases soon eliminated the surplus and produced a recurring annual deficit of about 120,000 scudi.[68] In 1716 subsidies of 175,000 scudi and later 300,000 scudi were granted to Venice during itswar against the Ottoman Empire despite strained resources.[68]
Court expenditure remained high and large public works were financed through borrowing. By 1736 papal spending reached about 15.8 million lire. In 1736 Clement XII invested 200,000 scudi in the port of Ancona after contracting a loan of 600,000 scudi, increasing the burden of interest on the treasury.[68] In 1753 Benedict XIV sold rights over benefices and revenues to Spain for about 6.7 million lire in gold. The famine of 1763-1764 required major grain imports into Rome and exposed economic vulnerability. Despite partial recovery later in the century the treasury remained unbalanced under Pius VI owing to administrative disorder and sustained court expenditure.[68]
The French invasions imposed heavy financial burdens on the Papal States. Thearmistice of Bologna of 1796 required payment of 21 million lire, of which 5 million were actually paid, and theTreaty of Tolentino of February 1797 imposed a further 30 million lire while ceding Bologna, Ferrara and Ravenna. Public debt rose to 12.3 million scudi, with communal liabilities of 8 million and 3.3 million owed by the Romanannona.[69]
In February 1798 the Roman Republic agreed to pay France 3.6 million scudi. In 1806 the maintenance of Napoleonic troops cost 1.3 million scudi in four months, against annual revenue of about 4 million. By 1811 government debt had reached 74 million scudi, and French authorities liquidated it by suppressing religious corporations and confiscating their property.[69]
In the 19th century the Papal States recorded annual revenues of about 13.5 millionflorins. The fiscal system relied chiefly onindirect taxation, which produced roughly 10 million florins, while direct taxes accounted for about 2.3 million florins. The overall tax burden averaged close to 5 florins per person. Public debt amounted to approximately 187 million florins, a sum that greatly exceeded the state’s yearly income.[70]
In the 1850s, the economy of the Papal States was reportedly predominantly agrarian. The principal products included grain, olives, silk, hemp, wool, cheese, and livestock. Contemporary accounts also noted the presence of wool and silk textile workshops, as well as paper mills, imitation pearl manufactures and rope-making establishments.[71]
In the 1850s, the Papal States used the Roman scudo as their principal unit of currency, divided into 10paoli, each of 10baiocchi. Gold coins in circulation included thezecchino, worth 2 scudi and 8 baiocchi, and thedoppia romana [it], valued at 3 scudi and 21 baiocchi. There were also gold pieces of 8 scudi and of 2½ scudi.[72]
Silver coinage consisted of the scudo and its half, thetestone [it] worth 3 paoli, thepapetto worth 2 paoli, the paolo, and the half paolo. The baiocco was the smallest common denomination. Contemporary conversions placed the scudo at roughly 3.37 French francs.[72]
In 1856 the Papal government granted private concessions to build railways. ARome–Civitavecchia railway was authorized with completion set at three years.[73] Another decree approved the Rome to Bologna line via Ancona, divided into three sections: Rome to Foligno, Foligno to Ancona (now theRome–Ancona railway) andAncona to Bologna, with priority given to the first section.[73] TheRome–Frascati railway was inaugurated in July 1856, and a Bologna to Ferrara extension was also authorized the same year.[73]
After 1600 and especially after 1644, the Papal military became a much lower priority for the state and fell into disrepair. There were various reasons for this. Chief among them were the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the east (especially after their defeat at the hands of the Holy Roman Empire in theGreat Turkish War) and the rise of Holy Roman/Austrian and Spanish power in Italy after the end of theItalian Wars. The former lessened the need for pan-European expeditionary warfare, while the latter established a much more stable regional order, both disincentivizing investment in the military. Despite ruling a relatively large and rich territory the papacy's military strength was effectively irrelevant in its regional context; threats that could plausibly threaten the local hegemon (or a threat from said hegemon itself) would be one that the papacy would be powerless against no matter what preparations it made. The foreign policy issues of Rome - such as the independence of national churches - were thus resolved via diplomacy and spiritual authority rather than military force. The Papal military from the mid 17th century onward was limited to maintaining order within its own borders. By 1796, the Papal States' military was probably the worst one in Europe, and not expected to see any serious combat.[74]
In 1792 the Papal army had a mere 5,000 regular soldiers for a state that controlled most ofCentral Italy. In theory this could be augmented by 80,000 reserves and citizen-militia, though nowhere near as many were actually called up at any point. Control over the military was divided among the Commissioner of Arms (most troops), the Treasurer General (the customs guards and garrisons beyond Lazio), the Secretary of the Consulta (a handful of personnel), and the Master of the Apostolic Palace (the palace guard). Each commander jealously guarded his powers, and the army was restricted to performing the duties of ceremonial honor guard, fortress garrison, border patrol, customs police, coastal surveillance, and law enforcement. Beyond actions against corsairs, bandits, and marauders, the most recent military action had been in 1739, when a papal estate in Romagna had utilized 500 men to invade San Marino over a legal dispute. The navy consisted of only three galleys, two coastal corvettes, and a handful of lighter vessels.[75] When Napoleon's Army of Italy launched its first invasion of papal territory in 1796, units in their path surrendered or deserted at the first appearance of the French, and Romagna was ceded to the French Republic without a fight.[76] At the emperor's encouragement, the Papal States revoked the cession and attempted to force the issue with a newly-built army of 10,000 men, thinking the French would be too busy fighting the Imperials to respond. Imperial officerMichelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi was also made commander-in-chief of the Papal army in hopes he could restore quality. Instead, the French invaded again in1797–1798 after defeating the Imperial (Austrian and Piedmontese) armies in theItalian campaign of 1796–1797. The Papal troops, who never expected to actually fight a serious French presence, were quickly routed and the entire territory of the papacy was occupied by the French Republic.[77]
Between 1860 and 1870 the Papal Army (Esercito Pontificio in Italian) comprised two regiments of locally recruited Italian infantry, two Swiss regiments and a battalion ofIrish volunteers, plus artillery anddragoons.[78] In 1861 an international Catholic volunteer corps, calledPapal Zouaves after a kind of French colonial native Algerian infantry, and imitating their uniform type, was created. Predominantly made up of Belgian, French and Dutch volunteers, this corps saw service againstGaribaldi'sRedshirts, Italian patriots, and finally the forces of the newly united Italy.[79] TheCaptain General of the Church (Italian:Capitano generale della Chiesa) was thede facto commander-in-chief of the Papal States' armed forces. Similarly to 1797, the ossified Papal army provided very little resistance when the Piedmontese-Sardinians invaded various times during theUnification of Italy.
The Papal Army was disbanded in 1870, leaving only thePalatine Guard, which was itself disbanded on 14 September 1970 byPope Paul VI;[80] theNoble Guard, which also disbanded in 1970; and theSwiss Guard, which continues to serve both as a ceremonial unit at the Vatican and as the Pope's protective force.
A smallPapal Navy was also maintained, based atCivitavecchia on the west coast and Ancona on the east. With the fall of the Papal States in 1870, the last ships of the flotilla were sailed to France, where they were sold after the death of Pius IX.
Education in the Papal States in the early 19th century was fragmented and unevenly distributed. Before the 1825 Regulation published by theCongregation of Studies there was no common curriculum, and teaching ranged from basic religious instruction to grammar and history according to local initiative. Many schools were run by religious orders or supported by municipalities, while others functioned clandestinely without license.[81]
In rural dioceses such as Spoleto or Rimini elementary provision was sparse and uneven. In Rome the situation was broader, with regional schools documented in 1817 and numerous charitable or congregational institutions offering free instruction, often centered on religious doctrine. Despite the number of schools in major cities, mediocre teaching standards limited their effectiveness.[81]
^Moya, Gonzalo J. Herreros (2016)."Heráldica y emblemática en las cofradías de Córdoba. Algunos apuntes".Córdoba Cofrade (in Spanish).142: 60.Si hubiera que ser fieles a la realidad histórica, no obstante, los colores de esta bandera no son exactamente fieles, ya que el amarillo y blanco usados en la actualidad por el Vaticano fueron una reforma de los colores de los Estados Pontificios acometida por Pío VII en 1808, pues históricamente, hasta entonces, se habían empleado amarillo y rojo, y por tanto, para describir el escudo de Alejandro VII -muy anterior a este cambio- hubiera sido preferible diseñarla con estos colores papales antiguos.
^"Storia della Bandiera dello Stato della Città del Vaticano".vatican.va (in Italian). 31 December 2000.Anticamente la bandiera dello Stato pontificio era giallorossa (o per meglio dire amaranto e rossa, colori derivati dai colori dello stemma della Santa Sede), i due colori tradizionali del Senato e del Popolo romano, che vennero tuttavia sostituiti con il bianco e il giallo nel 1808. [In ancient times, the flag of the Papal States was yellow and red (or rather amaranth and red, colours derived from the traditional colours of the Holy See), the two traditional colours of the Senate and People of Rome, which however came to be substituted with white and yellow in 1808.]
^"Bandiera pontificia" (in Spanish). Estado de la Ciudad del Vaticano. Archived fromthe original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved2024-03-09.En el pasado, la bandera del Estado pontificio era de color amarillo y granate (o mejor dicho, carmesì y rojo, colores relacionados con el escudo de la Santa Sede), dos colores tradicionales del Senado y del Pueblo romano. [In ancient times, the flag of the Papal States was yellow and red (or rather amaranth and red, colours derived from the traditional colours of the Holy See), the two traditional colours of the Senate and People of Rome.]
^McEvedy, Colin (1961).The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. Penguin Books. p. 32.separated from their theoretical overlord in Pavia by the continuing Imperial control of the Rome-Ravenna corridor.
^Émile Amann and Auguste Dumas,L'église au pouvoir des laïques, in Auguste Fliche and Victor Martin, eds.Histoire de l'Église depuis l'origine jusqu'au nos jours, vol. 7 (Paris 1940, 1948)
^Ganse, Alexander."History of the Papal States".World History at KDMLA. Korean Minjok Leadership Academy.Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved7 March 2013.
^abDurant, Will (1953). "Chapter XXI: The Political Collapse: 1494–1534".The Renaissance.
^Abulafia, David (2003). "The Mediterranean as a battleground".The Mediterranean in History. Getty Publication. p. 268.ISBN978-0892367252.Archived from the original on 2021-09-16. Retrieved2020-11-18.(...) under Giuseppe Garibaldi to overthrow the Neapolitan Bourbons. After defeating a Neapolitan force at Calatafirmi, Garibaldi captured Palermo after three days of street fighting.
^Alvarez, David (2011).The Pope's Soldiers. University Press of Kansas. p. 248.ISBN978-0-7006-1770-8.
Luther, Martin (1521).Passional Christi und AntichristiArchived 2020-09-05 at theWayback Machine. Reprinted in W.H.T. Dau (1921).At the Tribunal of Caesar: Leaves from the Story of Luther's Life. St. Louis: Concordia. (Google Books)
Menache, Sophia (2003).Clement V. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 142.ISBN978-0521521987.Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved2020-11-18.
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