Papal States

Vatican City, 754 CE–1870. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. The state was legally established in the 8th century when Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, gave Pope Stephen II, as a temporal sovereign, lands formerly held by Arian Christian Lombards. At their zenith, the Papal States covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio (which includes Rome), Marche, Umbria, Romagna, and portions of Emilia. In 1870, all of Lazio, including Rome, was annexed by the Italian kingdom, which refrained from occupying the Leonine City militarily.

Seat of power: Rome

Rulers

Adrian I

Pope, 772 CE–795 CE

Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic attempts by the Lombards to expand their holdings in Italy at the expense of the papacy. When the Pope failed to do so, Desiderius invaded Papal territory and seized the Duchy of the Pentapolis. Charlemagne besieged Pavia and took the Lombard crown for himself.

Portrait of Adrian I: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Leo III

Pope, 796 CE–816 CE

Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him emperor.

Portrait of Leo III: Various: Original: Unknown authorUnknown author Restoration: Ferdinando Fuga (1743), Public domain, file

Gregory IV

Pope, 827 CE–844 CE

His pontificate was notable for the papacy's attempts to intervene in the quarrels between Emperor Louis the Pious and his sons. His pontificate also saw the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in 843.

Portrait of Gregory IV: Fulda, Public domain, file

Paschal II

Pope, 1099–1118

After Pope Urban II's death, Paschal reacted to the success of the First Crusade by preaching the penitential Crusade of 1101. His reign of almost twenty years was exceptionally long for a medieval pope.

Portrait of Paschal II: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file

Alexander III

Pope, 1159–1181

Alexander became pope after a contested election, but had to spend much of his pontificate outside Rome while several rivals, supported by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, claimed the papacy. He canonized Thomas Becket and Bernard of Clairvaux.

Portrait of Alexander III: Possibly Matthew Paris, Public domain, file

Innocent III

Pope, 1198–1216

Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings. He organized the Fourth Crusade of 1202 to 1204, which ended in the sack of Constantinople.

Portrait of Innocent III: Carlo Raso, Public domain, file

John XXII

Pope, 1316–1334

Like his predecessor, Clement V, Pope John centralized power and income in the Papacy and lived a princely life in Avignon. Following a three-year process, John canonized Thomas Aquinas on 18 July 1323.

Portrait of John XXII: Unknown century 14th, Public domain, file

Eugene IV

Pope, 1431–1447

His tenure was marked by conflict: first with the Colonna, relatives of his predecessor Pope Martin V; and later with the Conciliar movement. Eugene also resisted slavery: he excommunicated anyone who had enslaved newly-converted Christians, such penalty to remain in place until the enslaved were restored to their liberty and possessions.

Portrait of Eugene IV: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, file

Paul V

Pope, 1605–1621

In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact. His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606.

Portrait of Paul V: Attributed to Caravaggio, Public domain, file

Urban VIII

Pope, 1623–1644

As pope, he expanded the papal territory by force of arms and advantageous politicking, and was also a prominent patron of the arts, commissioning works from artists like Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and a reformer of Church missions. The massive debts incurred during his pontificate greatly weakened his successors, who were unable to maintain the papacy's longstanding political and military influence in Europe.

Portrait of Urban VIII: Pietro da Cortona, Public domain, file

Clement XI

Pope, 1700–1721

Clement XI was a patron of the arts and of science. He was also a great benefactor of the Vatican Library; his interest in archaeology is credited with saving much of Rome's antiquity.

Portrait of Clement XI: After Pier Leone Ghezzi, Public domain, file

Benedict XIV

Pope, 1740–1758

In governing the Papal States, he reduced taxation on some products, but also raised taxes on others; he also encouraged agriculture and supported free trade within the Papal States. His intellectualism and advocacy of science education earned him the nickname "the Enlightenment Pope".

Portrait of Benedict XIV: Pierre Subleyras, Public domain, file

Pius VI

Pope, 1775–1799

Pius VI condemned the French Revolution and the persecution of the Catholic Church in France that resulted from it. French troops commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Papal army and occupied the Papal States in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his temporal power, Pius was taken prisoner and transported to France.

Portrait of Pius VI: Pompeo Batoni, Public domain, file

Pius VII

Pope, 1800–1823

Pius at first attempted to take a cautious approach in dealing with Napoleon. With him he signed the Concordat of 1801, through which he succeeded in guaranteeing religious freedom for Catholics living in France, and was present at his coronation as Emperor of the French in 1804.

Portrait of Pius VII: Thomas Lawrence, Public domain, file

Pius IX

Pope, 1846–1878

At the time of his election, he was a liberal reformer, and during his early papacy, he notably eased restrictions on Jewish movement and granted an amnesty to revolutionaries, but his approach changed radically after the Revolutions of 1848. France started the Franco-Prussian War and removed the troops that protected the Papal States, which allowed the capture of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870. Thereafter, he refused to leave Vatican City, declaring himself a "prisoner in the Vatican".

Portrait of Pius IX: Unknown author, Public domain, file

Culture

During the early modern period, the papal territory expanded greatly, and the pope became one of Italy's most important rulers as well as the head of Western Christianity.
The popes' reign over these lands was an exemplification of their temporal powers as secular rulers, as opposed to their ecclesiastical primacy.
A law of Constantine the Great, promulgated in 321, allowed the Christian Church to possess property and restored to it any property formerly confiscated.

Picture

Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum, and the popes later used the building as a fortress and castle.

Image: Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.