Christian Cyclopedia

Also called Papal States. 1. Territory in cen. It. formerly ruled by the pope as a temporal king.

2. The “Donation of Pepin” (see Pepin the Short) 754 marks the beginning of the temporal rule of popes. In the papal decline of the 9th and 10th c. (see Papacy, 4) much territorial authority slipped away. By the middle of the 11th c. papal rule was not recognized beyond Rome and immediate vicinity. Gains achieved in tension with the Holy Roman Empire from the 12th to the 16th c. were largely only apparent. See also Babylonian Captivity, 2.

3. Julius II (see Popes, 19) regained Romagna. Ferrara was regained 1598. Annexation of Ravenna, Ancona, Bologna was also effected. Submerged by the ground swell of the Fr. Revolution (see France, 5), the papal states were restored to the papacy 1815 by the Congress of Vienna (see Popes, 27). An 1831 insurrection was suppressed by Austrian and Fr. troops. Dissatisfaction continued. Attempts at conciliation by Pius IX (See Popes, 28) did not prevent another uprising in Rome 1848, which he survived only with the help of Eur. diplomacy and a Fr. expeditionary force.

4. In 1860 Romagna, Marches, and Umbria joined Piedmont (region in NW It.; nucleus around which the kingdom of It. grew in the early 1860s). Fr. troops left and Victor Emmanuel II (1820–78; b. Turin, It.; king Sardinia 1849–61; 1st “King of It.” 1861–78) made Rome capital 1870. The pope was not a temporal ruler again until 1929 (see Concordat, 7).