1799-1809 History of Italy 1815-1830






Papal State and Papacy, 1809-1815



Since the French occupation in 1809, the Papal State practically was a part of France; it was formally annexed in 1810. The Cardinals were requested to take up residence in France; all monasteries and a number of bishoprics were dissolved, their property confiscated. Future popes were to take an oath on the Gallican articles.
The parts of the Papal State annexed into France were organized in two departements, of the Tiber and of the Trasimene. French reforms were introduced into the annexed territories, such as the Code Civile etc.
Pope Pius VII., after having protested the annexation, was deported to Savona in Liguria. Again and again he was subjected to pressure by the French. After the Russian debacle, Napoleon was willing to make some concessions, and the new Concordat of Fontainebleau (Jan. 25th 1813) was signed, which was to regulate the disputed question of investiture of bishops within France and Italy. On March 24th 1813 the pope withdrew his consent in several of the stipulations written in the Concordat.
After Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig, Murat, King of Naples, occupied what used to be the Papal State; the Treaty of Paris 1814 restored the Papal State. On March 25th 1814, the Pope was set free by the French; on Mai 24th he entered Rome again. In 1814, Pope Pius VII. formally restored the Jesuit Order. Mandatory military service was abolished, as was the code civile; feudal conditions were reintroduced. On the other hand, the sale of church property by the French authorities was recognized as legal, and a number of French institutions/reforms were taken over. In 1800 the public debt of the Papal State had amounted to 75 million scudi; in 1815 it had been reduced to 33 million; in 1800 the Papal State revenues had amounted to 3 million scudi annually; the French, despite the sale of church property, had raised it to 6 to 7 million annually.
In March 1815, after Napoleon left Elba and began his campaign of 100 days, King Joachim Murat of Naples directed his proclamation to the Italian people and invaded the reestablished Papal State. Pius VII. fled to Genoa. He returned to Rome on June 7th 1815. The Vienna Congress restored the Papal State in her pre-revolutionary borders, except for Avignon and the Venaissin, which remained French, and a small stretch of Ferrara territory on the left bank of the Po River, which was ceded to Austria.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Biography of Ercole Consalvi, Papal State statesman under Pius VI. and Pius VII., from Catholic Encyclopedia, from BBKL, in German; from Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 edition
Article Savona and Noli, from Catholic Encyclopedia 1912 edition
History of the Jesuits after the Restoration (1814-), from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912 edition
Article Kirchenstaat 1797-1848 (Papal State 1797-1848), from Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888-1889, in German
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Book Reviews : Papal State, from History Book Reviews

Franz Xaver Seppelt, Georg Schwaiger, Geschichte der Päpste (History of the Popes), München : Kösel 1964, 572 pp., in German [G]
Ang. Jos. Nürnberger, Papsttum und Kirchenstaat 1800-1870 (Papacy and Papal State 1800-1870), 3 Vol.s, Mainz 1897-1900, in German [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on August 30th 2002, last revised on March 28th 2006

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