View source for Papal States

{{Short description|Italian state ruled by the pope (756–1870)}}
{{Not to be confused with|text=the [[Papacy]], the institution that ruled over the Papal States}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|it|Patrimonio di San Pietro / Stato Pontificio}}<br/>''Patrimonium Sancti Petri / Status Ecclesiasticus'' ([[Latin]])
| conventional_long_name = State of the Church
| common_name            = Papal States
| iso3166code            = omit   
| government_type        = {{ubli|[[Feudal]] theocratic elective [[absolute monarchy]] (756–1798; 1800–1809) |[[Unitary state|Unitary]] theocratic elective absolute monarchy (1814–1847; 1850–1870) | Unitary theocratic elective [[Constitutional monarchy|semi-constitutional]] monarchy (1847–1849)}}
| life_span              = {{ubli|756–1870|Interregna ([[Roman Republic (1798–1799)|1798–1799]], [[Napoleon and the Catholic Church#Papal states|1809–1814]] and [[Roman Republic (1849–1850)|1849–1850]])}}
| year_start             = 756
| year_end               = 1870
| event_start            = [[Donation of Pepin]]
| event_end              = Annexation to the [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| date_end               = 9 October
| event1                 = [[Charlemagne#Annexation of the Lombard kingdom|Codification]]
| date_event1            = 781
| event2                 = [[Treaty of Venice]] (sovereignty reaffirmed)
| date_event2            = 1177
| event3                 = Publication of the [[Constitutiones Aegidianae]]
| date_event3            = 1357
| event4                 = [[Roman Republic (1798–1799)]]
| date_event4            = 15 February 1798
| event5                 = [[Napoleon and the Catholic Church#Papal states|Schönbrunn Palace Declarations]]
| date_event5            = 17 May 1809
| event6                 = [[Capture of Rome]]
| date_event6            = 20 September 1870
| event_post             = [[Lateran Treaty|Vatican City]]
| date_post              = 11 February 1929
| p1                     = Duchy of Rome
| border_p1              = no
| s1                     = Republic of Cospaia{{!}}'''1440:'''<br/>Republic of Cospaia
| flag_p1                = Byzantine Calvary cross potent (transparent).png
| flag_s1                = Flag of Cospaia.svg
| border_s1              = no
| border_s2              = no
| s2                     = Duchy of Parma and Piacenza{{!}}'''1545:'''<br/>Duchy of Parma and Piacenza
| flag_s2                = Flag of the Duchy of Parma.svg
| s3                     = Tiberina Republic{{!}}'''1798:'''<br/>Tiberina Republic
| flag_s4                = Flag of the Repubblica Romana 1798.svg
| flag_s3                = Flag of France.svg
| s5                     = Principality of Pontecorvo{{!}}'''1806:'''<br/>Principality of Pontecorvo
| s4                     = Roman Republic (1798–1799){{!}}'''1798:'''<br/>Roman Republic
| flag_s5                = Flag of France.svg
| s6                     = First French Empire{{!}}'''1809:'''<br/>First French Empire
| flag_s6                = Flag of France.svg
| s7                     = Roman Republic (1849–1850){{!}}'''1849:'''<br/>Roman Republic
| flag_s7                = Flag of the Roman Republic (19th century).svg
| s8                     = Kingdom of Italy{{!}}'''1870:'''<br/>Kingdom of Italy
| flag_s8                = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of the Papal States (pre 1808).svg
| flag_width             = 120px
| flag_size              = 100px
| flag_type              = {{ubli|Top: Flag until 1808{{refn|<ref>{{cite web |title=Heráldica y emblemática en las cofradías de Córdoba. Algunos apuntes |first=Gonzalo J. Herreros |last=Moya |journal=Córdoba Cofrade |date=2016 |volume=142 |language=es |url=https://www.academia.edu/83822533/Her%C3%A1ldica_y_emblem%C3%A1tica_en_las_cofrad%C3%ADas_de_C%C3%B3rdoba_Algunos_apuntes |page=60 |quote="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."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/bandiera_storia_it.html |title=Storia della Bandiera dello Stato della Città del Vaticano |date=31 December 2000 |website=vatican.va |language=it |quote=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. |trans-quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.vaticanstate.va/ES/Estado_y_Gobierno/Breve_Introduccion/Bandera_pontificia.htm | title = Bandiera pontificia | publisher = Estado de la Ciudad del Vaticano | access-date = 2024-03-09 | quote = 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. | language = es |trans-quote=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. | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100731170831/http://www.vaticanstate.va/ES/Estado_y_Gobierno/Breve_Introduccion/Bandera_pontificia.htm | archive-date = 31 July 2010}}</ref>}} (longest use)|Bottom: Flag in use in 1870<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/it/2011/09/29/news/vaticano-la-bandiera-di-porta-pia-ritorna-dopo-141-anni-1.36933263 |title=Vaticano, la bandiera di Porta Pia ritorna dopo 141 anni |access-date=29 September 2011 |date=2011 |website=www.lastampa.it}}</ref> (last)}}
| image_flag2            = Papal proto-national flag.svg
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of the Papal States (Renaissance shape).svg
| symbol_type            = [[Coat of arms of the Holy See|Coat of arms<br/>(15th–19th cent.)]]
<!-- | symbol2           = -->
<div style="padding:3px 0;">[[File:CoA Pontifical States 02.svg|70px|Coat of arms of Papal States (sede vacante)]]</div>
<!-- | symbol_type2      = -->
[[Sede vacante|Coat of arms<br/>(''Sede vacante'')]]
| other_symbol           = <div style="padding:0.3em;">[[File:Papal Arms shield.svg|85px]]</div>
| other_symbol_type      = [[Coat of arms of the Holy See|Papal Shield]]
| image_map2             = Stato Pontificio legazioni 1850.svg
| image_map2_caption     = The [[Administrative subdivisions of the Papal States from 1816 to 1870|legations]] of the Papal States in 1850: [[Lazio|Rome]], I. [[Romagna]], II. [[Marche]], III. [[Umbria]], IV. [[Campagna e Marittima Province|Marittima e Campagna]]
| image_map              = Papal States 1789.svg
| image_map_caption      = Map of the Papal States (green) at their greatest extent in 1789, including its exclaves of [[Benevento]] and [[Pontecorvo]] in southern Italy, and the [[Comtat Venaissin]] and [[Avignon]] in southern France
| capital                = [[Rome]]<br/>(756–1308; 1376–1870)<br/>[[Avignon]] (1309–1376)
| national_anthem        = ''[[Marcia trionfale (Hallmayer)|Marcia trionfale]]'' (1857–1870)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vaticanstate.va/IT/Stato_e_Governo/NoteGenerali/Inno.htm |title=Inno Pontificio e la sua storia |publisher=Stato della città del Vaticano |language=it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313145622/http://www.vaticanstate.va/IT/Stato_e_Governo/NoteGenerali/Inno.htm |archive-date=13 March 2010 |access-date=26 August 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref><br/>"Triumphal March"[[File:Marcia_Trionfale.ogg|center]]
| common_languages       = {{ubl|[[Latin]]|[[Italian language|Italian]]|[[Romagnol]]}}
| religion               = [[Roman Catholicism]] (''[[state religion]]'')
| currency               = {{plainlist|
* [[Roman scudo]] (until 1866)
* [[Papal lira]] (1866–1870)
}}
| title_leader           = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| leader1                = [[Pope Stephen II|Stephen II]]
| year_leader1           = 756–757 (first)
| leader2                = [[Pius IX]]
| year_leader2           = 1846–1870 (last)
| title_representative   = [[Cardinal Secretary of State]]
| representative1        = [[Girolamo Dandini (cardinal)|Girolamo Dandini]]
| year_representative1   = 1551–1555 (first)
| representative2        = [[Giacomo Antonelli]]
| year_representative2   = 1848–1870 (last)
| title_deputy           = [[List of prime ministers of the Papal States|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1                = [[Gabriele Ferretti]]
| year_deputy1           = 1847–1848 (first)
| deputy2                = [[Carlo Emanuele Muzzarelli|Carlo E. Muzzarelli]]
| year_deputy2           = 1848–1849 (last)
| legislature            = Parliament (1848)
| stat_year2             = 1853<ref name="census1853">{{cite book |title=Statistica della popolazione dello Stato pontificio dell'anno 1853 |language=it |date=1857 |publisher=Ministry of Commerce and Public Works |page=xxii |url=https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/censimentipreunitari/LO10431158CensPopStatoPont1853.pdf |access-date=1 March 2018 |archive-date=2 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302103834/https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/censimentipreunitari/LO10431158CensPopStatoPont1853.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| stat_area2             = 
| stat_pop2              = 3,124,668
| footnotes              = 
| today                  = {{plainlist|
* [[France]]
* [[Italy]]
* [[Vatican City]]
}}
| stat_area1             = 44,000
| stat_year1             = Before 1859
| ref_area1              = <ref>{{cite journal |last=Saylin |first=Gregory M. |date=November 1995 |title=The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development: Religion, Tradition, and Law in Latin America |url=https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1908&context=vjtl |journal=Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law |volume=28 |issue=5 |page=1263 |doi=}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
}}
{{History of Vatican City}}

The '''Papal States''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|eɪ|p|ə|l}} {{respell|PAY|pəl}}; {{langx|it|Stato Pontificio}}; {{Langx|la|Dicio Pontificia}}), officially the '''State of the Church''',<ref> ({{langx|it|Stato della Chiesa|links=no}} {{IPA|it|ˈstaːto della ˈkjɛːza|}}; {{langx|la|Status Ecclesiasticus|links=no}}), Frederik de Wit (1700), [http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/content/titleinfo/3220872 ''Status Ecclesiasticus et Magnus Ducatus Thoscanae''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306202338/http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/content/titleinfo/3220872 |date=2018-03-06}}</ref> were a conglomeration of territories on the [[Italian peninsula]] under the direct [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] rule of the [[pope]] from 756 to 1870.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=30 April 2020 |title=Papal States |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States |url-status=live |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=11 August 2021 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005235304/https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States}}</ref> They were among the major [[states of Italy]] from the 8th century until the [[unification of Italy]], which took place between 1859 and 1870, culminating in their demise.

The state was legally established in the 8th century when [[Pepin the Short]], king of the [[Franks]], [[Donation of Pepin|gave]] [[Pope Stephen II]], as a [[Temporal power of the Holy See|temporal sovereign]], lands formerly held by [[Arian]] Christian [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Lombards]], adding them to lands and other real estate formerly acquired and held by the [[Patrimony of Saint Peter|bishops of Rome as landlords]] from the time of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] onward. This donation came about as part of a process whereby the popes began to turn away from the [[Byzantine emperors]] as their foremost temporal guardians for reasons such as increased imperial taxes, disagreement with respect to [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|iconoclasm]], and failure of the emperors, or their [[Exarchate of Ravenna|exarchs in Italy]], to protect Rome and the rest of the peninsula from [[Barbarian kingdoms|barbarian invasion]] and pillage.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Papal States {{!}} historical region, Italy |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States |access-date=2021-11-21 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en |archive-date=2021-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115155958/https://www.britannica.com/place/Papal-States |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Renaissance]], the papal territory expanded greatly, and the pope became one of Italy's most important rulers as well as the head of [[Western Christianity]]. 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 (region)|Emilia]]. The popes' reign over these lands was an exemplification of their [[Temporal power of the Holy See|temporal powers]] as secular rulers, as opposed to their ecclesiastical primacy.

By 1860, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by the [[Kingdom of Italy]], except Lazio, which remained under the pope's control. By 1870, only the [[Leonine City]] within Rome was retained, the Italian kingdom refraining from occupying it militarily, despite its annexation. In 1929, the [[Italian fascist]] leader [[Benito Mussolini]], the head of the [[Italian government]], ended the "[[Prisoner in the Vatican]]" period by negotiating the [[Lateran Treaty]], signed by the two parties. This treaty acknowledged the sovereignty of the Holy See over a newly created territorial entity, a [[city-state]] within Rome limited to a [[microstate|token territory]], the [[Vatican City]], with the pope as its sovereign.

==Name==
The Papal States were also known as the ''Papal State''; although the plural is usually preferred, the singular is equally correct as the polity was more than a mere [[personal union]]. The territories were referred to variously as the ''State(s) of the Church'', the ''Pontifical States'', the ''Ecclesiastical States'', the ''Patrimony of St Peter'' or the ''Roman States'' ({{langx|it|Stato Pontificio}}, also ''{{lang|it|Stato della Chiesa}}'', ''{{lang|it|Stati della Chiesa}}'', ''{{lang|it|Stati Pontifici}}'', and ''{{lang|it|Stato Ecclesiastico}}''; {{langx|la|Status Pontificius}}, also ''{{lang|la|Dicio Pontificia}}'' "papal rule").<ref name="mitchell368">{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=S.A. |title=Mitchell's geographical reader |publisher=Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/mitchellsgeogra01mitcgoog/page/n372 368] |year=1840 |url=https://archive.org/details/mitchellsgeogra01mitcgoog/page/368/mode/1up}}</ref> To some extent, the name used varied with the preferences and habits of the European languages in which it was expressed.

==History==
{{further|History of Rome|History of the Papacy}}

===Origins===
{{main|Duchy of Rome|Patrimonium Sancti Petri}}

For its first 300 years, within the [[Roman Empire]], the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|Church]] was persecuted and unable to hold or transfer property.<ref name=schnurer>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm Schnürer, Gustav. "States of the Church."] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030093447/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm |date=2007-10-30 }} ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 16 July 2014</ref> Early congregations met in rooms set aside for the purpose in the homes of wealthy adherents, and a number of [[titular church]]es 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 senior [[deacon]]s, who were, in turn, assistants to the local bishop. This common patrimony became quite considerable, including as it did not only houses etc. in Rome or nearby but also landed estates, such as [[latifundia]], whole or in part, across Italy and beyond.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmavAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |title=A Political History of Early Christianity |last=Brent |first=Allen |year=2009 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9780567606051 |page=243 |language=en |access-date=2020-09-26 |archive-date=2021-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910072606/https://books.google.com/books?id=tmavAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A law of [[Constantine 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.<ref name=schnurer/> The [[Lateran Palace]] was gifted to the patrimony, most probably from Constantine himself.<ref name=schnurer/>

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 the [[fall 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 the [[Arian]] suzerainty of [[Odoacer]] in 473, and in 493, [[Theodoric]], king of the [[Ostrogoths]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=8827 |title=Ostrogoths |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918234756/https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=8827 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in 535, the [[Byzantine]] Emperor [[Justinian I]] launched a series of [[Gothic War (535–554)|campaigns]] to wrest Italy from the Ostrogoths which continued until 554 and devastated Italy's political and economic structures. The Byzantines established the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] of which the [[Duchy of Rome]], an area roughly coterminous with modern day [[Lazio]], was an administrative division. In 568 the [[Lombards]] entered the peninsula from the north, establishing their own [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Italian kingdom]], and over the next two centuries would [[Byzantine-Lombard Wars|conquer most of the Italian territory]] recently regained by Byzantium. By the 7th century, Byzantine authority was largely limited to a diagonal band running roughly from [[Ravenna]], where the emperor's governor, or ''exarch'', was located, to Rome and south to [[Naples]], plus coastal exclaves.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|page=378}} North of Naples, the band of Byzantine control contracted, and the borders of the "Rome-Ravenna corridor" became extremely narrow.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McEvedy |first1=Colin |title=The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History |date=1961 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=32 |isbn=9780140708226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjHVAAAAMAAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |quote=... separated from their theoretical overlord in Pavia by the continuing Imperial control of the Rome-Ravenna corridor. |access-date=2020-09-26 |archive-date=2021-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913092921/https://books.google.com/books?id=rjHVAAAAMAAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Charles |title=Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean |date=2014 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0199651924 |page=661 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtMVAwAAQBAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |quote=The empire retained control only of Rome, Ravenna, a fragile corridor between them, ... |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2021-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913092925/https://books.google.com/books?id=UtMVAwAAQBAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Jeffrey |title=The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages: 476–752 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317678175 |page=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zod9AwAAQBAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |quote=In 749 Ratchis embarked on a bid to capture Perusia, the key to the Rome-Ravenna land corridor |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2021-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913092926/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zod9AwAAQBAJ&q=Rome-Ravenna+corridor |url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval Italy : an encyclopedia. Volume 1, A to K |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |others=Christopher Kleinhenz |isbn=0-203-50275-2 |location=New York |pages=1024 |oclc=62243072}}</ref> While the popes legally remained "Roman subjects" under Byzantine authority, in practice the Duchy of Rome became an independent state.{{sfn|Kleinhenz|2004|page=1060}}

Popular support for the popes in Italy enabled several to defy the will of the Byzantine emperor: [[Pope Gregory II]] [[excommunicated]] Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] during the [[Iconoclastic Controversy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=982 |title=St. Gregory II – Saints & Angels |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124095625/https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=982 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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 on [[diplomacy]] to achieve as much.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5358 |title=Pope St. Gregory II |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-date=August 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812183946/https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5358 |url-status=live}}</ref> In practice, these papal efforts served to focus Lombard [[wiktionary:aggrandizement|aggrandizement]] on the exarch and Ravenna. A climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries contained in the Lombardic King [[Liutprand the Lombard|Liutprand]]'s ''[[Donation of Sutri]]'' (728) to [[Pope Gregory II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.romeartlover.it/Civita3.html |title=Sutri |work=From Civitavecchia to Civita Castellana |access-date=27 August 2012 |archive-date=9 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609155123/http://www.romeartlover.it/Civita3.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Donation of Pepin===
{{main|Donation of Pepin}}
When the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] finally fell to the Lombards in 751,{{sfn|Kleinhenz|2004|page=324}} the [[Duchy 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 the [[Frankish Empire|Franks]]. In 751, [[Pope Zachary]] had [[Pepin the Short]] crowned king in place of the powerless [[Merovingian]] figurehead King [[Childeric III]]. Zachary's successor, [[Pope Stephen II]], later granted Pepin the title ''[[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|Patrician]] 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.

Some later claimed that in 781, [[Charlemagne]] extended the regions over which the pope would be temporal sovereign: the Duchy of Rome, Ravenna, the [[Duchy of the Pentapolis]], parts of the [[Duchy of Benevento]], [[Tuscany]], [[Corsica]], [[Lombardy]], and a number of Italian cities. The cooperation between the papacy and the [[Carolingian dynasty]] climaxed in 800 when [[Pope Leo III]] crowned Charlemagne '[[Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor of the Romans]]'.

===Relationship with the Holy Roman Empire===
From the 9th century to the 12th century, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and [[Holy Roman Emperor|emperors]] – and between the Papal States and the [[Holy Roman Empire|Empire]] – was disputed. It was unclear whether the Papal States were a separate realm with the Pope as their sovereign ruler, or a part of the [[Frankish Empire]] over which the popes had administrative control, as suggested in the late-9th-century treatise ''[[Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma]]'', or whether the Holy Roman emperors were vicars of the Pope ruling [[Christendom]], 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 among [[Charlemagne]]'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, the [[Theophylacti]]. This period was later dubbed the {{lang|la|[[Saeculum obscurum]]}} ("dark age"), and sometimes as the "rule by harlots".<ref>[[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)</ref>

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 fortified ''[[Rocca (architecture)|rocca]]''.

Over several campaigns in the mid-10th century, the German ruler [[Otto 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 the [[Diploma Ottonianum]], by which the emperor became the guarantor of the independence of the Papal States.{{sfn|Tucker|2009|page=332}} 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 the [[Gregorian 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 the [[Hohenstaufen dynasty]], the German emperors rarely interfered in Italian affairs. In response to the struggle between the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]], the [[Treaty of Venice]] was signed in 1177. In the treaty, the rights of the Crown in [[Rome]] and in the [[Patrimony 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".<ref>John B. Freed (2016), ''Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth'' (Yale University Press), pp. 404–405.</ref> By 1300, the Papal States, along with the rest of the Italian principalities, were effectively independent.

===Avignon Papacy===
{{Main|Avignon Papacy}}

From 1305 to 1378, the popes lived in the papal enclave of [[Avignon]], surrounded by [[Provence]] and under the influence of the French kings.{{sfn|Spielvogel|2013|pages=245–246}}{{sfn|Elm|Mixson|2015|page=154}}{{sfn|Watanabe|2013|page=241}}{{sfn|Kleinhenz|2004|pages=220, 982}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Butt |first1=John J. |title=The Greenwood Dictionary of World History |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0313327650 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greenwooddiction00butt_0/page/36 36] |url=https://archive.org/details/greenwooddiction00butt_0 |url-access=registration |quote=Term (coined by [[Petrarch]]) for the papal residence in Avignon (1309–1377), in reference to the Babylonian Captivity (...)}}</ref> This period was known as the "Avignonese" or "Babylonian Captivity".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |title=Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries |date=2013 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1285661537 |page=304 |edition=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Td4WAAAAQBAJ&q=avignon+babylonian+captivity+1309-1377 |quote=The Babylonian Captivity, 1309–1377 |display-authors=etal |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2021-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914043921/https://books.google.com/books?id=Td4WAAAAQBAJ&q=avignon+babylonian+captivity+1309-1377 |url-status=live}}</ref> During this period the city of Avignon itself and the surrounding [[Comtat 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 the [[French Revolution]].

During the [[Avignon Papacy]], local [[Despotism|despots]] took advantage of the absence of the popes to establish themselves in nominally papal cities: the [[Pepoli]] in Bologna, the [[Ordelaffi]] in [[Forlì]], the [[Manfredi family|Manfredi]] in [[Faenza]], and the [[House of Malatesta|Malatesta]] in [[Rimini]] all gave nominal acknowledgment to their papal overlords and were declared vicars of the Church.

In Ferrara, the death of [[Azzo VIII d'Este]] without legitimate heirs (1308{{sfn|Menache|2003|page=142}}) encouraged [[Pope Clement V]] to bring Ferrara under his direct rule: however, it was governed by his appointed vicar, King [[Robert of Naples]], for only nine years before the citizens recalled the [[House of Este|Este]] 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.{{sfn|Waley|1966|page=62}}

In Rome itself, the [[Orsini family|Orsini]] and the [[Colonna family|Colonna]] struggled for supremacy,{{sfn|Kleinhenz|2004|page=802}} dividing the city's ''[[Rioni of Rome|rioni]]'' between them. The resulting aristocratic anarchy in the city provided the setting for the fantastic dreams of universal democracy of [[Cola di Rienzo]], who was acclaimed Tribune of the People in 1347,{{sfn|Ruggiero|2014|page=225}} and met a violent death in early October 1354 as he was assassinated by supporters of the Colonna family.{{sfn|Ruggiero|2014|page=227}} 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.{{sfn|Ruggiero|2014|page=227}} As [[Guido Ruggiero]] states, "even with the support of [[Petrarch]], his return to first times and the rebirth of ancient Rome was one that would not prevail."{{sfn|Ruggiero|2014|page=227}}

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 Cardinal [[Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz]], who was appointed papal legate, and his [[condottieri]] heading a small mercenary army. Having received the support of the [[archbishop of Milan]], [[Giovanni Visconti (archbishop of Milan)|Giovanni Visconti]], he defeated [[Giovanni di Vico]], lord of [[Viterbo]], moving against [[Galeotto Malatesta]] of Rimini and the [[Ordelaffi]] of Forlì, the [[Montefeltro]] of [[Urbino]] and the da Polenta of [[Ravenna]], and against the cities of [[Senigallia]] and [[Ancona]]. The last holdouts against full Papal control were [[Giovanni Manfredi]] of Faenza and [[Francesco II Ordelaffi]] of Forlì. Albornoz, at the point of being recalled, in a meeting with all the Papal vicars on 29 April 1357, promulgated the ''[[Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ]]'', which replaced the mosaic of local law and accumulated traditional 'liberties' with a uniform code of civil law. These ''Constitutiones 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.{{sfn|Watanabe|2013|page=19}}

===Renaissance===
{{Main|Renaissance Papacy|Italian Renaissance}}

[[File:The Pope Paulus V - Nationalmuseum - 158047.tif|thumb|[[Pope Paul V]] commissioned the [[Quirinal Palace]].]]
[[File:Il corteo dell'ambasciatore veneziano Alvise Mocenigo dopo l'udienza papale nel palazzo del Quirinale.jpg|thumb|The [[Quirinal Palace]], 1777]]

During the [[Renaissance]], the Papal territory expanded greatly, notably under Popes [[Alexander VI]] and [[Julius 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/italy/milxpapalstate.html |title=History of the Papal States |work=World History at KDMLA |first=Alexander |last=Ganse |publisher=Korean Minjok Leadership Academy |access-date=7 March 2013 |archive-date=3 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303201645/http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/italy/milxpapalstate.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Julius II, the "Warrior Pope", fought on their behalf.

===Reformation===
The [[Reformation]] began in 1517. In 1527, before the Holy Roman Empire fought the Protestants, troops loyal to Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] brutally [[Sack of Rome (1527)|sacked Rome]] and imprisoned [[Pope Clement VII]], as a side effect of battles over the Papal States.<ref name="Durant1">
{{cite book |title=The Renaissance |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547401 |first=Will |last=Durant |year=1953 |chapter=Chapter XXI: The Political Collapse: 1494–1534}}</ref> Thus Clement VII was forced to give up [[Parma]], [[Modena]], and several smaller territories.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.themaparchive.com/papal-states-in-the-16th-century.html |title=Papal States in the 16th Century |website=themaparchive.com |access-date=26 August 2021 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806025822/https://www.themaparchive.com/papal-states-in-the-16th-century.html}}</ref><ref name="Durant1"/> A generation later the armies of King [[Philip II of Spain]] defeated those of [[Pope Paul IV]] in the [[Italian War of 1551–1559]], fought to prevent growing Spanish dominance in Italy.<ref name="Durant2">{{cite book |title=The Renaissance |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.547401 |first=Will |last=Durant |year=1953 |chapter=Chapter XXXIX: The popes and the Council: 1517–1565}}</ref>

This period saw a gradual revival of the pope's temporal power in the Papal States. Throughout the 16th century, virtually independent [[fief]]s 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 independent [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza|duchy]] under an illegitimate son of [[Pope Paul III]], albeit as a Papal fief. This process culminated in the reclaiming of the [[Duchy of Ferrara]] in 1598,{{sfn|Hanlon|2008|page=134}}{{sfn|Domenico|2002|page=85}} and the [[Duchy of Urbino]] in 1631.{{sfn|Gross|2004|page=40}}

In 1649, after the annexation of the [[Duchy of Castro]], the Papal States reached their greatest extent, including most of central Italy – [[Latium]], [[Umbria]], [[Marche]], and the legations of [[Ravenna]], [[Ferrara]], and [[Bologna]] extending north into the [[Romagna]]. It also included the small enclaves of [[Benevento]] and [[Pontecorvo]] in southern Italy and the larger [[Comtat Venaissin]] around [[Avignon]] in southern France.

===Roman Republic, Napoleonic era===
{{main|Napoleon and the Catholic Church}}

[[File:Gregory XVI.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pope Gregory XVI]]]]

This surface was maintained until 1791, when the [[French Revolution]] affected the temporal territories of the Papacy as well as the Roman Church in general. In 1791 a [[1791 Avignon–Comtat Venaissin status referendum|referendum]] in [[Comtat Venaissin]] and [[Avignon]] was followed by occupation by Revolutionary France.{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page=252}} Later, with the [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|French invasion of Italy]] in 1796, the Legations (the Papal States' northern territories{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page=252}}) were seized and became part of the [[Cispadane Republic]].

Two years later, French forces invaded the remaining area of the Papal States, and in February 1798 General [[Louis-Alexandre Berthier]] declared a [[Roman Republic (18th century)|Roman Republic]].{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page= 252}} [[Pope Pius VI]] fled from Rome to [[Siena]] and died in exile in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] in 1799.{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page= 252}} 
In October 1799, [[Kingdom of Naples|Neapolitan]] troops under King [[Ferdinand_I_of_the_Two_Sicilies#French_occupation_and_the_Parthenopaean_Republic|Ferdinand]] 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 established [[Parthenopean Republic|another republic]]. In June 1800, [[French Consulate]] formally concluded the occupation and restored the Papal States, with the newly elected [[Pope Pius VII]] taking residence in Rome. Yet, in 1808 the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] under [[Napoleon]] 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 Napoleonic [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom 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,{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page=252}} forming the ''[[département]]s'' of ''[[Tibre]]'' and ''[[Trasimène]]''.

Following the fall of the First French Empire in 1814, the [[Congress of Vienna]] formally restored the Italian territories of the Papal States, but not the Comtat Venaissin or Avignon, to Vatican control.{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page= 252}}

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 the [[Papal 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 of [[Pope Gregory XVI]] in 1846, the popes followed a [[reactionary]] policy in the Papal States. For instance, the city of Rome maintained the last [[Roman Ghetto|Jewish ghetto]] in Western Europe.

===Italian unification===
{{Main|Papal States under Pope Pius IX|Administrative subdivisions of the Papal States from 1816 to 1871}}

[[File:Italy 1870.svg|thumb|The [[Kingdom of Italy]] and the Papal States in 1870]]

[[Italian nationalism]] had been stoked during the Napoleonic period but dashed by the settlement of the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814–15), which sought to restore the pre-Napoleonic conditions: most of northern Italy was under the rule of junior branches of the [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine|Habsburgs]] and the [[Bourbons]]. The Papal States in central Italy and the Bourbon [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] in the south were both restored. Popular opposition to the reconstituted and corrupt clerical government led to revolts [[Revolutions of 1830|in 1830]] and [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states|in 1848]], which were suppressed by the intervention of the [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] army.

The nationalist and liberal revolutions of 1848 affected much of Europe. In February 1849 a [[Roman Republic (19th century)|Roman Republic]] was declared,{{sfn|Roessler|Miklos|2003|page=149}} and the hitherto liberally-inclined [[Pope Pius IX]] had to flee the city. The revolution was suppressed with [[French Second Republic|French]] 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 the [[Red Triumvirate]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/cronologia/bologna/1849/il_triumvirato_rosso |title=Il 'triumvirato rosso' |website=[[Biblioteca Salaborsa]] |language=it |access-date=29 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212640/https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/cronologia/bologna/1849/il_triumvirato_rosso |url-status=live}}</ref>

As a result of the [[Second Italian War of Independence]], [[Piedmont-Sardinia]] annexed [[Lombardy]], while [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] [[Expedition of the Thousand|overthrew the Bourbon monarchy]] in the south.{{sfn|Fischer|2011|page=136}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abulafia |first1=David |title=The Mediterranean in History |date=2003 |publisher=Getty Publication |isbn=978-0892367252 |page=268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrRzgSebSZMC&q=Giuseppe+Garibaldi+overthrew+bourbon |chapter=The Mediterranean as a battleground |quote=(...) under Giuseppe Garibaldi to overthrow the Neapolitan Bourbons. After defeating a Neapolitan force at Calatafirmi, Garibaldi captured Palermo after three days of street fighting. |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916060046/https://books.google.com/books?id=LrRzgSebSZMC&q=Giuseppe+Garibaldi+overthrew+bourbon |url-status=live}}</ref> Afraid that Garibaldi would set up a republican government, the Piedmontese government petitioned French Emperor [[Napoleon III]] for permission to send troops through the Papal States to gain control of the south. This was granted on the condition that Rome be left undisturbed.

In 1860, with much of the region already in rebellion against Papal rule, Piedmont-Sardinia [[Battle of Castelfidardo|invaded]] 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 the [[Latium]] and large areas northwest of Rome.

A unified [[Kingdom of Italy]] was declared and in March 1861 the first [[Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy|Italian parliament]], which met in [[Turin]], 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.

===Italian invasion of Rome, 1870===
{{Main|Capture of Rome}}

[[File:I bersaglieri alla presa di Porta Pia. Autore Michelle Cammarano.jpg|thumb|The breach of Porta Pia during the [[Capture of Rome]]]]

The opportunity for the Kingdom of Italy to eliminate the Papal States came in 1870; the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in July prompted Napoleon III to recall his garrison from Rome and the collapse of the [[Second French Empire]] at the [[Battle of Sedan]] deprived Rome of its French protector.

King [[Victor 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 the [[Royal Italian Army]], commanded by General [[Raffaele Cadorna]], crossed the frontier of the Papal territory on September 11 and advanced slowly toward Rome.

The Italian Army reached the [[Aurelian 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 the [[Capture of Rome#Breach of Porta Pia|Breach 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.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Alvarez |page=248 |title=The Pope's Soldiers |date= 2011 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-1770-8}}</ref>

Pope Pius IX ordered the commander of the Papal forces to limit the defence of the city in order to avoid bloodshed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guardiasvizzera.va/content/guardiasvizzera/en/storia/1870-fine-dello-stato-pontificio.html |title=History of the Pontifical Swiss Guard |access-date=30 August 2016 |archive-date=3 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203143600/http://www.guardiasvizzera.va/content/guardiasvizzera/en/storia/1870-fine-dello-stato-pontificio.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Capture of Rome|city 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 a [[plebiscite]] the following October. This marked the definitive end of the Papal States.{{sfn|Hanson|2015|page=252}}

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 (see [[Prisoner in the Vatican]]) to the [[Apostolic Palace]] and adjacent buildings in the loop of the ancient fortifications known as the [[Leonine City]], on [[Vatican 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.

In the 1920s, the papacy – then under [[Pius XI]] – renounced the bulk of the Papal States. The [[Lateran Treaty]] with [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] (then ruled by the [[National Fascist Party]] under [[Benito Mussolini]]{{sfn|De Grand|2004|page=89}}) was signed on 11 February 1929,{{sfn|De Grand|2004|page=89}} creating the [[State of the Vatican City]], forming the sovereign territory of the [[Holy See]], which was also indemnified to some degree for loss of territory.

==Regional governors==
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 of [[Benevento]], or at [[Bologna]], in [[Romagna]], and the [[March of Ancona]]; and "[[papal delegate]]", as in the former Duchy of Pontecorvo and in the [[Campagne and Maritime Province]]. Other titles like "Papal [[Vicar]]", "Vicar General", and also several titles of [[Papal nobility|nobility]], such as "count" or even "prince" were used. However, throughout the history of the Papal States, many warlords and even bandit chieftains controlled cities and small duchies without having received any title from the Pope of the day.

===Middle Ages to 17th century===
Until the 17th century, the administrative organization of the Papal States was based on the [[Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ|Egidian Constitutions]], which divided the territory in 5 traditional provinces or legations:<ref>{{cite book|last= Ermini|first= Filippo |title= Gli ordinamenti politici e amministrativi nelle «Constitutiones Aegidianae»|date= 1893|location= Torino|page= 15|url=https://archive.org/details/gliordinamentip00ermigoog|via=''archive.org''}}</ref>
*[[Patrimony of Saint Peter]] in [[Tuscia]], with its seat in [[Montefiascone]], later in [[Viterbo]]
*[[Campagna e Marittima Province]], seat in [[Ferentino]] (in [[Frosinone]] from 1589 onwards)
*[[Duchy of Spoleto]], seat in [[Spoleto]], later in [[Perugia]]
*[[March of Ancona]], seat in [[Macerata]] ([[Fermo]] until the 15th century)
*[[Romagna]] Province, seat in [[Faenza]] or [[Cesena]], later in [[Bologna]] and [[Ravenna]]

The provinces were financially self-sufficient; Rome only exercised coordination. The supreme authority of each individual province was the [[Papal Legate]], who operated with full powers in the name of the Pontiff. The legate governed together with the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Rector]]. The territorial physiognomy of the various provinces remained uncertain for a long time. Only under [[Pope 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 in [[Bologna]], the largest city in the region which became [[De facto|''de facto'']] capital. In 1540, [[Pope Paul III]] decided to nominate an apostolic Legate to [[Ravenna]], splitting the Provincia of Romagna into two: one legate in Bologna and other in Ravenna.

Following the incorporation of some important territories such as the [[Duchy of Ferrara]], the [[Duchy of Urbino]] and the [[Duchy of Castro]], which took place between 1598 and 1649, the Holy See created two new legations: that of [[Ferrara]] (during the pontificate of [[Pope Clement VIII]], (1592–1605) and that of [[Urbino]] (strongly desired by [[Pope Urban VIII]]). The territory of Castro, although dependent on [[Viterbo]], continued to enjoy a broad autonomy.{{efn|The former Duchy of Castro, after its annexation in 1649, also began to be known as the State of Valentano and/or State of Ronciglione}} In those same years some dioceses of Lazio and Umbria asked for the creation of a new province, [[Sabina (region)|Sabina]], with [[Collevecchio]] as its capital (1605).

In 1627, a [[Congregation for Borders]]
was 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.

===18th century===
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:

*Twelve provinces: [[Lazio]], [[Patrimony of St. Peter]], [[Campagna e Marittima Province|Campagna and Marittima]], [[Sabina (region)|Sabina]], [[Duchy of Spoleto]], [[Perugia]], [[March of Ancona]], [[Duchy of Urbino|Urbino]], [[Montefeltro]], [[Romagna]], [[Bologna]] and [[Ferrara]];
*An extra-territorial legation: [[Avignon]];
*A county: [[Comtat Venaissin]];
*Two dependent territories: [[Benevento]] and [[Pontecorvo]].

They were further subdivided into:

*Legations:
**of [[Bologna]], [[Romagna]] or [[Ravenna]], [[Ferrara]], [[Urbino]] and [[Pesaro]], [[Avignon]] and the [[Comtat Venaissin]];
**[[Patrimony of St. Peter]], [[Campagna e Marittima Province|Campagna and Marittima]], [[Lazio]] or Campagna Romana;
*Delegations: [[Fano]], [[Camerino]], [[Iesi]];
*Rectorates: [[Montefeltro]] and [[Pennabilli]], [[Sabina (region)|Sabina]];
*Governments: [[Perugia]], [[Città di Castello]], [[Pontecorvo]];
*Titled Countries (governments): [[Duchy of Spoleto]], [[Duchy of Castro|Duchy of Castro and Ronciglione]], [[Duchy of Bracciano]], [[Benevento|Duchy of Benevento]], [[March of Ancona]], [[March of Fermo]], Prefecture of the Mountain ([[Norcia]]);
*Autonomous fiefdoms:
**Duchy of Salci, to the Benelli Ghislieri princes (1568–1816)
**County of Castiglione de' Gatti, to the [[Pepoli]] (1340–1796)
**County of Bagni di Porretta, to the Ranuzzi (1474–1797)
**County of Civitella Ranieri, to the Ranieri (1078–1816)
**County of Piobbico, to the Brancaleoni (1100–1816)
**County of Reschio, to the Bichi Ruspoli (1355–1817)

===19th century===
{{Main Article|Administrative subdivisions of the Papal States from 1816 to 1870}}

==Papal military==
{{See also|Military in Vatican City}}
[[File:I fratelli de charette de la contrie detti i moschettieri del papa.jpg|thumb|right|[[Papal Zouaves]] pose in 1869.]]
Historically the Papal States maintained military forces composed of [[Military volunteer|volunteers]], [[mercenaries]] (including [[Corsican Guard]]) and Catholic [[Military order (religious society)|military orders]]. It was a notable regional military power from the High Middle Ages to the mid 17th century [[Wars of Castro]].

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 the [[Great Turkish War]]) and the rise of Holy Roman/Austrian and Spanish power in Italy after the end of the [[Italian 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.<ref>David Alvarez, "The Pope's Soldiers A Military History of the Modern Vatican", University Press of Kansas: 2011, p. 1-5.</ref>

In 1792 the Papal army had a mere 5,000 regular soldiers for a state that controlled most of [[Central 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.<ref>Alvarez, p. 6-8.</ref> 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.<ref>Alvarez, p. 10-11.</ref> 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 officer [[Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi]] was also made commander-in-chief of the Papal army in hopes he could restore quality. Instead, the French invaded again in [[Roman Republic (1798–1799)|1797–1798]] after defeating the Imperial (Austrian and Piedmontese) armies in the [[Italian 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.<ref>Alvarez p. 12-16</ref>

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 of [[Irish military diaspora|Irish volunteers]], plus artillery and [[dragoon]]s.<ref>{{cite book |first=Massimo |last=Brandani |page=6 |title=L'Esercito Pontificio da Castelfidardo a Porta Pia |year=1976 |publisher=Intergest |location=Milan}}</ref> In 1861 an international Catholic volunteer corps, called [[Papal 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 against [[Garibaldi]]'s [[redshirts (Italy)|Redshirts]], Italian patriots, and finally the forces of the newly united Italy.<ref>Charles A. Coulombe, ''The Pope's Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force that Defended the Vatican'', Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008</ref> The '''[[Captain General of the Church]]''' ({{langx|it|Capitano generale della Chiesa}}) was the ''de 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 the [[Unification of Italy]].

The Papal Army was disbanded in 1870, leaving only the [[Palatine Guard]], which was itself disbanded on 14 September 1970 by [[Pope Paul VI]];{{sfn|Levillain|2002|page=1095}} the [[Noble Guard]], which also disbanded in 1970; and the [[Swiss Guard]], which continues to serve both as a ceremonial unit at the Vatican and as the Pope's protective force.

A small [[Papal Navy]] was also maintained, based at [[Civitavecchia]] 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.

==See also==
{{portal bar|Catholicism|Vatican}}
* [[Captain General of the Church]]
* [[Donation of Constantine]]
* [[History of Rome]]
* [[Index of Vatican City-related articles]]
* [[Italian United Provinces]]
* [[Roman Question]]
* [[Unification of Italy]]
* [[War of the Eight Saints]]
* [[The clash between the Church and the Empire]]
* [[Crusader states]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
==Notes==
{{notelist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Catholic |wstitle = States of the Church }}
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* {{cite book |last=Levillain |first=Philippe |title=The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0415922302 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VDcmDeLuV4C&q=Palatine+Guard+disbanded+1970 |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2022-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113161520/https://books.google.com/books?id=7VDcmDeLuV4C&q=Palatine+Guard+disbanded+1970 |url-status=live}}
* Luther, Martin (1521). [https://books.google.com/books?id=tbvV9F4tLEUC&pg=PA265 ''Passional Christi und Antichristi''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200905171701/https://books.google.com/books?id=tbvV9F4tLEUC&pg=PA265#PPA253,M1 |date=2020-09-05 }}. 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)
* {{cite book |last=Menache |first=Sophia |title=Clement V |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=978-0521521987 |page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gE-_Rb-XAuIC&q=Azzo+VIII+d%27Este+1308 |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2022-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113161521/https://books.google.com/books?id=gE-_Rb-XAuIC&q=Azzo+VIII+d%27Este+1308 |url-status=live}}
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* {{cite book |last=Watanabe |first=Morimichi |editor1-last=Izbicki |editor1-first=Thomas M. |editor2-last=Christianson |editor2-first=Gerald |title=Nicholas of Cusa – A Companion to his Life and his Times |year=2013 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1409482-536 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UAGiAgAAQBAJ&q=Pope+Urban+V+1367+return |access-date=2020-11-18 |archive-date=2022-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113161523/https://books.google.com/books?id=UAGiAgAAQBAJ&q=Pope+Urban+V+1367+return |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/Papal_St_all.html Papal States Coinage]
* [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/italy/haxitaly.html WHKMLA Historical atlas] numerous links to maps of/containing Italy

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