Annexation of the Papal States

The Concordat of 1801 had reconciled France and Rome but had settled nothing about temporal power. Pius VII had had to accept the Organic Articles, published without his agreement, and then to come and consecrate the Emperor in 1804 without obtaining anything in return.

The break came from the Continental Blockade: the pope refused to close his ports to the English or to declare himself at war, in the name of the neutrality of the Holy See. French troops occupied Ancona as early as 1805, Rome in February 1808, and the Marches were annexed to the kingdom of Italy.

Dated 17 May 1809 and signed from the Viennese palace where the Emperor had installed himself during the Wagram campaign, the decree united the Papal States to the Empire. It invoked Charlemagne, presented as the original donor of the temporal domain, to justify his successor taking it back.

Rome became the chief town of a French department, with Trasimeno as its neighbour. The senatus-consultum of February 1810 made it the 'second city of the Empire' and decreed that the heir to the throne would bear the title of king of Rome — it would be the son born in 1811.

The pope kept his palaces and was offered an annual endowment of two million francs. He refused it: to accept a pension would be to recognise the loss of the domain. For five years he would receive nothing.

The riposte came three weeks later, with the bull of excommunication, then the seizure of the pope and his captivity. The conflict deprived the regime of the support of part of the Catholic body just when it needed it most. Temporal power would be restored in 1814 and would last until 1870.