PAPAL STATES gna detached itself from the papal rule, and in 1860 the Marches and Umbria were occupied by the Sardinians, and the Papal States were thus reduced to the divisions of Rome, Viterbo, Civita Vecchia, Velletri, and Frosinone (area, about 4,500 sq. m. ; pop. 700,000). This rem- nant was annexed to the kingdom of Italy in 1870. For the description of the coast lines on the Mediterranean and Adriatic as well as of the physical aspect and geological features j of the country, see ITALY. The temporal sov- | ereignty of the pope grew up imperceptibly out of his spiritual authority. About the time of Constantine some landed possessions seem to have been attached to the see of Rome. By the time of Leo the Iconoclast (718-'41) and Gregory II. the power of the popes had acquired importance. " Their popular elec- tion," says Gibbon, " endeared them to the Romans; the public and private indigence was relieved by their ample revenue ; and the weak- ness or neglect of the emperors compelled them to consult, both in peace and war, the temporal safety of the city." The invasion of the Lombards, who, after capturing Raven- na, the seat of the exarch or imperial vicere- gent, finally laid siege to Rome itself in 741, and the neglect of the Byzantine emperors to take any measures for the protection of their Ital- ian subjects, compelled the pope to look else- where for help. Gregory III. accordingly sent an embassy to Charles Martel, offering him in the name of the Roman senate and people the dignity of patrician, and imploring his as- sistance. Charles was preparing to cross the Alps with an army when he died, and the pope died in the same year; but Gregory's successor Zachary kept back the invaders, re- established the exarch, and obtained the res- toration of the captured cities. On his death the Lombards made a fresh invasion, the ex- archate was finally overthrown, Rome was again attacked, and Pope Stephen III. called in the assistance of Pepin. The Frankish ru- ler marched into Italy, defeated the Lombard king Astolphus, and obliged him to give up to the pope the greater part of the exarchate of Ravenna, comprising the Pentapolis (or five cities of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Ancona), and 17 other towns situated chiefly on the Adriatic. From this time the popes in all their proceedings assumed the style of temporal sovereigns. Their authority, however, was lit- tle more than nominal until Charlemagne, hav- ing completed his father's work by the total destruction of the Lombard monarchy in 774, secured to the Roman pontiffs the exarchate of Ravenna, the island of Corsica, the prov- inces of Parma, Mantua, Venice, and Istria, and the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. But with this new order of things arose a new source of dispute. Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III. in 800 " emperor of the Ro- mans.-' and for many years his successors con- tinued to assert an imperial authority over Italy, which was retained in name by the Ger- man emperors down to the beginning of the 19th century. In the mean time, under cover of papal grants of territory to lay barons, several powerful families had grown up in Rome and other dominions of the church, who acted as politically independent. Thus, between the pretensions of suzerainty of the emperors, the turbulence of factions, and the insubordination of petty princes, the popes of the middle ages were incessantly involved in quarrels. Many of them were exiled, imprisoned, or put to death. The party for the time dominant raised its own favorite to the pontificate, and not un- frequently there were two or more claimants for the sacerdotal crown. Gregory VII. (Hil- debrand), who reigned from 1073 to 1085, made the liberation of the church from tem- poral oppression the chief aim of his pontifi- cate ; but his famous struggle with Henry IV. ! resulted in no accession of independence to
- the Roman states, though during his time the
j countess Matilda of Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and Mantua granted all her territories to the pope, renewing the grant afterward to Pas- chal II. The emperors refused to sanction the grant, inasmuch as Matilda, being a vassal
- of the empire, could not alienate her rights
I of sovereignty. Innocent III. was the first I pope who made his states really independent. | After the death of Henry VI., being appointed guardian of that monarch's infant son Fred- erick II., he sent his legates to many of the principal cities and towns, and the inhabitants joyfully threw open their gates, took the oaths of allegiance, and received full guarantees of their municipal rights. Otho IV. afterward ceded to him the disputed territory of the countess Matilda, but having seized several of the pope's cities he was excommunicated in 1210 and deposed. The enemies whom In- nocent had now chiefly to fear were his own subjects. The feudal rights of the nobles and the municipal rights of the cities left him lit- tle direct authority; and in Rome especially his power was closely circumscribed. The sen- ate was abolished about this time by the Ro- mans themselves, and in its place a single officer was elected with the title of senator, and with control of the militia and judiciary. Innocent contrived to have an oath imposed upon this functionary to defend the rights of the Roman pontiff, and took into his own hands the appointment of the prefect. But in other parts of Italy the imperial power was little if at all weakened. Bologna, Pe- rugia, and Ancona were virtually republics; and although Pope Nicholas III. in 1278 ob- tained from Rudolph of Hapsburg a recogni- tion of the papal sovereignty over a certain specified territory, and a renunciation of all rights within the same which might still per- tain to the imperial crown, the popes did not thereby acquire any real authority. In 1309 the papal residence was removed to Avignon, and the Roman states were torn by contend- ing factions, of which the Guelphs were sup-
