554 Papal States
PHILIPIV THEFAIR; PIUSII, POPE; SYLVESTERII, POPE;
URBANII, POPE;URBANVI, POPE.
Further reading:J. T. Shotwell and Louise Ropes
Loomis, The See of Peter(New York: Columbia University
Press, 1927); Geoffrey Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy
(London: Thames and Hudson, 1968); Eamon Duffy,
Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes(New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997); J. N. D. Kelly, The
Oxford Dictionary of Popes(Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1986); Walter Ullman, A Short History of the
Papacy in the Middle Ages(London: Methuen, 1972).
Papal States(Patrimonium Sancti Petri, Patrimony of
Saint Peter) These were the provinces over which the
popes claimed rights in ITA LYthat belonged to the PAPACY
as its domain and were under its temporal sovereignty.
They had their origins in the donations of several popes,
in the fifth and sixth centuries, of their personal posses-
sions and family properties in and near ROME. Until the
end of the sixth century, these estates were considered the
private possessions of the popes and were therefore
exempt from taxes by imperial privileges.
CAROLINGIAN INTERVENTIONDuring a LOMBARDattack on ROME in 590 when the
BYZANTINEgovernor in RAVENNAwas unable to defend the
city, Pope GREGORYI THE GREATput the Sign of Saint
Peter on the walls of the city transferring sovereignty, giv-
ing the Holy See or himself public authority over the
region and the city. The Byzantine duchy of Rome was
abolished in the seventh century, and its functions were
assumed by the papacy. The popes then became the
sovereign possessors of the surrounding province of
Latium (Lazio). They clashed with the Lombards in the
seventh and eighth centuries, because of the latter’s efforts
to take over Italy, including Rome. The popes then
appealed to the FRANKS. For confirmation of his title,
PÉPINIII THESHORTconfirmed in 754 papal claims in
Italy, including Rome, the Byzantine lands around
RAVENNA, and the Lombard lands between the city of
Rome and the Po River. This area corresponded with a
traditional patrimony that lasted through the rest of the
Middle Ages. Parts of it remained in papal hands until the
19th century.
In 774 CHARLEMAGNEconfirmed this but undertook
to incorporate this state into his empire. With the col-
lapse of the Carolingian Empire, the patrimony theoreti-
cally returned to the papacy, but only Latium was under
real papal rule. Control of the rest was divided among
local rulers.
THE PATRIMONY AND RETURN TO ROMEFrom the 10th century the feudal aristocracy sought to
impose its authority over the various FIEFSof the patri-
mony and even over the popes themselves. In the second
half of the 13th century, the popes recovered much of
their sovereignty by obtaining the allegiance of several of
GUELFleaders in Ravenna and BOLOGNA. After the settle-
ment of the papacy at AVIGNONin 1305, local lords and
tyrants gained an effective autonomy. Even a republic
took over temporarily in Rome. The papacy did gain
sovereignty over the area around Avignon itself. In 1350
Pope Clement VI (r. 1342–52) dispatched the Spanish
cardinal ALBORNOZto Rome to restore papal authority in
the city and over the Patrimony of Saint Peter. Albornoz
restored papal authority in most of the patrimony, defeat-
ing many local tyrants and communes. After the end of
the GREATSCHISM, the return of the papacy to Rome in
1417, and the conciliar conflicts of the first half of the
15th century, the popes continued to try to maintain their
authority over the Papal States, employing many merce-
naries and fighting many wars to do so. They succeeded
in maintaining control over Latium, Umbria, Ancona,
Ravenna, and Bologna.
See alsoALEXANDERVI, POPE;CHARLESI OFANJOU;
DONATION OFCONSTANTINE;FREDERICK II; LAW, CANON
AND ECCLESIASTICAL; PASCHALII, POPE; ROME.
Further reading:Thomas F. X. Noble, The Republic of
St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825(Philadel-
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984); Peter Part-
ner, The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle
Ages and the Early Renaissance(London: Eyre Methuen,
1972); Walter Ullman, The Growth of Papal Government in
the Middle Ages: A Study in the Ideological Relation of Cler-
ical to Lay Power(New York: Barnes and Noble, 1955);
Daniel P. Waley, The Papal State in the Thirteenth Century
(London: Macmillan, 1961).paper, introduction of Paper was supposedly discov-
ered in the year 105 C.E. by an official at the court of the
Han emperor in China. It was made from pieces of hemp
and cloth. In the eighth century the ARABSacquired the
technique from two Chinese prisoners. They created a
factory at SAMARKAND. From there paper spread west and
south to the Mediterranean, SYRIA, EGYPT, the Byzantine
world, North AFRICA, and SPAIN by the 11th century.
In the 13th century its manufacture and use spread
through Spain at VALENCIA, ITALYat Fabriano, FRANCE
in PROVENCE, and northern Europe in FLANDERS and
GERMANYby 1390.THE PROCESS
Medieval paper manufacturing began by mixing cloth
rags or hemp cut into pieces. This was then washed with
water and soaked in lime and afterward placed in troughs
and beaten into pulp. This pulp was heated in a vat, and
hung on a wooden frame fitted with a lattice. At the cen-
ter of this lattice was usually a metal wire forming a letter
or figure, the watermark, which showed the source for
the paper and was transparently visible.