Papal States

The Papal States were territories in central Italy ruled by the pope as a temporal sovereign from the eighth century until Italy annexed them in 1870.

Donation of Pepin: A grant of territory by the Frankish king Pepin the Short that helped establish papal temporal rule in central Italy. Pepin’s grants in the eighth century laid the territorial foundation of papal sovereignty.
Papal legate: A representative sent by the pope to exercise authority or conduct diplomacy on his behalf. Legates helped administer distant territories and negotiate with other rulers.
Pope Pius IX: The pope from 1846 to 1878, whose reign spanned the loss of the Papal States and the beginning of the Roman Question. His refusal to accept annexation made the territorial loss a lasting political dispute.
Italian unification: The nineteenth-century political process that united most of the Italian peninsula under one kingdom. The states’ annexation was a decisive final stage in unifying the peninsula.
Donation of Constantine: A medieval forgery claiming that Emperor Constantine granted the Western Roman Empire to Pope Sylvester I. The document later served as a purported legal justification for papal temporal authority.
Papal conclave: The gathering of cardinals that elects a pope. A new pope inherited temporal government as well as leadership of the Catholic Church.
Pope Julius II: The pope from 1503 to 1513, known for military campaigns and patronage of Renaissance art. His campaigns expanded and consolidated papal control in central Italy.
Capture of Rome: The 1870 military operation in which Italian forces took Rome from papal control. Its success ended the Papal States’ rule over Rome and most remaining territory.
Carolingian Empire: A Frankish empire ruled by Charlemagne and his successors from the late eighth to the ninth century. Carolingian protection helped secure the pope’s independence and territorial claims.
Papal diplomacy: The conduct of relations between the Holy See and other political powers. Diplomacy helped the Papal States defend their territory amid shifting Italian alliances.

Linked from 100 pages