Lombard king Liutprand ceded Sutri and nearby towns in Latium to Pope Gregory II—often treated as the first clear territorial acquisition that set a precedent for later papal temporal rule.
Pope Stephen II and the Frankish king Pippin (Pepin) the Short forged an alliance at Quierzy; papal accounts describe a pledge to restore key central Italian territories, a precursor to the formal transfer that followed.
After campaigns against the Lombards, Pippin’s settlement in 756 produced the so‑called “Confession of St. Peter” listing cities/territories placed under papal authority—commonly treated as the decisive foundation of the Papal States’ temporal domain.
Charlemagne’s conquest of the Lombard kingdom and subsequent confirmations of earlier Frankish grants strengthened the legal and political basis of papal temporal rule in central Italy.
In the Peace of Venice, Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) recognized Pope Alexander III as the legitimate pope and withdrew support from an antipope, bolstering papal political standing in Italy.
After his election, Innocent III acted to recover and secure papal territories and to prevent the union of Sicily and the Empire—an enduring strategic concern for protecting the Papal States.
The papal curia moved from Rome to Avignon, inaugurating the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377). The shift altered governance and finances, while complicating the management of papal territories in Italy.
Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz oversaw the redaction of the Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ at Fano, creating a foundational legal-administrative framework for governing papal provinces.
Humanist Lorenzo Valla’s 1440 philological critique argued that the Donation of Constantine was not a 4th‑century imperial grant. This undercut a major documentary prop for papal temporal claims (even if papal rule persisted in practice).
With Pope Alexander VI’s backing, Cesare Borgia launched campaigns beginning in 1499 to bring semi‑independent Romagna lordships back under papal authority, a major effort at territorial consolidation within the Papal States.
Revolutionary France forced the Papal States to accept punitive terms, including heavy indemnities, cessions in Italy, and the formal transfer of Avignon/Comtat Venaissin—accelerating the erosion of papal temporal power.
Italian troops entered Rome through the breach at Porta Pia on 20 September 1870. After a plebiscite, Rome and the remaining papal territories were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, ending the Papal States’ temporal rule.
Papal States: Temporal Rule of the Papacy (754–1870 CE)
