Crimmins, John D. (John Daniel), 1844-1917

The Papal States arose in the eighth century out of the conflict between the papacy and the Byzantine emperors. The state was originally under Frankish protection. From the early tenth century to the Gregorian reforms of the eleventh century, the papal state was dominated by factions of the Roman nobility. Meanwhile, the papacy laid foundations of its administrative independence. In the Middle Ages, papal rule in the Papal States fluctuated, being sometimes reduced to Rome; the popes allowed the formation of communes (autonomous municipalities). In the fourteenth century, the absence of the popes in Avignon weakened the state. By mid-century, Cardinal Gil Albornoz overcame most communes' resistance to centralization, though many small tyrannies remained until the sixteenth century. Albornoz's work was largely undone by Great western Schism; fifteenth-century popes like Martin V and Nicholas V had to use far lesser political and financial resources to rebuild the Papal States. The French reluctantly continued to protect what was left of the Papal States until the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 distracted them; Italy took advantage of the situation to annex Rome and put an end to the Papal States, although the Pope retained personal sovereignty.