Napoleon Bonaparte's Excommunication Order Issued by Pope Pius VII

Napoleon I , Excommunication

Pamphlet

Pope Pius VII. Writ of Excommunication of the Authors, Executors, and Instigators of the Usurpation of Rome, and of the States belonging to the Holy See. London: Vogel & Schulze,1809. Size 9" x 6". 13 pages. Pamphlet written in French. Very scarce; in only 3 libraries (Yale, Cornell, Bibliotheque National de France) as per OCLC Worldcat at the time of this writing. After several years of escalating hostilities between the First French Empire and the Italian Papal States, Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Rome on 2 February,1808. Just two months later, the Emperor decreed that the papal territories of Urbino, Ancona, Macerata and Camerino were ‘irrevocably’ part of ‘my kingdom in Italy’. And finally in the following year (May 1809), Napoleon published the decree annexing Rome to the Grand Empire. With the Pontiff’s lands now seized, all that was left for the Pope was his spiritual domain and his palaces. In protest, the Pope issued this excommunication, a harsh condemnation that nevertheless somewhat toothless. While the writ excommunicated all those who “usurp, encourage, advise or perform” violation of the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See, Napoleon, the usurper, encourager and advisor, is not explicitly named. This chain of events led an enraged Napoleon to suggest that "If the Pope preaches revolt, then you must arrest him" in a letter to his opportunistic General Radet, who stormed the Vatican on the night of July 5-6, 1809 for a surreptitious extraction of the Pontiff. Although Napoleon had moved aggressively against the Pope, he was appalled by this action, yet did not let the opportunity go to waste and kept the Pope as his prisoner for six years, attempting to gain whatever leverage he could until his eventual defeat and exile in 1814-15. Bonaparte would reconcile with the Church shortly before his death in exile at Saint Helena, and received his last rites and Eucharist in his final days. Some wear and chipping to edges of paper. Clean and legible interiors, overall very good condition.

Item #18926

Price: $2,200.00