Papal States

Papal States, lands in Italy under the rule of the popes from 754 to 1870. The states date from the donation of conquered Lombard lands to the papacy by the Frankish King Pepin the Short. Augmented by later gifts and conquests, the states stretched from coast to coast across central Italy by the early 13th century. Napoleon I conquered the Papal States in 1796, but they were restored to the pope in 1815. King Victor Emmanuel II annexed the Papal States during the Risorgimento, Rome itself coming under Italian rule in 1870. The papacy did not officially accept the loss of its lands until the Lateran Treaty (1929) created an independent Vatican City.