Napoleon’s Duel with the Pope
“Treat the Pope as though he had an army of 200,000 men"—Napoleon. By E.E.Y. Hales.
At the end of November, in the year 1799, thirty-four cardinals proud, penniless, and proscribed, found their way to the island of San Giorgio, across the water from the piazzetta of Venice. It was their duty to elect a new Pope, and to do this they had been summoned to a Conclave in the Benedictine monastery on the island.
Rome was without cardinals. The Holy City was occupied by Neapolitan troops, and had not been the seat of the Curia since “Citizen Pope,” Pius VI, had been seized by the soldiers of the French Directory and dragged to his last prison at Valence. When he died, the problem confronting the scattered cardinals was where they could manage to meet together to hold a Conclave, in peace and security, undisturbed by the violent moves and counter-moves of the French Revolution.
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.
