Comacchio War
The Comacchio War of 1708/09 was the last military conflict between a Roman-German emperor and a pope . The conflict was related to the Spanish War of Succession , but had its own causes in the dispute over feudal rights. There were no significant fights. The conflict ended with the papal surrender.
Imperial politics
Leopold I and Joseph I endeavored to reassert the imperial rights in imperial Italy . A point of contention were Parma and Piacenza, that both the emperor and the pope claimed as fiefdoms.
After the Battle of Turin during the War of the Spanish Succession, Joseph I intensified efforts to restore imperial rights in Italy. At that time, the Austrians also ruled the Kingdom of Naples and Pope Clement XI. saw himself threatened from two sides. The fact that the Pope was on the side of the Bourbons also played a role in the conflict . He had already recognized Philip of Anjou as King of Spain in 1701 . The concessions the emperor made to the Lutherans in Austrian Silesia also met with papal disapproval.
Papal territory was already occupied in the campaigns of 1706 and 1707. Contributions were raised in the territories regarded as imperial fiefs. The Pope responded with ecclesiastical penalties against the imperial generals and officials.
The Duke of Modena Rinaldo d'Este , who sided with the emperor and who demanded compensation after heavy war strains from French troops, claimed sovereign rights over the Duchy of Ferrara and the County of Comacchio . Both areas belonged to the Papal States . However, the duke presented documents that were supposed to prove that it was actually an imperial fiefdom. This representation met with faith in Vienna.
The emperor had General Claude Alexandre de Bonneval occupy Comacchio on May 24, 1708. The imperial began to fortify the city and erected a gate with the inscription affirming the imperial claim. This approach was the last trigger that led to the open conflict. The decision was made by Empress Wilhelmine Amalie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg , whose sister was the Duchess of Modena. The actual driving force was Karl Theodor Otto Fürst zu Salm . The emperor himself advocated this approach, although Eugene of Savoy and others advised against it. The aim was the recognition of Archduke Charles as King of Spain by the Pope and the expansion of imperial influence in Italy.
The Pope's policies were sharply criticized in a statement. The Pope was accused of usurping feudal rights over Parma and Piacenza, of supporting France and of imposing unjustified church sentences on the emperor's generals. This declaration was taken as a declaration of war at the papal court.
Course of the conflict
The Pope began to prepare for the fight, also pushed by cardinals who were friendly to France. His troops were under the command of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, who was disgraced from the imperial army . The army numbered around 25,000 men in total. However, these were of little use from a military point of view and looked more like a band of robbers than a disciplined force. The Pope could not hope for military support from Louis XIV, either , as Louis XIV himself was in a critical situation. The Pope asked all princes of the Catholic denomination, including the spiritual princes in the Holy Roman Empire, for support in vain.
The leadership in Vienna was completely surprised by the military preparations of the Pope, but could not back down without losing face. For the Catholic emperor, however, the conflict was also highly problematic. Voices critical of the Pope increased in the empire and Joseph I had to avoid unintentionally being at the head of an anti-papal movement. More and more advisors advised against a war. The court sent Ercole Turinetti de Prié to Rome to negotiate, while the aim of regaining estranged fiefs was affirmed by the emperor.
The actual course of the war was not very spectacular. Brandenburg units, of all Protestant soldiers, marched into the Papal States and advanced quickly. The papal troops were driven back. Wirich Philipp von und zu Daun had a large part of the Papal States occupied. Ferrara was trapped. The capital was spared due to concerns about a second Sacco di Roma . The Pope was able to dispense with his planned escape to Avignon . The war was not fought very energetically on the part of the emperor, as the Habsburgs felt themselves to be closely connected with the papacy. It is even doubted that the war actually broke out.
Ending the conflict
In the meantime the imperial envoy had arrived in Rome. The Pope attacked this sharply and made demands. Prie replied that he had not heard of any major victories by the papal troops. He announced the imperial terms and issued an ultimatum until January 15, 1709. The war ended that day when the Pope surrendered an hour before the ultimatum expired.
The Pope was forced to accept the imperial peace conditions. This included that the papal troops had to be reduced to 5,000. Six imperial regiments were stationed in the Papal States. The church sentences were lifted by the bishops of Milan and Naples . The imperialists were also allowed to march through the Papal States. No agreement was reached on the question of the disputed fiefdoms. In a secret addendum to the treaty, which only came about after another ultimatum, the Pope recognized Charles III. as the Spanish king. In the Comacchio case, the emperor gave in. The actual return did not take place until 1725.
The last war between a Roman-German emperor and a pope apparently ended with a clear imperial victory. Apart from the restoration of sovereignty over Parma and Piacenza, the actual successes remained small.
Individual evidence
- ^ Hajo Holborn: The Age of Reformation and Absolutism (until 1790). Munich, 1970 p. 451
literature
- Karl Vocelka: Splendor and Fall of the Courtly World. Representation, reform and reaction in the Habsburg multi-ethnic state. Vienna, 2001 pp. 150–151
- Karl Otmar von Aretin: The Old Empire 1648–1806. Vol. 2 Stuttgart, 2005 pp. 206-214