Conflict over the Corsican Guard
contra excell. Ducem Crequeium
Oratorem Regis Christianissimi
A Militibus Corsis
XIII. Cal. Sep. A. MDC.LXII. patrati
Corsica Natio inhabilis et incapax
Ad Sedi Apostolicae inserviendum
ex Decreto jussu
Smi. DN Alexandri Pont. Max.
Edito
In executionem concordiae Pisis initae
Ad perpetuam rei memoriam
Declarata est
Anno M.DC.LXIIII.
(Translation: In atonement for the hideous crime committed by Corsican soldiers against the Duke of Crequy, the ambassador of the most Christian king, on August 20th ( 13th Cal. Sep. ) 1662, the Corsican nation is unsuitable and incapable declared to serve the Apostolic See, in a decree issued on the orders of our Lord, Pope Alexander, in execution of the agreement concluded in Pisa, in perpetual memory, in 1664). Clement IX had the monument removed again in 1668.
The conflict over the Corsican Guard was a dispute between the Papal States under Pope Alexander VII and the Kingdom of France under Louis XIV. The outcome of the conflict underlined once again the European dominance of Louis XIV.
course
The Corsican Guard was founded as part of the army of the Papal States in 1603 under Clement VIII and was under Flavio Chigi . Tensions continued between the Papal States and France, which on August 20, 1662, in an exchange of fire between the Pope's Corsican guard and the entourage of Ambassador Charles III. de Créquy flowed in front of the French embassy in Rome . There were several dead, including the ambassador's page.
Cardinal Rinaldo d'Este (1618–1672) accused the entourage of the French ambassador of trespassing in the gardens of his Villa d'Este and called for the arbitration negotiations to be broken off. Two members of the retinue rioted in a tobacco shop and verbally abused the Pope's Corsican soldiers. They have been identified and punished.
Since Alexander VII did not deviate from his view of the matter, Louis XIV recalled his ambassador and the French negotiating delegation from Rome and expelled the papal nuncio Celio Piccolomini from France. The matter aroused large parts of the public in France.
Treaty of Pisa
On February 12, 1664, Louis XIV prevailed in the Treaty of Pisa : The governor of Rome had to go to Paris to give explanations and the Corsican guard was disbanded. A pyramid-shaped memorial column was erected at the site of the attack. Finally, the papal legate, Cardinal Chigi, publicly apologized to Louis XIV on July 29, 1664.