The Concordat of Bologna (1516) was an agreement between King

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...

and

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

that Francis negotiated in the wake of his victory at Marignano in September 1515. The groundwork was laid in a series of personal meetings of king and pope in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, 11–15 December 1515. The concordat was signed in Rome on 18 August 1516. It marked a stage in the evolution of the Gallican Church. The Concordat explicitly superseded the

Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, issued by King Charles VII of France, on 7 July 1438, required a General Church Council, with authority superior to that of the papacy, to be held every ten years, required election rather than appointment to ecc ...

(1438), which had proved ineffective in guaranteeing the privileges of the Church in France, where

bishoprics In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

and abbacies had been wrangled over even before the Parlement of Paris: "hardly anywhere were elections held in due form", R. Aubenas observes, "''for the king succeeded in foisting his own candidates upon the electors by every conceivable means, not excluding the most ruthless''". The Concordat permitted the Pope to collect all the income that the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

made in France, while the King of France was confirmed in his right to

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

the clerics and to restrict their right of appeal to Rome. The Concordat confirmed the King of France's right to nominate appointments to

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

(

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

s and

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

s), enabling the Crown, by controlling its personnel, to decide who was to lead the Gallican Church. Despite these gains, the Concordat was not the triumph of the French monarchy and encountered bitter opposition from the Parlement of France and the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. Canonical installation of those church officers was reserved to the Pope; thus the agreement confirmed the papal

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

of any leader the King of France chose who might be deemed truly unqualified. The Concordat confirmed the

Apostolic Camera The Apostolic Camera ( la, Camera Apostolica), formerly known as the was an office in the Roman Curia. It was the central board of finance in the papal administrative system and at one time was of great importance in the government of the Sta ...

's right to collect annates, the first year's revenue from each benefice, a right that when abused led to shuffling of prelates among dioceses. The fiction of elections to bishopric by canons and to abbacies by monks was discontinued. On Francis's part, it was at last firmly conceded that the Pope's powers were not subject to any council, an affirmation of the papal position in the long-crushed

Conciliar Movement Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * *Knecht, R. J. (1963). "The Concordat of 1516: A Reassessment". In: ''University of Birmingham Historical Journal'' 9.1 (1963), pp. 16-32. * * * * * {{Authority control Bologna, Concordat of (1516)

Religion in the Ancien Régime 1516 in France 16th-century Christianity 16th-century Catholicism Documents of Pope Leo X