The Constitutiones Sanctæ Matris Ecclesiæ (English: ''Constitutions of the Holy Mother Church''), informally known as the Constitutiones Aegidianae (English: ''Egidian Constitutions'', ), were six books of law which formed the first historic

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

. They were redacted at

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

by Cardinal Albornoz between 29 April and 1 May 1357 at an assembly of all the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

s of the pontifical territories. The ''Constitutiones'' formed the highest law of a vast stretch of

central Italy Central Italy ( or ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region with code ITI, and a European Parliament constituency. It has 11,704,312 inhabita ...

, including the modern regions of

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, until 1816. Under the ''Constitutiones'', the Papal States were divided into five provinces: the

Duchy of Spoleto The Duchy of Spoleto () was a Lombards, Lombard territory founded about 570 in central Italy by the Lombard ''dux'' Faroald I of Spoleto, Faroald. Its capital was the city of Spoleto. Lombards The Lombards invaded northern Italy in 568 and b ...

, March of Ancona,

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

Patrimony of Saint Peter The Patrimony of Saint Peter () originally designated the landed possessions and revenues of various kinds that belonged to the apostolic Holy See. Until the middle of the 8th century this consisted wholly of private property; later, it correspon ...

, and the Campagne and Maritime Province. Each province fell under the direction of a rector appointed personally by the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. Each rector was charged with the selection of a council of seven justices for his province. The purpose of the council was to counter corruption and each justice had to belong to a different province than the one to which he was appointed. The rector also had the power to name the chief of the armed forces of his province, but was barred from bestowing the office on one of his relatives.

References

1350s in law History of the papacy History of Catholicism in Italy Constitutions of former countries 14th century in the Papal States Legal history of Italy 1357 in Europe History of le Marche Legal history of Vatican City {{Europe-law-stub