The Papal Navy ( it, Marina Pontificia, "Pontifical Navy"; la, Classis Pontificiae) was the maritime force of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. Loosely construed, it was in sporadic existence from approximately the

Battle of Ostia The naval Battle of Ostia took place in 849 in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Muslim army and an Italian league of Papal, Neapolitan, Amalfitan, and Gaetan ships. The battle ended in favor of the Italian league, as they defeated the pirates. It is o ...

(849) during the pontificate of Leo IV until the ascension of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1878.

History

Originally protected by the Byzantine navy, the Papal States found themselves in need of a naval force of their own following a Muslim raid on Rome in

843 __NOTOC__ Year 843 ( DCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August – Treaty of Verdun: The Frankish Empire is divided into three k ...

and the sack of the city's basilicas ''extra muros'' in 846. Under the leadership of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

, prince of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, a force of Neapolitan,

Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramati ...

tan, Gaetan, and Papal ships repulsed the pirates off Ostia in 849. Later, the Papal States subsidized various fleets during the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

and outfitted some squadrons of their own, which participated with

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

and others against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

following the fall of Constantinople. With hired and affiliated ships from

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, one Papal squadron participated in the

Battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Soverei ...

. Papal ships often assisted the Republic of Venice in her

wars War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

with the

. In 1715, Pope Clement XI constructed the Pontifical Arsenal near

Porta Portese Porta Portese is an ancient city gate, located at the end of Via Portuense, where it meets Via Porta Portese, about a block from the banks of the Tiber in the southern edge of the Rione Trastevere of Rome, Italy. History The gate was built in ...

in Ripa Grande on the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

. In 1802, Napoleon donated two brigs to Pope Pius VII and the Papal Navy: the somewhat aged ''Saint Paul'', and the brand-new ''Saint Pierre''. Under the names ''San Paolo'' and ''San Pietro'' they sat in the arsenal at

Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...

for some years until they were discarded. Pontifical ships were protected by international treaty in 1819, but the navy only slowly recovered from the seizure of its vessels during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. One was captured by Muslim pirates in 1826, but following a show of force by two frigates and a sloop-of-war from

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

under Captain Arnous, the Bey of Tripoli freed the ship with 10,600

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

s compensation. By 1823, the navy comprised the 12-gun schooner ''San Pietro'', a cutter, a

felucca A felucca ( ar, فلوكة, falawaka, possibly originally from Greek , ) is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in the eastern Mediterranean—including around Malta and Tunisia—in Egypt and Sudan (particularly along the Nile and in protect ...

, and a

pinnace Pinnace may refer to: * Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things * Full-rigged pinnace The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth c ...

."La Marina dello Stato Pontificio."
Italian Ministry of Defense Website. Accessed 2 June 2010. Another twelve patrol boats armed with mortars performed

coast guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

duties in two squadrons, eight vessels in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

and four in the Tyrrhenian. Lt. Col. Alessandro Cialdi directed an expedition to Egypt and then led three British steamers to Rome for navigation on the

. A fourth steamer, the ''Roma'', participated during the unrest of 1848, opposing the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

siege of

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

. In 1856, the separate Navy (''Marina da Guerra''), Finance Navy (''Marina di Finanza''), and Tiber Navy (''Marina del Tevere'') administrations were combined into the Pontifical Navy (''Marina Pontificia''). New Armed Screw Steam-Yacht

As part of his break from the diplomatic policies of Pope Pius IX, Leo XIII sold off the last ship in the Papal Navy, the corvette ''Immacolata Concezione'', during his first year in office. As the papacy had already been confined to Vatican City following the capture of Rome, it had been docked at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, France. Its flag and a scale model of the vessel are in the Vatican Historical Museum in the

Lateran Palace The Lateran Palace ( la, Palatium Lateranense), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran ( la, Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome. Located on St. ...

, Rome.

Ships

*At Lepanto: ** ''Capitana'' ("flagship") ** ''Padrona'' ("squadron flagship") ** ''Suprema'' (''Supreme'') ** ''Serena'' (''Serene'') ** ''Pace'' (''Peace'') ** ''Vittoria'' (''Victoria'') ** ''Grifona'' (''Gryphon'') ** ''Santa Maria'' ** ''San Giovanni'' ** ''Regina'' (''Queen'') * ''San Bonaventura'' (''St. Bonaventure'')Laudonio, Marco. ''La Repubblica''. "Arsenale Pontificio, la rinascita." Op. cit
''Ordine degli Architetti di Roma e Provincia.''
Accessed 4 June 2010. * ''San Pietro'', a schooner * , an earlier brig broken up in 1807 * ''Roma'', a steamer * ''Immacolata Concezione'' (''Immaculate Conception''), a corvette

References

{{Authority control

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

Military history of the Mediterranean Navies by country Disbanded navies 840s establishments 9th-century establishments in the Papal States 1878 disestablishments in the Papal States Naval warfare of the Early Modern period Naval warfare of the Middle Ages Naval history of Italy

History

Ships

See also

References