Church Statesofthe

Church, States of the, were certain states of central Italy, ranging from Ancona and Ravenna on the Adriatic coast, and extending to the Mediterranean, having Rome as their capital, which formerly were in the temporal jurisdiction of the Pope. Taking their rise in a gift of lands made to the Pope by Pepin le Bref in the 8th century, these states have differed in extent from time to time. Shorn of much of their proportions in 1860, they finally ceased to exist, except as regards the Vatican and its surroundings, in 1870.