Episode 5 of 8

Annexation of Papal States

When: May 1809 – February 1810
Where: Papal States
Part of: War of the Fifth Coalition: Austrian invasion of Bavaria and the Danube campaign to Wagram

France occupied and annexed the Papal States in stages beginning in May 1809, and exiled Pope Pius VII to Savona.

Due to a reluctance to align the Papal States with the Continental System, France occupied and annexed the Papal States, with the annexation occurring in stages from May 1809 and extending into February 1810. In 1809 Napoleon had invaded the Papal States, and Pope Pius VII excommunicated him through the papal bull Quum memoranda. The Pope was subsequently exiled to Savona; the evidence does not date the exile precisely.

Sources

Pope Pius VII Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20
Napoleon Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.