Politics and Religion in Napoleonic Italy: The War Against God, 1801-1814 Hardback - 2001

The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy explores the intense cultural conflict created by French rule in Italy at the start of the nineteenth century. Napoleon's desire for cultural conformity struck at the heart of Italian religious life. Yet the reforms imposed by French rule created resentment and resistance across Italy, finally leading to Napoleon's famous quarrel with Pope Pius VII.In this fascinating study, Mike Broers traces the events leading up to the ex-communication of Napoleon and the Pope's arrest and exile from Rome. In particular, attention is given to the impact these reforms had on the Italian masses and popular piety. Using previously neglected French and Italian archival sources, The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy reveals how the alliance between Church and people grew in the face of alien, imperial rule. It exposes the vital role this union played in preventing Italy from being totally assimilated into the French empire.Highlighting concepts of cultural imperialism more usually associated with the non-European world, this incisive piece of scholarship reveals much about the prejudices driving French imperial policy. The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy will appeal to historians of modern France and Italy alike.

There are four great constants in the conflict between the Napoleonic empire and the Catholic Church during the epoca francese: the two protagonists in the struggle were the political forces of the Napoleonic regime and the post-Tridentine Church; the geography, both physical and human, in which they struggled was composed of the centre and periphery of the states of the Italian ancien regime, which the Napoleonic empire overthrew and annexed, and over which the Church had exerted a powerful influence.