La France et le Pouvoir Pontifical (1595–1661). L’Esprit des Institutions by Olivier Poncet (review)

Olivier Poncet’s La France et le Pouvoir Pontifical (1595–1661) is a magisterial work of historical scholarship. The central theme in this work is the relationship of France and the papacy with a special focus on the development of the institutions of the Curia during the period in question. Nevertheless, this book is far more than a contribution to papal history or even to seventeenth-century ecclesiastical history in general, for it is a study with broader ambitions.

The author seeks to evaluate the significance of papal actions for the political and religious history of France and his chronological limits are therefore chosen with a view to their relevance for French history. The point of departure is the year 1595, which marked the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between France and the papal court when Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605) recognized Henry IV (1589–1610) as king of France and absolved him from Pope Sixtus V’s excommunication. The closing date marks the beginning of Louis XIV’s personal reign with the death of Cardinal Jules Mazarin the same year.

Poncet rightly points out that the restructuring of ecclesiastical institutions in the early-modern period has seldom been studied in relation to similar processes in the secular governments of Europe. He also argues that administrative developments at the Roman Curia have too rarely been viewed in the larger context of the Tridentine reform. Central to the study is the practice of appointment to ecclesiastical benefices, both bishoprics and abbeys, which in the case of France was not only an economic issue but also a political one. The relations of France and the Holy See were regulated by the Concordat of Bologna from 1516, which established the French king’s right of nomination to benefices.

Poncet’s massive study—786 pages of text and 180 pages of appendices—is divided into three parts. The first examines the juridical and administrative routines involved in appointment to the major benefices in France and the roles of the king and the pope. The second part of the book is an in-depth study of the mechanisms of papal government and diplomacy. Was the papacy of this era, the author asks, in a position to achieve a reorientation in curial administration along the lines envisaged by the Tridentine reform? In the concluding section, Poncet outlines the results achieved during the period investigated with special attention to the role of papal diplomacy, whose goals were also modified at this time.

The popes of the earlier seventeenth century, argues the author, believed that they could advance both the Papal States and the City of God at the same time. The extraordinary power wielded by the pope was a contradiction to the fulfillment of these goals. The secular rulers of the age also experienced the tension between desirable reforms and entrenched practices—nepotism, or the venality of offices—but in the case of the papacy the contradiction was far stronger since this was not only a state but also a City of God. The results achieved by 1667 (the death of Pope Alexander VII) were imperfect, but by the 1690s the papacy could no longer practically sustain venality and nepotism, and was thus forced to put the needs of the Church before the needs of the state. Ironically, the ideals of Catholic reform within the Curia could ultimately triumph only with the aid of a secular monarch, as the example of France demonstrates.

Poncet’s exhaustively researched study is aimed at specialists and will undoubtedly serve as a resource to scholars and an inspiration to future students of the field for many years to come. His precise critical apparatus and generously constructed appendices make it an invaluable work of reference not only to the archival sources of the Vatican...