On May 17, 1809, Napoleon issued two decrees from Schönbrunn Palace near Vienna accusing the popes of not having used the gift of Charlemagne, his “sublime predecessor,” and declared that the territories still under the direct control of the Papal States should be annexed to the French Empire. The territories were to be organized under Miollis with an extraordinary council to administer them. In compensation, the pope would receive a scholarship of 2,000,000 francs per year. [1] [2] On June 10, Miollis lowered the papal flag, which still hovered over Castel Sant`Angelo. In 1805, Pius XII was deeply irritated by the French invasion of papal territory.[1] The troops of The Governor st-Cyr, withdrawing from Calabria, had been sent to occupy Ancona (a strategic port on the east coast of Italy) in order to prevent a British landing during the Austerlitz campaign. On 13 November 1805, Pius XII (certainly aware of the result at Ulm, but perhaps also aware of Trafalgar)2 was persuaded to write a letter of remonstrance to Napoleon. His stern complaint scolded the occupation of Ancona, called for the evacuation of French troops, and deplored Napoleon`s reluctance to provide in exchange for all the papal good that had been shown so far (especially Pius XII`s agreement to come to Paris for coronation and consecration). Napoleon did not respond immediately. After all, he was right in the middle of it all in Austerlitz. He finally wrote on the 7th.
January 1806 from Munich to Pius, strong after the Treaty of Pressburg.3 He was angry at what he saw as the consortialization of the Vatican with Britain and Russia, which allowed the agents of these two countries to operate freely in the Papal States. He called the pope`s letter a stab in the back. Pius, he said, gave the impression that he thought Napoleon and the empire were lost (the emperor may have suspected that the pope was aware of the naval defeat). Napoleon denounced the pope for his indecent attitude toward France and claimed moral and religious superiority as the “eldest son of the Church.”4 The French emperor also wrote to Cardinal Fesch the same day, calling P`ope`s letter “ridiculous and useless” and encouraging his uncle and French ambassador to the Holy See to deliver his letter to the Vatican.