The Vatican

 Because the Vatican seems sort of medieval—after all, the pope is guarded by guards wearing outfits inspired by those of Swiss mercenaries of the sixteenth century—it's easy to lose track of how young it is.  It's one of western Europe's newest countries, having been founded on this day (June 7) in 1929.  It's also the world's smallest sovereign state, only 121 acres (roughly 1 square kilometer), with a population of under 1000.

Above you can see a modern Swiss Guard at the Vatican.

So wait, you say, hasn't the pope been in Rome since the first century?  Well, there's been a bishop in Rome since the early church, second century for sure, and he's been called the pope since the sixth century, a term derived from the word Father (papa) and originally shared with other bishops.  (Click here for more on the early papacy.)  But the Vatican as a country is recent.

The early popes essentially took over the governance of the city of Rome once the emperors were no longer there.  During the Middle Ages, the popes claimed with greater or lesser verisimilitude to control most of Italy, or at least the central parts.  The kings of Germany, who claimed to be Holy Roman Emperors, sort of agreed, as did the Normans who decided that they were kings of Sicily and southern Italy in the twelfth century.  This of course did not reduce the amount of wars in which the papal territories were frequently involved.

The Vatican palace, the heart (now) of the Vatican City State, is located close to Saint Peter's basilica.  But the medieval popes did not live at the Vatican.  Rather, they lived at the Lateran palace, which is no longer within the borders of the Vatican State.  After the popes lived in Avignon, in southern France, for most of the fourteenth century, they returned to Rome and decided to make the Vatican palace their principal residence, handy to Saint Peter's.

This is the famous "Pieta" of Michelangelo, one of the many works of art in the basilica of Saint Peter's, rebuilt in the sixteenth century to replace the old church.

Italy was one of the last of western Europe's countries to become a single country.  Because in the Middle Ages it had been claimed in part by the popes (the so-called Papal States covered much of the middle of Italy), the king of Germany, and the king of Sicily, there was no sense that the whole peninsula was one country.  The individual city states, like Venice, had no interest in being subject to other powers.

But at the end of the nineteenth century Italy officially became a kingdom, sort of unified by 1870.  It took a while to work out all the details, to get Venice for example to agree that they were not an independent republic anymore.  Under the fascist government of Mussolini, the pope was allowed to have his very own country of the Vatican, as noted above.  (San Marino is also still an independent country within Italy.  It's bigger than the Vatican, but not by much.)  After the end of World War II and the end of fascism in Italy, Italy became a democracy.  It still has people who claim to be the righteous king.  They live in Paris.

The Vatican is officially an elective monarchy, with the pope the head of state.  Starting in 1929, the Vatican started issuing its own stamps, and some Italians will tell you that your letter will have a much better chance of making it where it's going if mailed at the Vatican.

 © C. Dale Brittain 2021

For more on the medieval church, see my ebook Positively Medieval, available on Amazon and other ebook platforms.  Also available in paperback.