State of the Church

The State of the Church, more commonly known as the Papal State(s), was the theocratic central Italian nation which acted as the home of the Catholic Church. During Brazilian's Varna series, the Pope would be caught up in several wars, as well as the Protestant Reformation, and would come under the control of an antipope.
== Creation ==
When the Lombards took Ravenna from the Byzantines, the Duchy of Rome was completely cut off from the rest of the Byzantine Empire. Hence, the Pope decided to secure the support of the Kingdom of Francia. In 751, Pope Zachary crowned Pepin the Short the new King of the Franks, and then 5 years later, after Pepin defeated the Lombards, he donated some of the captured territories to the Pope. Hence, the State of the Church came into existence in 756. The borders were not clearly drawn, so they were revised by King Charlemagne in 781, and then in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the new King of the Romans. The Frankish Empire had become the Holy Roman Empire.
{more pre-series history TBA}
== The Third Lombard War ==
From the formation of the HRE until 1500, all of the Italian states located north of the Papal State had been part of the HRE, until they decided to secede in January. The Emperor declared war on them to bring them back to the Empire, and the Papal State took Austria's side. However, the Papacy had not prepared for the intervention of the Italian League, so when the fighting began, the Papacy quickly lost Romagna and the Marche to enemy troops. Papal forces succeeded in a limited advance towards Napoli, before the invading armies marched south from the Marche and captured Rome itself. In the concluding Treaty of Milan, the Papacy lost Romagna, Urbino, Avignon, and the Marche.
== Contention with Cairo ==
=== The Counter-Crusade ===
{Mamluk invasion of Italy TBA}
=== The Tenth Crusade ===
{1516 Mesopotamia War TBA}
== The Reformation Begins ==
Through September and October 1517, the Pope began selling indulgencies in the Holy Roman Empire. On October 31st, Saxony reported to the Pope that a monk named Martin Luther had published a document called the Ninety-Five Theses, whereby he criticised the sale of these indulgencies. The people of Wittenberg, Saxony, gathered around the church that day to read the list which had been mounted on the front door.
{Diet of Worms TBA}
== The Sancarlist Slave ==
{First, Second, Third Italian Wars TBA}
== Later Losses ==
{loss of Clement and Jerusalem TBA}