INNOCENT XI. (BENEDETTO ODESCALCHI)

INNOCENT XI. (BENEDETTO ODESCALCHI), born at Como in 1611 and elected in 1676, was one of the most distinguished among the popes of the 17th century. He was a vigorous and judicious reformer; but his historical celebrity is mainly owing to his contest with Louis XIV. The dispute began with an attempt on the part of the pope to put an end to the abuse of the king's keeping sees vacant, in virtue of what was called the Droit de Regale, and appropriating their revenues. The resistance to this attempt drew forth the celebrated declarations of the French clergy as to the Gallican Liberties. But the actual conflict regarded the immunities enjoyed by the foreign ambassadors residing in Rome, and especially the right of asylum, which they claimed not only for their own residences, but also for the adjoining district. These districts had gradually become so many nests of crime, and of frauds upon the revenue; and the pope gave notice that he would not thereafter receive the credentials of any new ambassador who should not renounce these abusive claims. The great powers murmured at this threat, but it was with France that the crisis occurred. Louis XIV. instructed his new ambassador to maintain the dignity of France, and sent a large body of military and naval officers to support his pretensions. Innocent persisted in refusing to grant an audience to the ambassador. Louis, in reprisal, seized on the papal territory of Avignon; but the pope was immovable, and the dispute was not adjusted till the following pontificate. Innocent died in 1689. The pope of Brown- ing's Ring and the Book was Innocent XII. (Pignatelli), pope in 1691-1700.