CONCORDAT (Let. concordatum, " a thing agreed on"), although sometimes used of purely secular treaties, is now almost exclusively employed to designate a compact on ecclesiastical affairs between the pope, as head of the Roman Catholic church, and the temporal ruler of a particular kingdom or state. Concordats commonly relate to things which are neither purely spiritual, as faith, the sacraments, or worship, nor purely temporal, as civil rights, taxation, etc., but mixed matters, regarding which each power makes certain claims, in regard of which the action of the two powers can with difliculty be dissociated: and in which, therefore, in the hope of harmonious co-opera tion for the public good, each is willing to cede to the other a portion of its peculiaf right. Concordats are of two kinds—the first in the form of a treaty, to which both the contracting powers are formally con inting parties; the second, in which the terms are concerted by both, or, at least, are mutually accepted, but are published only by one, most commonly by the pope, in the form of a bull, reciting the enactments which result from the agreement. This difference is only in form. In both it is a settled doctrine of Roman Catholic canoeists, and especially of those of the Ultramontane (q.v.) school, that the pope never absolutely cedes purely spiritual powers. Thus, in the presentation to bishoprics, while the king "nominated" or "elected," the pope always reserved to him self the power of "canonical institution." We shall briefly enumerate the most important concordats. (1.) Concordats lath Germany.—The earliest subject of negotiation between church and state in Germany was the mode of electing the popes, to which subject may be referred the compact of Otho I. with John XII., and the constitution of Leo. VIII.; but the well known cons cordat of Worms in 1123, regarding investitures, is commonly regarded as the first cordat strictly so called. Similar agreements took place on the question of the Regalia (q.v.), between the Roman see and the emperors Otho IV., Frederic II., and Rudolph of Hapsburg. A more comprehensive compact on church matters is that of which the foundation was laid at Constance in 1418, and which was subsequently modified, by the "Frankfort" or "Princes' Concordat," by the concordat of Aschaffenburg. and by that of Vienna: which last, although practically disregarded by Joseph H. and Leopold, continued in use till the suppression of the emperor of Germany in 1803. Its place was supplied, under Pius VII. and his immediate successors, by separate concordats with Bavaria, 1817; Prussia, 1821; Baden, Wartemberg, and other minor states, 1818; Han over, 1824; Saxony, 1827; and the Netherlands in the same year. The last German concordat was that concluded at Vienna, Aug. 18, 1855. The chief articles were that
the pope should have direct communication with the bishops, clergy, and people, and archbishops and bishops with their clergy and their flocks, and the right to govern their sees according to the canonical la'w. Education was placed entirely under the control of the church. The bishops were to settle what books should be used. The chief inspector of schools was to be chosen by the emperor from among the individuals selected by the bishops. The government bound itself to prevent the dissemination of books pointed out as dangerous to religion by the bishops or archbishops. All questions of marriage, except in so far as they might involve civil consequences, were reserved exclusively to the ecclesiastical courts. Priests guilty of crimes were to be tried in the temporal courts; but the bishop was to be duly notified of the fact, and convicted priests were to be imprisoned apart in a monastery or other ecclesiastical building. The emperor was to choose bishops, but with the advice of the existing bishops and arch bishops. The church might acquire new property, but once acquired, it could not be sold or mortgaged without the consent of both pope and emperor. This concordat was set aside in 1868 in all the dominions of the emperor of Austria. (2.) With France.— The pragmatic sanction, ascribed to St. Louis, but really of later date, has some of the characteristics of a concordat; but the first proper concordat is that of Francis I. with Leo X. in 1515 and 1516, which continued in force, although with more than one con flict of the two powers, till the revolution. In re-establishing the church in France, Napoleon Bonaparte, as first consul, concluded with Pius VII., through the agency of cardinal Consalvi, the celebrated concordat of 1801; which he afterwards compelled the pope, then a captive at Fontainebleau, to modify by a new act in 1814. Both were ignored at the restoration; but an attempt to produce a substitute in 1817, and again in 1819, led to no practical change. (3.) With Italy.—Iu Italy, an agreement regulating the election of bishops was concluded with Nice and Savoy by Nicholas V. in 1451; and a formal concordat was made with Sardinia by Benedict XiV. iu 1740. The ecclesi astical affairs of Naples were anciently regulated by the terms of what Was called the Nenarchia Sicula; but a formal concordat was concluded with Charles III. by the same pope in 1741, and a new concordat was made by Pius VII. in 1818. (4.) With Spain.— Charles V. concluded a concordat for his Spanish kingdom with Adrian VI. and Clem ent VII.; and a further concordat was made by Clement XII. and Philip V. in 1737. (5.) With Portugal.—Benedict XIV. made a concordat with Portugal in 1741.