M5 Assignment 1: Primary and Secondary Source Worksheet Instructions (2nd half)

Jane Doe

HIST 111 May 30, 2017

Primary and Secondary Source Comparison

The Concordat of 1801

The primary source selected for this comparison was The Concordat of 1801 between

Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII. This source was first published in 1801, went into effect

in 1802, and remained in place until 1905. The audience was French Catholics and clerics, as

well as other European rulers. It was an agreement between the French government and the

Roman Catholic Church on how the Church would operate in France. During the Revolutionary

Period (the 1790s), revolutionaries dismantled and banned the Catholic Church, seized its

properties, forced clerics to marry, invaded Rome, replaced the papal government of Rome with

a secular republic, and imprisoned Pope Pius VI in France until his death. (Films Media Group,

1997). After his ascent to the Consulship, Bonaparte recognized the benefits of allying with the

new Pope. The negotiations took place in Paris, France between Bonaparte and representatives of

Pope Pius VII. The final agreement began with the recognition “that the Roman, Catholic and

Apostolic religion is the religion of the great majority of French citizens” (Concordat, 1801,

para. 1). It reaffirmed some of the Revolutionary reforms to the Church: the French government

continued to pay salaries for clerics, clerics swore an Oath of Fidelity to France, non-worship

buildings seized from the Church would not be returned, the French government authorized

Church decrees before the Church could implement them in France, and the French leader

appointed bishops and archbishops (Concordat, 1801). In return, France returned all worship

buildings, bishops appointed cures, dioceses could possess seminaries, and the pope became

Choose a primary source

from the list provided in

the instructions.

relevant in France again (Concordat, 1801; Films Media Group, 1997). The authors’ biases are

apparent as well. The agreement heavily favored French interests and the government’s

oversight of the Catholic Church in France. The impact of the primary

source on history was immense. It defined the relationship between the

French government and the Catholic Church for the next 100 years, as well

as changed the role of the papacy (Films Media Group, 1997).

The secondary source selected was a scholarly journal article published in The Catholic

Historical Review. Its author was Sr. M. Barbara, who was a Catholic nun. The audience for

this article would be students, faculty and/or history lovers trying to understand the relationship

between the French and the Roman Catholic Church. Barbara explains her thesis, “a

retrospective survey should be taken of the periods in which contending and far-reaching

forces began to act against the Church in France” (Barbara, 1926, p. 1). The article was

published in 1926, making it irrefutably a secondary source. The article summarizes the

reasons for the Church’s declining popularity during the 18th century: one third of the land in

France belonged to the Church, the Church was tax-exempt, and France faced an economic

crisis (Barbara, 1926). It claims the Concordat and its re-establishment of Catholicism ensured

100 years of peace in France (Barbara, 1926). Prior to reading this article, I understood the

revolutionaries were anti-Church but I did not understand why.

When you read the Concordat, you realize it favors the French. On its face, it does not

make sense why the Pope agreed to it. By reading the secondary source, the historical context

becomes clear. Barbara summarizes the rise of anti-Catholic sentiment throughout the 18th

century. Her focus on Pope Pius VI’s imprisonment, and the consequent feeling in Europe that

the papacy was irrelevant, really brought the Concordat into focus. You see Bonaparte concretize

The

secondary

source is

identified

and the

questions

listed in

item 5 of

the

instructions

are

thoroughly

answered

in regard to

the source.

The

primary

source is

identified

and the

questions

listed in

item 5 of

the

instructions

are

thoroughly

answered

in regard to

the source.

One secondary source

article is selected for

comparison on a

similar topic (See 2 on

instructions).

the Revolutionary period reforms while he acknowledged most French citizens were Catholic.

Yet he gives some concessions to the Pope that were largely symbolic: return of urban centers of

worship and limited shared power over ecclesiastical matters. Through Pius VII’s agreement, he

reinvigorated the role of the papacy in a post-revolutionary and increasingly secularized world.

To truly understand the perspectives of history it is necessary to read and consider a primary

source such as The Concordat of 1801 in context. This is where reading secondary sources are

most helpful

A paragraph summarizing what you

learned by comparing the primary

source with your selected secondary

source. This is not just a summary of

the sources, but what you learned

about different source types.

Works Cited

Barbara, M. Sr. (1926). Napoleon Bonaparte and the restoration of Catholicism in France. The

Catholic Historical Review 12(2). Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America

Press.

Durnham, R. (Ed.) (n.d.). The Concordat of 1801. The Napoleon Series. Retrieved May 30, 2017,

from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/diplomatic/c_concordat.html

The pope and the people: Saints and sinners – the history of the Popes [Video file]. (1997).

Retrieved May 30, 2017 from

https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?xtid=55048&loid=213622&tScript=0

Include a properly formatted bibliography that includes your chosen primary source, the

video clip associated with it on the Assignment Sheet, and the secondary source you chose

about your primary source. This is in APA format, but you may also use MLA or Chicago

style for Humanities. In this example, the Microsoft Word reference tool was used to create

an APA Works Cited page.