Editing Charles III of Spain (section)

===Conflict with the Holy See===
[[File: Tanucci Bernardo 01.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Bernardo Tanucci, who aided Charles in his conflict with the Holy See]]
During the early years of Charles's reign, the Neapolitan court was engaged in a dispute with the Holy See over jurisdiction, clerical appointments, and revenues. The Kingdom of Naples was an ancient fief of the Papal States. For this reason, [[Pope Clement XII]] considered himself the only one entitled to invest the king of Naples, and so he did not recognize Charles of Bourbon as a legitimate sovereign. Through the [[apostolic nuncio]], the Pope let Charles know he did not consider valid the nomination received by him from Charles's father, Philip V, King of Spain. In response, a committee headed by the Tuscan lawyer [[Bernardo Tanucci]] in Naples concluded that papal investiture was not necessary because the crowning of a king could not be considered a sacrament.<ref>Vittorio Gleijeses, Don Carlos, Naples, Edizioni Agea, 1988, p. 63-64.</ref>

The situation worsened when, in 1735, just a few days before the coronation of Charles, the Pope chose to accept the traditional offering of a [[Hackney (horse)|Hackney]] horse from the Holy Roman Emperor rather than from Charles. The Hackney was a white mare and a sum of money which the King of Naples offered the Pope as feudal homage every 29 June, at the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The reason for this choice was that Charles had not yet been recognized as ruler of the Kingdom of Naples by a peace treaty, and so the Emperor was considered still de jure King of Naples. Receiving the Hackney from the Holy Roman Empire was common while receiving it from a Bourbon was unusual. The Pope, therefore, considered the first option a less dramatic gesture, and in doing so provoked the wrath of the religious Spanish infante.

Meanwhile, Charles had landed in Sicily. Although the Bourbon conquest of the island was not complete, he was crowned King of the Two Sicilies ("utriusque Siciliae rex") on 3 July in the ancient [[Palermo Cathedral]], after having traveled overland to [[Palmi, Calabria|Palmi]], and by sea from Palmi to [[Palermo]]. The coronation bypassed the authority of the Pope thanks to the apostolic legation of Sicily, a medieval privilege which ensured the island a special legal autonomy from the Church. Thus, the papal legate did not attend the ceremony as Charles would have wanted.<ref name="p65-66">Vittorio Gleijeses, Don Carlos, Naples, Edizioni Agea, 1988, pp. 65–66</ref>

In March 1735 a new discord developed between Rome and Naples. In Rome, it was discovered that the Bourbons had confined Roman citizens in the basement of [[Palazzo Farnese, Rome|Palazzo Farnese]], which was the personal property of King Charles; people were brought there to [[impressment|impress]] them into the newborn Neapolitan army. Thousands of inhabitants in the suburb of [[Trastevere]] stormed the palace to liberate them. The riot then degenerated into pillage. Next, the crowd directed itself toward the embassy of Spain in [[Piazza di Spagna]]. During the clashes that followed, several Bourbon soldiers were killed, including an officer. The disturbances spread to the town of [[Velletri]], where the population attacked Spanish troops on the road to Naples.

The episode was perceived as a serious affront to the Bourbon court. Consequently, the Spanish and Neapolitan ambassadors left Rome, the seat of the papacy, while apostolic nuncios were dismissed from Madrid and Naples. The regiments of Bourbon troops invaded the Papal States. The threat was such that some of the gates of Rome were barred and the civil guard was doubled. Velletri was occupied and forced to pay 8000 crowns for the occupation. [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]] was sacked, while [[Palestrina]] avoided the same fate by the payment of a ransom of 16,000 crowns.

The commission of cardinals to whom the case was assigned decided to send a delegation of prisoners of Trastevere and Velletri to Naples as reparations. The papal subjects were punished with just a few days in jail and then, after seeking royal pardon, were granted it.<ref name="p65-66"/> The Neapolitan king subsequently managed to iron out his differences with the Pope, after long negotiations, through the mediation of its ambassador in Rome, [[Troiano Acquaviva d'Aragona|Cardinal Acquaviva]], the archbishop [[Giuseppe Spinelli]] and the chaplain Celestino Galiani. The agreement was achieved on 12 May 1738.

After the death of Pope Clement in 1740, he was replaced by [[Pope Benedict XIV]], who the following year allowed the creation of a concordat with the Kingdom of Naples. This allowed the taxation of certain property of the clergy, the reduction of the number of the ecclesiastical, and the limitation of their immunity and autonomy of justice via the creation of a mixed tribunal.<ref>Giovanni Drei, Giuseppina Allegri Tassoni (a cura di) I Farnese. Grandezza e decadenza di una dinastia Italiana, Rome, La Libreria Dello Stato, 1954.</ref>{{Clarify|date=February 2010|reason=tribunal is "mixed" how?}}