The Awarding of one of the Franco-British Society Literary Prizes 2021
​followed with a lecture and drinks 

Thursday 30th November 2023
House of Lords  

On 30th November 2023, The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve KC, President of the Franco-British Society, awarded one of the two Franco-British Society Literary Prizes 2021 to Ambrogio a.Caiani for his book "To kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII". 

The ceremony was followed by a fascinating lecture by the author on his book and drinks Reception.

We would like to thank Ambrogio a.Caiani for this very inspiring lecture.
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“To kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII”

In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII shared a common goal: to reconcile the church with the state. But while they were able to work together initially, formalizing an agreement in 1801, relations between them rapidly deteriorated. In 1809, Napoleon ordered the Pope’s arrest.

Ambrogio Caiani provides a pioneering account of the tempestuous relationship between the emperor and his most unyielding opponent. Drawing on original findings in the Vatican and other European archives, Caiani uncovers the nature of Catholic resistance against Napoleon’s empire; charts Napoleon’s approach to Papal power; and reveals how the Emperor attempted to subjugate the church to his vision of modernity. Gripping and vivid, this book shows the struggle
for supremacy between two great individuals—and sheds new light
on the conflict that would shape relations between the Catholic church and the modern state for centuries to come.

Ambrogio A. Caiani
Ambrogio received his PhD from Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge in 2009. Since then he has taught at the universities of Greenwich, York and Oxford, and is currently Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Kent. Ambrogio's main research interests are Revolutionary France and Napoleonic Italy and his work has been published in several leading academic journals. He the author of, To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII 1800–1815 published in 2021 by Yale University Press and of Louis XVI and the French Revolution 1789-1792 published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. His most recent book is Losing a Kingdom, Gaining the World;
 
The Catholic Church in the Age of Revolution and Democracy which was released by Head Zeus on 12 October 2023.
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