The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789–1901

Anderson prints the operative text of each document, often abridged, and marks omissions. His short introductions and reading lists are the work of a historian of 1904 and are not cited as evidence, except once for his explanation of the dates he gives the Concordat. The documents used in this wiki are: the decree on church lands of 2 November 1789 (no. 6A) and that on monastic vows (6B; its heading prints the year as 1789, an error for 1790); the decree on the clerical oath of 27 November 1790 (6D); the Convention’s decrees on non-juring priests of April and October 1793, on the Supreme Being of May 1794 and on worship of 1794 and 1795 (no. 29); the armistice of 1796 and the treaty of Tolentino with Pius VI (no. 52); the Constitution of the Year VIII (no. 58) and the senatus-consultum of 1804 that made Napoleon emperor; the Organic Articles of 1802 (64B); and the decree of 1809 annexing the Papal States.

A decree states what was ordered. It does not show how far, or how evenly, the order was carried out. The Civil Constitution and the Concordat, which Anderson also prints, have their own records: Civil Constitution of the Clergy and Concordat of 1801.