The next day the king abdicated after appointing Charles Albert regent.
He had Consti- the power of appointing his own council of state.
The pope followed up this breve by appointing a congregation of cardinals to take possession of the temporalities of the Society, and armed it with summary powers against all who should attempt to retain or conceal any of the property.
The practice of appointing a steward on these occasions to execute judgment upon a peer was kept up till 1477, when George, duke of Clarence, was attainted, and then dropped.
The steward is addressed as "his grace," he has a rod of office, and the commission appointing him is dissolved according to custom by breaking this rod.
