In the year 754, Pope Stephen II., the successor of Zacharias, appeared in France as a personal supplicant for the aid of King Pippin. Aistulf, the Longobard king, who had driven the Byzantines out of the Exarchy of Ravenna, was marching against Rome, which still nominally belonged to the Eastern Empire. To make his entreaty more acceptable, the Pope bestowed on Pippin the title of "Patrician of Rome," and solemnly crowned both him and his young sons, Karl and Karloman, in the chapel of St. Denis, near Paris. At the same time he issued a ban of excommunication against all persons who should support a monarch belonging to any other than the reigning dynasty.
Pippin first endeavored to negotiate with Aistulf, but, failing therein, he marched into Italy, defeated the Longobards in several battles, and besieged the king in Pavia, his capital. Aistulf was compelled to promise that he would give up the Exarchy and leave the Pope in peace; but no sooner had Pippin returned to France than he violated all his promises. On the renewed appeals of the Pope, Pippin came to Italy a second time, again defeated the Longobards, and forced Aistulf not only to fulfil his former promises, but also to pay the expenses of the second war. He remained in Italy until the conditions were fulfilled, and his son Karl (Charlemagne), then fourteen years old, spent some time in Rome.
768. DEATH OF PIPPIN.
The Byzantine Emperor demanded that the cities of the Exarchy should be given back to him, but Pippin transferred them to the Pope, who already exercised a temporal power in Rome. They were held by the latter, for some time afterwards, in the name of the Eastern Empire. The worldly sovereignty of the Popes grew gradually from this basis, but was not yet recognized, or even claimed. Pippin, nevertheless, greatly strengthened the influence of the Church by gifts of land, by increasing the privileges of the priesthood, and by allowing the ecclesiastical synods, in many cases, to interfere in matters of civil government.
The only other events of his reign were another expedition against the unsubdued Saxons, and the expulsion of the Saracens from the territory they held between Narbonne and the Pyrenees. He died in 768, King instead of Royal Steward, leaving to his sons, Karl and Karloman, a greater, stronger and better organized dominion than Europe had seen since the downfall of the Roman Empire.
CHAPTER XI.
THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE.
(768—814.)
- The Partition made by Pippin the Short.
- —Death of Karloman.
- —Appearance and Character of Charlemagne.
- —His Place in History.
- —The Carolingian Dynasty.
- —His Work as a Statesman.
- —Conquest of Lombardy.
- —Visit to Rome.
- —First Saxon Campaign.
- —The Chief, Wittekind.
- —Assembly at Paderborn.
- —Expedition to Spain.
- —Defeat at Roncesvalles.
- —Revolt of the Saxons.
- —Second Visit to Rome.
- —Execution of Saxon Nobles, and Third War.
- —Subjection of Bavaria.
- —Victory over the Avars.
- —Final Submission of the Saxons.
- —Visit of Pope Leo III.
- —Charlemagne crowned Roman Emperor.
- —The Plan of Temporal and Spiritual Empire.
- —Intercourse with Haroun Alraschid.
- —Trouble with the Saracens.
- —Extent of Charlemagne's Empire.
- —His Encouragement of Learning and the Arts.
- —The Scholars at his Court.
- —Changes in the System of Government.
- —Loss of Popular Freedom.
- —Charlemagne's Habits.
- —The Norsemen.
- —His Son, Ludwig, crowned Emperor.
- —Charlemagne's Death.
771.