A Frankish Officer
Liutprand, justly irritated by the conduct of the Romans, to whom he had shown so much forbearance, had led his forces to the very gates of Rome, with the full intention of incorporating it with the rest of his Italian dominions; and thus, with all his foresight, Gregory had brought the rising structure of the papacy into the greatest danger, and appeared to be himself at the mercy of his enemies.
In this extremity the holy father bethought himself of the powerful nation which had for so many ages been the faithful ally of the Catholic church, and had lately been united in still closer bonds of reverence and amity to St. Peter’s chair. In 739 Pope Gregory III applied for aid against the Lombards “to his most excellent son, the sub-king Charles.”
That this application was made unwillingly, and with considerable misgivings about the consequences, may be inferred from the extremities to which Gregory submitted before he made it.
His hesitation was owing, no doubt, in part to his instinctive dread of giving the papal chair a too powerful protector, who might easily become a master; and partly to his knowledge of the sincere friendship which existed between his opponent Liutprand and his desired ally. Of all the circumstances which threatened to prevent the realisation of the papal dreams of temporal independence and spiritual domination, none were so greatly and so justly dreaded as an alliance between the Franks and Lombards; and we shall see that Gregory III and his successors spared no pains, and shrank from no means however questionable, to excite jealousy and hatred between the Franks and their Lombard kinsmen.
THE POPE CALLS TO CHARLES
[740-741 A.D.]
While the Romans were trembling within their hastily repaired walls, and awaiting the decisive assault of the Lombards, Charles Martel was resting from the fatigues of his late campaigns in Burgundy; and he was still in that country when the papal envoys reached him. They brought with them a piteous epistle from Gregory, in which he complains with bitterness of the persecutions of his enemies, who, he says, had robbed the very church of St. Peter (which stood without the walls) of its candlesticks; and taken away the pious offerings of the Frankish princes. Charles received the communication of the afflicted pontiff with the greatest reverence. The interests of the empire, and more especially of his own family, were too intimately connected with the existence and honour of the bishops of Rome, to allow of his feeling indifferent to what was passing in Italy; and there is no reason to doubt that he entertained the highest veneration for the head of the church. Yet this first embassy seems to have justified the fears rather than the hopes of Gregory. The incessant exertions which Charles’ enemies compelled him to make for the maintenance of his authority would long ago have destroyed a man of ordinary energy and endurance, and were beginning to tell even upon his iron frame. He was aware that the new order of things, of which he was the principal author, depended for its continuance and consolidation solely upon his presence and watchfulness. So far from being in a condition to lead his forces to a distant country, and to make enemies of brave and powerful friends, it was not long since he had sought the assistance of the Lombards themselves; and he knew not how soon he might stand in need of it again. He therefore contented himself with opening friendly negotiations with Liutprand, who excused himself to Charles, and agreed to spare the papal territory on condition that the Romans should cease to interfere between himself and his rebellious subjects. The exact terms of the agreement made between Gregory and Liutprand, by the mediation of Charles Martel, are of the less moment, as they were observed by neither party.
In 740 the Lombards again appeared in arms before the gates of Rome; and the pope was once more a suppliant at the Frankish court. In the letter which Charles Martel received on this occasion, Gregory bitterly complains that no effectual aid had been as yet afforded him; that more attention had been paid to the “lying” reports of the Lombard king than to his own statements, and he earnestly implores his “most Christian son” not to prefer the friendship of Liutprand to the love of the prince of the apostles. It is evident from the whole tenor of this second epistle, that the Frankish mayor had not altered his conduct towards the king of the Lombards, in consequence of Gregory’s charges and complaints; but had trusted rather to his own knowledge of his friend than to the invectives of the terrified and angry pope.
To give additional weight to his written remonstrances and entreaties, Gregory sent the bishop Anastasius and the presbyter Sergius to Charles Martel, charged with more secret and important instructions, which he scrupled to commit to writing. The nature of their communications may be gathered from the symbolical actions by which they were accompanied. The envoys brought with them the keys of St. Peter’s sepulchre, which they offered to Charles, on whom they were also empowered to confer the title and dignity of Roman patricius. By the former step—the offer of the keys (an honour never before conferred upon a Frankish ruler)—Gregory expressed his desire to constitute the powerful mayor protector of the holy see; and by conferring the rank of Roman patricius without, as seems probable, the sanction of the Greek emperor, he in effect withdrew his allegiance from the latter, and acknowledged Charles Martel as liege lord of the Roman duchy and people. It was in this light that the whole transaction was regarded at the time, for we read in the chronicle of Moissiac,[g] written in the beginning of the ninth century, that the letter of the pope was accompanied by “a decree of the Roman principes”; and that the Roman people, having thrown off the rule of the Greek emperor, desired to place themselves under the protection of the aforesaid prince, and his “invincible clemency.”