§ 55. Alliance of the Papacy with the New Monarchy of the
Franks. Pepin and the Patrimony of St. Peter.
A.D. 741-755.
Pope Zacharias (741-752), a Greek, by the weight of his priestly authority, brought Liutprand to terms of temporary
1 Gibbon actually attributes these titles to Charles Martel ; while Bryce (p. 40) thinks that they were first given to Pepin. Gregory II. had already (724) addressed Charles Martel as " Patricius" (see Migne, Opera Caroli M. II. 69). Gregory III. sent Mm in 739 ipsas sacratissimas claves confessionis beati Petri quas vobis ad reynum dimisimus (ib. p. 66), which implies the transfer of civil authority over Borne..
1 Milman (Book IV., ch. 9) says that Dante, the faithful recorder of popular Catholic tradition, adopts the condemnatory legend which puts Charles " in the lowest pit of hell." But I can find no mention of him in Dante. The Charles Martel of Parad. VIII. and IX. is a very different person, a king of Hungary, who died 1301. See Witte's Dante, p. 667, and Carey's note on Par. VIII. 53. On the relations of Charles Martel to Boniface, see Kettberg, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, I. 306 sqq.
I 55. ALLIANCE OF THE PAPACY WITH THE FRANKS. 233
submission. The Lombard king suddenly paused in the career of conquest, and died after a reign of thirty years (743).
But his successor, Astolph, again threatened to incorporate Rome with his kingdom. Zacharias sought the protection of Pepin the Short,1 the Mayor of the Palace, son of Charles Martel, and father of Charlemagne, and in return for this aid helped him to the crown of France. This was the first stop towards the creation of a Western empire and a new political system of Europe with the pope and the German emperor at the head.
Hereditary succession was not yet invested with that religious sanctity among the Teutonic races as in later ages. In the Jew ish theocracy unworthy kings were deposed, and new dynasties elevated by the interposition of God's messengers. The pope claimed and exercised now for the first time the same power. The Mayor, or high steward, of the royal household in France was the prime minister of the sovereign and the chief of the official and territorial nobility. This dignity became hereditary in the family of Pepin of Laudon, who died in 639, and was transmitted from him through six descents to Pepin the Short, a gallant warrior and an experienced statesman. He Avas on good terms with Boniface, the apostle of Germany and arch bishop of Mayence, who, according to the traditional view, acted as negotiator between him and the pope in this political coup d'etat.2
Childeric III., the last of the hopelessly degenerate Merovin gian line, was the mere shadow of a monarch, and forced to retire into a monastery. Pepin, the ruler in fact, now assumed the name, was elected at Soissons (March, 752) by the acclama tion and clash of arms of the people, and anointed, like the kings of Israel, with holy oil, by Boniface or some other bishop,
1 Or Pipin, Pippin, Pippinus. The last is the spelling in his documents.
2 Rettberg, however (I. 3S5 sqq-), disconnects Boniface from all participation in the elevation and coronation of Pepin, and represents him as being rather opposed to it. He argues from the silence of some annalists, and from the im probability that the pope should have repeated the consecration if it had been previously performed by his legate.
I
234 FOURTH PEKIOD. A.D. 590 TO 1049.
and two years after by the pope himself, who had decided that the lawful possessor of the royal power may also lawfully assume the royal title. Since that time he called himself " by the grace of God king of the Franks." The pope conferred on him the title of " Patrician of the Romans " (Patricius Romanorum), which implies a sort of protectorate over the Roman church, and civil sovereignty over her territory. For the title " Patri cian," which was introduced by Constantine the Great, signified the highest rank next to that of the emperor, and since the sixth century was attached to the Byzantine Viceroy of Italy. On the other hand, this elevation and coronation was made the basis of papal superiority over the crowns of France and Germany.
The pope soon reaped the benefit of his favor. When hard pressed again by the Lombards, he called the new king to his aid.
Stephen III., who succeeded Zacharias in March, 752, and ruled till 757, visited Pepin in person, and implored him to enforce the restoration of the domain of St. Peter. He anointed him again at St. Denys, together with his two sons, and pro mised to secure the perpetuity of his dynasty by the fearful power of the interdict and excommunication. Pepin accompa nied him back to Italy and defeated the Lombards (754). When the Lombards renewed the war, the pope wrote letter upon letter to Pepin, admonishing and commanding him in the name of Peter and the holy Mother of God to save the city of Rome from the detested enemies, and promising him long life and the most glorious mansions in heaven, if he speedily obeyed. To such a height of blasphemous assumption had the papacy risen already as to identify itself with the kingdom of Christ and to claim to be the dispenser of temporal prosperity and eternal salvation.
Pepin crossed the Alps again with his army, defeated the Lombards, and bestowed the conquered territory upon the pope (755). He declared to the ambassadors of the East who de-