In sources prior to the 1960s, this pope is called Stephen III andPope-elect Stephen is called Stephen II; seePope-elect Stephen for a detailed explanation.
Pope Stephen II (Latin:Stephanus II; 714 – 26 April 757) was born a Roman aristocrat and member of theOrsini family. Stephen was thebishop of Rome from 26 March 752 to his death on 26 April 757. Stephen II marks the historical delineation between theByzantine Papacy and theFrankish Papacy. During Stephen's pontificate,Rome was facing invasion by theLombards when Stephen II went to Paris to seek assistance fromPepin the Short. Pepin defeated the Lombards and madea gift of land to the pope, eventually leading to the establishment of thePapal States.
Relations were very strained in the mid-8th century between thepapacy and theEastern Roman emperors over the support of theIsaurian dynasty foriconoclasm. Likewise, maintaining political control over Rome became untenable as theEastern Roman Empire itself was beset by theAbbasid Caliphate to the south andBulgars to the northwest. Constantinople could send no troops, and EmperorConstantine V Copronymus, in answer to the repeated requests for help of the new pope, Stephen II, could only offer him the advice to act in accordance with the ancient policy of Rome, to pit some other Germanic tribe against the Lombards.[4]
Stephen turned toPepin the Short, theking of the Franks who had recently defeated the MuslimUmayyad invasion of Gaul.[5] He traveled toParis to plead for help in person against the surrounding Lombard and Muslim threats.[6] On 6 January 754, Stephen re-consecrated Pepin as king. In return, Pepin assumed the role of ordained protector of the Church and set his sights on the Lombards, as well as addressing the threat of IslamicAl-Andalus.[7] Pepin invaded Italy twice to settle the Lombard problem and delivered the territory betweenRome andRavenna to the papacy, but left the Lombard kings in possession of their kingdom.
Painting depicting Abbot Fulrad giving Pepin's written guarantee to Stephen II
Prior to Stephen II's alliance with Pepin, Rome had constituted the central city of theDuchy of Rome, which composed one of two districts within theExarchate of Ravenna, along with Ravenna itself. AtQuiercy the Frankish nobles finally gave their consent to a campaign in Lombardy.[1]Catholic tradition asserts that then and there Pepin executed in writing a promise to give to the Church certain territories that were to be wrested from the Lombards, and which would be referred to later as thePapal States. Known as theDonation of Pepin, no actual document has been preserved, but later 8th century sources quote from it.
Stephen anointed Pepin as king of the Franks[1] atSaint-Denis in a memorable ceremony that was evoked in thecoronation rites of French kings until the end of theancien régime in 1789. In return, in 756, Pepin and his Frankish army forced the Lombard king to surrender his conquests, and Pepin officially conferred upon the pope the territories belonging to Ravenna, even cities such asForlì with their hinterlands, laying the Donation of Pepin upon thetomb of Saint Peter, according to traditional later accounts. The gift included Lombard conquests in theRomagna and in theduchies of Spoleto andBenevento, and thePentapolis in theMarche (the "five cities" ofRimini,Pesaro,Fano,Senigallia andAncona). For the first time, the Donation made the pope a temporal ruler over a strip of territory that extended diagonally across Italy from theTyrrhenian to theAdriatic. Over these extensive and mountainous territories the medieval popes were unable to exercise effective sovereignty, given the pressures of the times, and the new Papal States preserved the old Lombard heritage of many small counties and marquisates, each centered upon a fortifiedrocca.
Pepin confirmed his Donation in Rome in 756, and in 774Charlemagne confirmed the donation of his father.[8] Stephen II died on 26 April 757[a] and was succeeded by his brotherPaul I.[10]
^David Gress (11 May 2010).From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents. Preface: Simon and Schuster.ISBN9781439119013.He transferred his political allegiance from the empire to the king of the Franks, who lived north of the Alps, who had recently defeated the Muslims who were invading from Spain...
^Peter O'Brien (23 Dec 2008).European Perceptions of Islam and America from Saladin to George W. Bush. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 24.ISBN9780230617803.
^Sampie Terreblanche (30 Sep 2014).Western Empires, Christianity and the Inequalities between the West and the Rest. Europes industrialisation: Penguin UK.ISBN9780143531555.To address the threat of an Islamic empire settled in south-western Europe, Pope Stephen II crowned Pippin (the son of Charles Martel) as king of the Frankish dynasty...
Noble, Thomas F. X. (1984).The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN9780812200911.
Riche, Pierre (1993).The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe. Translated by Allen, Michael Idomir. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN9780812213423.
