Stephen II
Pope who, getting no help from the emperor against the Lombards, travelled to the Frankish kingdom in 753–754, anointed Pepin king and obtained from him the cities of the exarchate of Ravenna for the Roman church.
The Liber Pontificalis describes Stephen as a Roman, orphaned young and brought up in the Lateran. He was elected in 752 after a priest of the same name, chosen first, died within days; because of that priest some lists number him Stephen III. He led processions barefoot through Rome carrying an image of Christ when the Lombard king Aistulf threatened the city, appealed to the emperor without result, and then turned to the Franks (Liber Pontificalis Stephen II (ed. Duchesne, vol. 1, pp. 440–444)).
He left Rome on 14 October 753, pleaded in vain with Aistulf at Pavia, met King Pepin at Ponthion on 6 January 754 and anointed him and his sons at Saint-Denis (Liber Pontificalis Stephen II (ed. Duchesne, vol. 1, pp. 445–448)). After Pepin’s two campaigns he received the keys of Ravenna and the other cities of the exarchate, laid on the tomb of Peter with the king’s deed of gift. He was buried at St Peter’s on 26 April in the tenth indiction, 757 (Liber Pontificalis Stephen II (ed. Duchesne, vol. 1, pp. 453–456)). See the Donation of Pepin and the Papal States.
In the timeline
- AD 754 to AD 756, firm dateThe Donation of Pepin and the Papal States
Threatened by the Lombards and unaided by the emperor, Pope Stephen II crosses the Alps to the Frankish king Pepin. Pepin defeats the Lombards and gives Ravenna and its cities not to the emperor but to St Peter, making the pope a ruler of territory.