Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/302

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STATES


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STATES


him by the Byzantine emperor. In order, however, to fulfil the wishes of the pope Pepin had eventually to obtain the consent of his nobles to a campaign into Italy. This was rendered imperative, when several embassies, which attempted by peaceful means to induce the Lombard king to give up his conquests, returned witliout accomplishing their mission. At Quierey on the Oise the Prankish nobles finally gave their consent. There Pepin executed in writing a promise to give to the Church certain territories, the first documentary record for the States of the Church. This document, it is true, has not been preserved in the authentic version, but a number of citations, quoted from it during the decades immediately following, indicate its contents, and it is likely that it was the source of the much interpolated "Frag- mentum Fantuzzianum", which probably dates from 778-80. In the original document of Quierey Pepin promised the pope the restoration of the lands of Central Italy, which had been last conquered by Aistulf , especially in the exarchate and in the Roman Duchy, and of a number of more or less clearly de- fined patrimonies in the Lombard Kingdom and in the Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. The lands were not yet in Pepin's hands. They had therefore first to be conquered by Pepin, and his gift was con- ditioned by this event. In the summer of 754 Pepin with his army and the pope began their march into Italy, and forced King Aistulf, who had shut himself up in his capital, to sue for peace. The Lombard promised to give up the cities of the exarchate and of the Pentapolis, which had been last conquered, to make no further attacks upon or to evacuate the Duchy of Rome and the districts of Venetia and Istria, and acknowledged the sovereignty of the Franks. For the cities in the exarchate and in the Pentapolis, which Aistulf promised to return, Pepin executed a separate deed for the pope. This is the first actual "Donation of 754". But Pepin had hardly recrossed the Alps on his return home, when Aistulf not only failed to make prejjarations for the return of the promised cities, but again advanced against Rome, which had to endure a severe siege. The pope sent a messenger by sea, summoning Pepin to fulfil anew his pledge of loyalty. In 756 Pepin again set out with an army against Aistulf and a second time hemmed him in at Pavia. Aistulf was again compelled to promise to dehver to the pope the cities granted him after the first war and, in addi- tion, Commachio at the mouth of the Po. But this time the mere promise was not considered sufficient. Messengers of Pepm visited the various cities of the exarchate and of the Pentapolis, demanded and re- ceived the keys to them, and brought the highest magistrates and most distinguished magnates of these cities to Rome. Pepin executed a new deed of gift for the cities thus surrendered to the pope, which together with the keys of the cities were deposited on the grave of St. Peter (Second Donation of 756). The Byzantine Government naturally did not approve of this result of the intervention of the Franks. It had hoped through the instrumentality of the Franks to regain possession of the districts that had been wrested from it by the Lombards. But Pepin took up arms, not to render a service to the Byzantine emperor, but for the sake of St. Peter alone, from whose protection he expected earthly happiness and everlasting salvation. Just as kings at that time founded monasteries and endowed them with landed |)roperties, that i)rayers might be offered for them there, so Pepin wished to provide the poi)e with temporal territories, that he might be certain of the prayers of the pope. Therefore Pepin answered the Byzantine amljassadors, who came to him before the second cxijcdition (if 75ti and asked him to return to the eniiirror the cities to be tak<'n from the Lom- bards, that he had undertaken the expedition for


St. Peter alone and not for the emperor; that to St. Peter alone would he restore the cities. Thus did Pepin found the States of the Church. The Greeks undoubtedly had the formal right to the sovereignty, but as they had failed to meet the obU- gation of sovereignty to give protection against foreign enemies, their rights became illusorj-. If the Frariks had not interfered, the territorj- would by right of conquest have fallen to the Lombards; Pepin by his intervention prevented Rome with the native population from falling into the hands of the foreign conquerors. The States of the Church are in a certain sense the only remnant of the Roman Empire in the West which escaped foreign conquerors. Gratefully did the Roman population acknowledge that they had escaped subjection to the Lombards only through the mediation of the pope. For it was only for the pope's sake that Pepin had resolved to interfere. The results were important, (a) chiefly because the pope through his temporal sover- eignty received a guarantee of his independence, was freed from the fetters of a temporal power, and ob- tained that freedom from interference which is necessary for the conduct of his liigh office; (b) be- cause the papacy threw off the political ties that bound it to the East and entered into new relations with the West, which made possible the development of the new Western civilization. The latter was destined to become especially prominent under Pepin's son, Charlemagne.

Under Charlemagne the relations with the Lom- bards soon became strained again. Adrian I com- plained that the Lombard king Desiderius had in- vaded the territories of the States of the Church, and reminded Charlemagne of the promise made at Quierey. As Desiderius also championed the claims of Charlemagne's nephews, he endangered the unity of the Prankish kingdom, and Charlemagne's own interests therefore bade him to oppose Deside- rius. In the autumn of 773 Charlemagne entered Italy and besieged Desiderius at Pavia. While the siege was in progress, Charlemagne went to Rome at Easter, 774, and at the request of the pope renewed the promises maile at Quierey, Soon after this De- siderius was forced to capitulate, and Charlemagne had himself proclaimed King of the Lombards in his place, Charlemagne's attitude toward the States of the Church now underwent a change. With the title of King of the Lombards he also assumed the title as "Patricius Romanorum", which his father had never used, and read into this title rights which under Pepin had never been associated with it. Moreover, differences of opinion arose between Adrian and Charlemagne concerning the obligations which had been assumed by Pepin and Charlemagne in the document of Quierey. Adrian construed it to mean that Charlemagne should take an elastic concept of the "respublica Romana" to the extent of giving up not only the conquests of Aistulf in the exarchate and in the Pentapolis, but also earlier conquests of the Lombards in Central Italy, Spoleto, and Benevento. But Charles would not listen to any such interpretaion of the document. As both parties were anxious to come to an understanding, an agreement was reached in 781. Charlemagne acknowledged the sovereignty of Adrian in the Duchy of Rome antl in the States of the Church founded by Pepin's donations of 754-56. He now executed a new document in which were enumerated all the dis- tricts in which the pope was recognized !Js ruler. The Duchy of Rome (which had not been mentioned in the earlier documents) heads the list, followed by the exarchate and the Pentapolis, augmented by the cities which Desiderius had agreed to surrender at the beginning of his reign (Imola, Bologna, Faenza, Ferrara, Ancona, Osimo, and Uniana); next the patri- monies were specified in various groups: m the Sabine,