The Saeculum Obscurum of the Papacy

SAECULUM OBSCURUM/ PORNOCRACY

The Saeculum Obscurum (the dark age) of the Papacy is a name given to a period in the history of the Papacy during the first half of the 10^th century, beginning with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasting for sixty years until the death of Pope John XII in 964.

Actually, the Saeculum Obscurum is a more polite term. The more vulgar term for this period is Pornocracy. If democracy is ruled by the people, and theocracy is ruled by religious body, then what about pornocracy? In the 10^th century, the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church fell under the influence of harlots in an era termed Pornocracy. It is the Rule of the Prostitutes/ Harlots coinciding with the Saeculum Obscurum. The Pope was completely under the control of Theodora, the beautiful wife of Roman consul Theophylactus, who used sex to wield power. Theodora's 15-year-old daughter Marozia became the concubine of Pope Sergius III. Their son later became Pope John XI - the only illegitimate son of a Pope that later became Pope himself. The era of Pornocracy ended with Pope John XII (the grandson of Marozia) in 963. He was so immoral that the Basilica of Rome was said to be converted into a brothel under his rule.

Historical Context of the Saeculum Obscurum

The Saeculum Obscurum, Latin for “the Dark Age,” refers to an infamous period of roughly 60 years in the tenth century when the papacy fell into severe moral and political disarray. Between 896 and 964 AD, about twenty popes occupied the throne of Peter, many meeting untimely, violent ends amidst scandal and factional strife. This era followed the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire, which had previously provided a measure of stability and protection for Rome. With imperial authority waning in Italy, Rome was largely left to govern itself, and local aristocratic factions vied for dominance. Crucially, the once-sacrosanct process of papal succession became a prize of these power struggles: Roman noble families fought to install their own candidates as pope, treating the papal office as an asset of secular politics. Historians often trace the onset of this dark chapter to events surrounding Pope Formosus (r. 891–896) and his successors. After Formosus’s death, Pope Stephen VI infamously put Formosus’s corpse on trial in the “Cadaver Synod” of 897, a spectacle that epitomized the chaos of the times. Stephen VI himself was soon strangled by his opponents, setting a precedent of turbulence that continued into the 900s. By 904, as Pope Sergius III took the throne, the stage was set for what Cardinal Caesar Baronius later dubbed the Saeculum Obscurum—a “Dark Age” of the papacy characterized by intrigue, misrule, murder, and general mayhem in Rome. Contemporary churchmen and later historians alike viewed this as the nadir of papal dignity. It is important to note, however, that not every pope of this era was personally corrupt or incompetent; a few attempted modest reforms or governed as well as circumstances allowed. Nonetheless, the papacy as an institution had unquestionably fallen under the domination of secular Roman nobility. This climate of corruption and instability would not only tarnish the moral authority of the Church, but also spur calls for reform in the decades to come.

Rise of the Theophylacts and the “Rule of the Harlots”

The turmoil of the Saeculum Obscurum was fueled largely by one noble clan—the house of Theophylact, Count of Tusculum—whose members seized control of Rome and the papacy. Theophylact I emerged as a powerful leader in Rome around 905 and was the city’s effective ruler until his death in 924. Holding titles such as magister militum and judex, Theophylact used military and political might to dominate the papal court. He played kingmaker in papal elections: with his backing, Sergius III was elected pope in 904 after Theophylact helped overthrow an antipope, and thereafter many popes until his death were essentially hand-picked by him. His wife, the formidable Theodora, bore the title senatrix and was said to influence papal appointments alongside her husband. According to Liutprand of Cremona, a contemporary (albeit biased) chronicler, “for at least a generation in the early tenth century, the Bishop of Rome was to be found in the bedchamber of the house of Theophylact.” Liutprand alleges that Theodora became the lover of Pope John X (r. 914–928), whom the family had elevated to the papacy, while Theodora’s eldest daughter Marozia was the mistress of Pope Sergius III. Modern historians approach these salacious claims with caution. Some earlier scholars took them at face value—coining the term “Pornocracy” to describe a papacy allegedly dominated by Theophylact’s “harlot” wife and daughter. Others have dismissed Liutprand’s tales as malicious gossip, noting his partisan agenda and the misogynistic tone of his descriptions. What is clear, however, is that the Theophylact women were politically visible and active—highly unusual for the time—and later writers hostile to their family seized upon their gender to smear their reputation.

Marozia, Theophylact’s elder daughter, emerges as the most pivotal figure of the Saeculum Obscurum. Born around 890 to Theophylact and Theodora, Marozia grew up amid the intrigues of the Roman court. While still a teenager, she was introduced to Pope Sergius III and reputedly became his lover, later giving birth to a son named John around 910 (though the paternity remains debated). To strengthen her family’s secular position, Marozia married Alberic I of Spoleto, a powerful duke; through this marriage she bore another son, Alberic II. After Theophylact’s death in 924, Marozia moved swiftly to consolidate her dominance. In 928, she and her second husband, Guy of Tuscany, staged a violent coup against Pope John X; the pope was imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo and soon after died in custody. Marozia then controlled the papal succession, orchestrating the election of two short-lived popes (Leo VI and Stephen VII) as placeholders until her own son was old enough for office. In 931, her teenage son John XI was installed as pope (r. 931–935). With her son as pontiff, Marozia took the titles Patrician of Rome and Senatrix, ruling the city outright. At the height of her power, she sought imperial rank by marrying Hugh of Arles, King of Italy, in 932. But her eldest son, Alberic II, led a popular revolt during the wedding festivities, toppled Marozia’s regime, imprisoned her, and reduced Pope John XI to a puppet under his control.

Alberic II and Secular Control of the Papacy

With Marozia removed, Prince Alberic II (r. 932–954) became the undisputed ruler of Rome. For over two decades, he governed as a de facto prince, restoring order while keeping the popes as figureheads. After John XI died in 935, Alberic personally selected each subsequent pope—Leo VII (936–939), Stephen VIII (939–942), Marinus II (942–946), and Agapetus II (946–955)—ensuring none would challenge his supremacy. When Pope Stephen VIII conspired against him, Alberic had him imprisoned and mutilated, and he died from his injuries in 942. Alberic also courted monastic reform, inviting Odo of Cluny to Rome and appointing him archimandrite of the city’s monasteries. By the early 950s, Alberic sought to secure a legacy: on his deathbed in 954 he extracted an oath from the Roman nobility to elect his son Octavian as the next pope upon the first vacancy. When Agapetus II died in 955, the 18-year-old Octavian duly became Pope John XII—an extraordinary instance of hereditary succession to the papacy.

Pope John XII and the Intervention of Otto I

Pope John XII (Octavian of Tusculum; r. 955–964) epitomizes the notoriety of the Saeculum Obscurum. Ascending as a teenager, he quickly gained a reputation for dissolute living and political ineptitude. Threatened by King Berengar II of Ivrea, John sought aid from the German king Otto I. Otto entered Rome and on 2 February 962 John XII crowned him Holy Roman Emperor. The associated charter, the Diploma Ottonianum, affirmed imperial protection of the papacy and asserted oversight over papal elections. Almost immediately, however, John chafed under Otto’s constraints and secretly negotiated with Otto’s enemies. Otto returned to Rome in 963, convened a synod that deposed John XII (in absentia) on charges including simony, perjury, murder, and incest, and installed Leo VIII. When Otto departed, Romans restored John XII, who reversed the synod’s acts and punished his opponents. On 14 May 964, John XII died suddenly—reportedly while committing adultery, though the details are likely embellished by hostile sources. In the aftermath, Otto deposed Benedict V and restored Leo VIII, cementing imperial involvement in papal affairs and effectively ending the Saeculum Obscurum.

The Theophylact Family and Noble Domination of the Papacy

A defining feature of the Saeculum Obscurum was the outsized role of Roman nobility—particularly the Theophylact family—in controlling the papacy. They amassed civil authority and leveraged it to control Church appointments, reducing papal elections to contests between armed aristocratic factions. The influence of Theodora and Marozia has been portrayed in gendered and sensationalist terms in some sources; modern historians urge caution, noting the biases of chroniclers like Liutprand of Cremona. Even so, Marozia’s orchestration of papal successions and Alberic II’s effective sequestration of the papacy reveal how feudalization of ecclesiastical office undermined the sanctity and autonomy of the Roman See. Through the Tusculan branch, the family continued to produce popes in the 11th century (e.g., Benedict VIII, John XIX, Benedict IX), underscoring the long shadow of dynastic control.

Theological and Institutional Implications for the Church

Theologically, the era forced Christians to distinguish between the office and the person of the pope. While sacramental validity does not depend on a minister’s moral state, the moral authority of the papacy suffered grievously. The scandal helped galvanize reform movements—especially the Cluniac and later Gregorian reforms—aimed at curbing simony, enforcing clerical celibacy, and insulating church offices from secular capture. Institutionally, Otto I’s intervention inaugurated a period of imperial oversight that protected the papacy from local barons but raised new problems of secular interference. These tensions eventually led to the Investiture Controversy and, in 1059, to Pope Nicholas II’s decree In Nomine Domini, which vested papal elections in the College of Cardinals—an institutional antidote to the abuses laid bare in the 10th century.

Modern Historical Interpretations and Debates

Older Catholic and Protestant narratives alike cast the 10th-century papacy as an unmitigated nadir. Modern scholarship, while not denying grave abuses, treats sources such as Liutprand with skepticism and contextualizes the role of women like Theodora and Marozia within aristocratic power politics. Some historians emphasize that despite Rome’s turmoil, broader Christian life and learning (e.g., the Ottonian renaissance) continued elsewhere, and that the papacy began recovering even before the millennium. The Saeculum Obscurum is thus read as a symptom of early medieval fragmentation and a catalyst for the robust ecclesiastical reforms that followed.

Selected Bibliography (Scholarly References)

1. Benedict of Soracte. Chronicon (10th c.). In: The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 919–966, ed. & trans. Steven Fanning and Bernard S. Bachrach. Broadview Press, 2004.

2. Collins, Paul. The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century. PublicAffairs, 2013.

3. Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. Yale University Press, 2014.

4. Gregovorius, Ferdinand. History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 3. Trans. Annie Hamilton. George Bell & Sons, 1895.

5. Leyser, Conrad. “Episcopal Office in the Italy of Liudprand of Cremona, c.890–c.970.” English Historical Review 125, no. 515 (2010): 795–817.

6. Liutprand of Cremona. Antapodosis (958–962). In: The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. Paolo Squatriti. CUA Press, 2007.

7. Partner, Peter. The Lands of St Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance. University of California Press, 2023.

8. West-Harling, Veronica. “The Visibility of Women in Tenth-Century Rome.” Early Medieval Europe 29, no. 3 (2021): 400–426.

9. Wollasch, Joachim. “Cluny and the Popularization of the Reform.” In The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3, c.900–c.1024, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

10. Zacour, Norman. “The Papacy in the Saeculum Obscurum.” In The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, ed. Philippe Levillain. Routledge, 2002. 

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Most of the 48 popes at this time were bad. It may be shocking to know the events at this time; however, this is part of history. Our pilgrim church is composed of both sinners and saints. The grace and love of God are both given to the good and to the bad.  The history of the papacy is also filled with saints and sinners. A greater number of bad popes incidentally were concentrated in this period called saeculum obscurum. A survey of some of the popes who reigned at this time is given below:

Pope Sergius III (904–911), alleged lover of Marozia

Sergius III was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 904 to 911. Because he was possibly the only pope known to have ordered the murder of another pope (Pope Leo V) and his anti-pope (Christopher) and the only pope to father an illegitimate son who later became pope (John XI), his pontificate has been described as "dismal and disgraceful."

Pope Anastasius III (911–913)

A Roman nobleman, Lucian, is sometimes recognized as his father, although other sources assert that he was the illegitimate son of his predecessor Pope Sergius III (904–911). Practically nothing is recorded of Pope Anastasius III, his pontificate falling in the period when Rome and the Papacy were in the power of Theophylactus, Count of Tusculum, and his wife Theodora, who approved Anastasius III's candidacy.

Pope Lando (913–914)

He was elected pope in either July or August 913 and died six months later. He is thought to have had powerful friends who helped him to be elected pope.

Pope John X (914–928), alleged lover of Theodora (the mother), allegedly killed by Marozia

He was deacon at Bologna when he attracted the attention of Theodora, the wife of Theophylactus, Count of Tusculum, the most powerful noble in Rome through whose influence he was elevated first to the see of Bologna and then to the archbishopric of Ravenna.

Pope Leo VI (928–928)

Little is known about him who reigned for only 7 months and 5 days. He was elected pope around June 928, during a period of anarchy. He was chosen by the senatrix Marozia, who had gained control of Rome via the domination of her husband Guy, Margrave of Tuscany, and who had ordered the imprisonment and death of Leo’s predecessor, Pope John X.

Pope Stephen VII (928–931)

He was elected—probably handpicked—by Marozia from the Tusculani family, as a stop-gap measure until her own son John was ready to assume the throne of Peter. He had been before cardinal-priest of St. Anastasia.

During his reign as Pope, he confirmed the privileges of a few religious houses in France and Italy. The validity of his papacy is disputed. Like his predecessor, Pope Leo VI, he was elected while Pope John X was still alive and in prison.

Pope John XI (931–935), son of Marozia, alleged son of Pope Sergius III

The parentage of John XI is still a matter of dispute. According to Liutprand of Cremona (Antapodosis, ii. c. 48) and the "Liber Pontificalis," he was the natural son of Pope Sergius III (904–911), 

His mother was the Roman ruler at the time, resulting in his appointment to the Papacy. Marozia was thus allegedly able to exert complete control over the Pope.

At the overthrow of Marozia around 932, John XI reportedly became subject to the control of Alberic II, his younger brother. The only control left to the Pope was the exercise of his purely spiritual duties. All other jurisdiction was exercised through Alberic II. This was not only the case in secular, but also in ecclesiastical affairs.

Pope Leo VII (936–939)

Leo VII's election to the papacy was secured by Alberic II of Spoleto, the monarch in Rome. Alberic wanted to choose the pope so that the papacy would continue to yield to his authority. Leo was the priest of St. Sixtus in Rome, thought to be a Benedictine monk. He had little ambition towards the papacy, but consented under pressure.

Pope Stephen VIII (939–942)

During his pontificate, he was subject to Alberic II of Spoleto, Prince of the Romans, and did not effectively rule the Papal States.

Pope Marinus II (942–946)

He was elevated to the papacy through intervention of Alberic II (932–954) of Spoleto and concentrated on administrative aspects of the papacy.

Pope Agapetus II (946–955)

He was the Pope at the time when Alberic II(932–954), son of Marozia, was governing the independent republic of Rome under the title of "prince and senator of the Romans." He was born in Rome.

Agapetus, a man of some force of character, attempted to put a stop to the so-called Pornocracy. His appeal to Otto I the Great to intervene in Rome remained without immediate effect, since Alberic II's position was too strong to be attacked, but it bore fruit after his death.

Pope John XII (955–963), grandson of Marozia, by her son Alberic II of Spoleto.

- In 855, a teenager became a pope

An account of the charges leveled against him from Patrologia Latina includes:

“Then, rising up, the cardinal priest Peter testified that he himself had seen John XII celebrate Mass without taking communion. John, bishop of Narni, and John, a cardinal deacon, professed that they themselves saw that a deacon had been ordained in a horse stable, but were unsure of the time. Benedict, cardinal deacon, with other co-deacons and priests, said they knew that he had been paid for ordaining bishops, specifically that he had ordained a ten-year-old bishop in the city of Todi. They testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse. They said that he had gone hunting publicly; that he had blinded his confessor Benedict, and thereafter Benedict had died; that he had killed John, cardinal subdeacon, after castrating him; and that he had set fires, girded on a sword, and put on a helmet and cuirass. All, clerics as well as laymen, declared that he had toasted to the devil with wine. They said when playing at dice, he invoked Jupiter,Venus and other demons. They even said he did not celebrate Matins and the canonical hours nor did he make the sign of the cross.”

Source: The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865.

 These are some of the popes during the saeculum obscurum. Some are honorable like Benedict IV (900-903) but generally there was a decline in the papal universal significance. The papacy was reduced to the level of local bishopric.

MCH2022-06 - The League of the Papacy with the Frankish Kingdom

We shall now discuss separately the concrete situation of the both the Papacy and the Frankish Kingdom in order to understand such alliance.

THE PAPACY

The Byzantine Empire (or Byzantium) was the Eastern Roman Empire that existed throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Known simply as the Roman Empire (Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων) by its inhabitants and neighbors, the empire was centered on the capital of Constantinople and was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State.Byzantium, however, was distinct from ancient Rome, in that it was Christian and predominantly Greek-speaking, being influenced by Greek, as opposed to Latin, culture.

As the distinction between "Roman Empire" and "Byzantine Empire" is largely a modern convention, it is not possible to assign a date of separation, but an important point is when Emperor Constantine I's transfer in 324 of the capital from Nicomedia (in Anatolia) to Byzantium on the Bosphorus, which became Constantinople, "City of Constantine" (alternatively "New Rome"= Kaine Rome). The Roman Empire was finally divided in 395 AD after death of Theodosius I, thus this date is also very important if we look upon the Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) as completely separated from the West.

After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), Constantinople (kainé róme) claimed to be the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Emperor Justinian I (also called the Great) (527-565) of the Byzantine Empire sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost Western half of the classical Roman Empire.The dream of Justinian was renovatio imperii (restoration of the Empire). It means restoring or reclaiming the former territories of the Roman Empire from the hands of its conquerors after 476. This was an ambitious goal and only  partially realized.

The RED area in the map on the left comprises the Easrtern half of the Roman Empire (Byzantine) while the YELLOW area was the extent of Justinian I’s renovatio imperii. Only the following territories were restored:

1.     The Vandal Kingdom in North Africa was reclaimed by Justinian I’s general Belisarius (ca. 500-565). It extended Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean.

2.     Ostrogothic Kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the Empire after being under barbarian control for over half a century. It was reclaimed by Belisarius, Narses, and other generals. 

3.     Southern Iberia was reclaimed, establishing the province of Spania. The prefect[1] Liberius (ca.545-ca.553) reclaimed it.

The aforementioned campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean. Justinian I was able to restore the splendor and Majesty of the Roman Empire even if not all of the former territories were reclaimed. During Justinian I’s reign,  Lazica, a region on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before, was annexed to the Byzantine empire.

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In the 5^th century, four forces threatened the Eastern Roman Empire from the outside:

1.     SLAVS: Byzantine historiographers[2] under Justinian I (527-565)) described them as tribes emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea, invading the Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire.

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2.     AVAR: The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups. Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-fifth century, the Avars of Europe enter the historical scene in the mid-sixth century AD, when they established a pax spanning considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe.

3.     PERSIANS: the old hostilities renewed. In 605, the Sassanids expanded to the Bosphorus. The strategic importance of the Bosporus remains high, and control over it has been an objective of a number of hostilities in modern history[3]. In 615, they claimed the Mediterranean provinces to the borders of Egypt and in 619, occupied Egypt proper.

The Sassanid Empire (dark green) in the map below had territories contested with the East Romans (medium green). Under the rule of Khosrau II, the light green are was also conqured.

The Sassanid Empire  was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651.

In the 6^th century, Emperor Heraclius I (610-641) was able to defeat the Persians decisively in a Holy war of 627 at Niniveh.

4.     ARABS

The Arabs destroyed the old Hellenistic-Roman unity of civilization. The Byzantine Empire was not able to withstand the powerful Arabian drive for expansion and extensive parts of its holdings were lost. Only Constantinople proper was defended successfully in heroic battles over the years (674-678) and thus saved the West from being overrun by the Arabs. From 717-718, they were defeated before Constantinople.

The Caliphate, 622–750

  Expansion under the Prophet Muhammad, 622–632

  Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphs, 632–661

  Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750

In the face of these formidable threats, it is understandable that Byzantium was no longer able to protect Rome and Italy against the Lombardic attacks. Lombards founded a state in upper italy called Lombardy with its capital Pavia. Spoleto and Benevento already became two Lombardic dukedoms in the immediate vicinity of Rome.

Meanwhile, Ravenna was the became the seat of the Byzantine power in Italy from the end of the 6^th century up to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the Lombards. An exarch was a Byzantine governor with extended authority of a Province. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations

From 592-593, The Lombards besieged Rome and the city could not expect help from Byzantium who was also under the threats of the invaders. Pope Gregory the Great faced the Lombard as Pope Leo the Great faced the barbarians and and was successful. The Lombards withdrew from the city. Soon, Pope Gregory the Great was able to convert Lombards to Catholic Christianity with the help of the Lombard Catholic Queen Theolinda (ca.570-628).

Political tension remained. When King Liutprand (712-744) of the Lombards  resumed the old policy of expanding and subjugating all of Italy When Pope Gregory III (731-741) cried for help in vain again, Byzantium could not send troops. The pope [now, Pope Zachary (741-752)] asked help for the first time from the Frankish mayor of the palace, Charles Martel (ca.688-741). However, Charles Martel was an ally of the Lombards. He needed the Lombards against the Arabs who were threatening Southern France. Inevitably, help was denied because of political reasons. Pope Zachary the, could not do anything other than conclude a 20-year peace with King Liutprand.

Peace was also attained during the reign of the Lombard King Rachis (744-749) who eventually entered a monastery in Monte Cassino.  The respite ended when King Aistulf (749-756) succeeded Rachis and resumed old plans of conquest.

Pope Stephen II (752-757) cried again for help from the Franks and by this time, the political situation had already. Pepin III (the Short) (+768), son of Charles Martel, heeded the pope’s call.

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THE FRANKISH KINGDOM

Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus ("superior of the house"), used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7^th and 8^th centuries.

During the 7^th century, the office of Mayor of the Palace developed into the true power behind the throne in Austrasia, the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Franks under the Merovingian dynasty. The Major Domo held and wielded the real and effective power to make decisions affecting the Kingdom, while in the mid to late Merovingian period, kings had been reduced to performing merely ceremonial functions, which made them little more than nominal kings or figureheads [rois faineants (do-nothing kings)].

The Pippinids (also called Arnulfings) are the members of a family of Frankish nobles who served as Mayors of the Palace, de facto rulers, of the Frankish kingdoms of Neustria and Austrasia that were nominally ruled by the Merovingians. The dynasty is regarded to have been founded by St. Arnulf (582-640) (Hence, Arnulfings), Bishop of Metz in the early 7^th century, who wielded a great deal of power and influence in the Merovingian kingdom. Arnulf’s son  married St. Begga,  the daughter of Pepin of Landen (Pepin I), and their son was Pepin of Heristal. It is from Pepin II's grandfathers that the dynasty receives its earlier (pre-Martel) names: Arnulfing or Pippinid[4]. The dynasty effectively ended with the death of Pepin II , who was succeeded by his illegitimate son, Charles Martel. Pepin had legitimate grandsons at his death, but they failed to win power, and the line died out. Charles Martel went on to found a new line of the family, which historians named the Carolingian dynasty after Martel.

Charles Martel (714-741) defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Tours and Poitiers (732). He held the uncontested leadership of the whole Frankish state. He saved Europe from Islam  by decisively defeating the moslems in 711. he also destroyed the Visigothic kingdom, and had already conquered southern France. He was called “The Hammer”, the uncrowned king of the West. He had two sons who ruled as powerful dictators, Carloman (741-747) and Pepin III (the short) (741-768). The former entered the monastery and renounced public life. Therefore, latter became the sole ruler. Austrasia and Neustria (Western part of the Merovingian Frankish Kingdom) were reunited in one kingdom under  Pepin the short who took the crown of the Merovingians in 751 to establish the line of Carolingian kings.

Pepin the short required a higher authority to justify his lack of bloodline in taking the crown which could only be supplied by the Pope whose authority had been increased since the work of Wynfrith Boniface. He asked Pope Zachary’s consented who in turn supported him. Pepin the short convoked the Diet of Soissons (751-752) and had elected himself king of the Franks.

First, Wynfrith Boniface laid the foundation of the league of the Papacy with the Frankish Kingdom. Remember that his mission to the Germans was under the protection of the Franks and with the blessing of the Pope. Then, the Franks turned to Rome for greater authority. Now, the papacy, despite numerous tensions had continued to look toward Byzantium, now dissolved its ties with the East and turned completely to the West for help. Pope Stephen II’s call was heeded by Pepin the short. The Franks, a former ally of the Lombards, will now fight the Lombards for the Papacy. There was a separation of the papacy from the Byzantine Empire. All these marked an epochal change in European history.

The alliance between the papacy and the Franks was concluded on January 7, 754 at PONTHION.Pepin the short promised two things: the help against the threats of Aistulf and the rest of the Lombards; and the “return” of areas conquered by the Lombards (esp Ravenna). Remember that there were lands (ie Exarchate of Ravenna) belonging to Byzantium which the Lombards conquered. It may mean conflict if the Lombards give these territories back to Rome. All these, the Franks dedicated to Rome, not to Byzantium.

The Diet of Quierzy (754) resolved to protect against the Lombards. Pepin the short formally promised Pope Stephen II the territories of central Italy (ie Tuscany, Ravenna, Venice, Istria, Spoleto and Benevento). These would be the nucleus of the future papal states.

In the same year, peaceful negotiation with Aistulf failed that led to his eventual defeat. Aistulf rose again after two years but was completely subjugated. The promise of returning the land to the pope now posed many questions. Byzantium had the legal claims of those lands. The Byzantines’ argument was derived from Constantine the Great himself who made Constantinople heir of the ancient Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire was not only claiming Rome and Ravenna as Roman imperial territory but basically all Italy and the West. So, they accused the alliance of the poe with the Franks as treason. The Eastern Roman Empire had been the de facto claimant of the Roman Empire after the Fall of the West (476) since the 6^th to the 8^th centuries.

In the face of these ancient byzantine claims, the Pope needed to present a more powerful argument. The Donatio Constantini proved to be the one. The Donation of Constantine  is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor the Great supposedly transferred the authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the pope. When Constantine transferred his residence from Rome to Byzantium (Constantinople) around 330, he allegedly ceded to Pope Sylvester I (313-335) the whole western half of the empire. It is based on a 5^th century Sylvester legend. According to the invented narrative, Emperor Constantine attributed his miraculous cure from leprosy to pope Sylvester I and in return he transferred the control over Rome and the West to the pope. The intention for this forgery is to protect the papacy against Byzantium’s claim and to guarantee its political and ecclesiastical independence in the West. During the Middle Ages, the document was often cited in support of the Roman Church's claims to spiritual and earthly authority. 

In the 11^th century. Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla and the other humanists are credited with first exposing the forgery with solid philological arguments, although doubts on the document's authenticity had already been cast by this time. Scholars have since dated the forgery between the eighth and ninth centuries. It is not clear however who fabricated such forgery. It can either be fabricated in the chancellories of Stephen II or Paul I. The place of its creation is not attainable as well.

The Donatio Constantini became the legal justification for the Church in Rome. It underscored the papal primacy and the universal dominion of the popes.

In the year 754 as well, after the pope called for help and the  Franks responded to crush the Lombards, Pope Stephen II repeated the anointing of Pepin the Short and his sons Carloman and Charles [see family tree; different from the previous persons of the same name.] and awarded them the title Patricius Romanorum[5]. This title could normally be awarded only by the Byzantine emperor. It meant something when the pope gave this title to the Franks. It means a total non-recognition of the rights of the Byzantine Empire. The task of the Patricius Romanorum is to guarantee the protection of the western Church.

Pepin the short’s son Carloman (+771) died early and his son Charles assumed even greater power when he was crowned emperor in 800, thus becoming one of the most prominent figures in European history. He was called Charles the Great or Charlemagne (768-814).

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[1] Praetorian prefect (Latin:praefectus praetorio) was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides.

[2]  Procopius of Caesarea, Jordanes and Theophylact Simocatt.

[3] Notably, the Russo–Turkish War (1877–1878), as well as of the attack of the Allied Powers on the Dardanelles during the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli in the course of World War I.

[4] Pepin or Pippin are synonymous

[5] The word patricius comes from pater ("father"). So, they became the “Father of all Rome” so to speak.