gly went to France, passing uninjured through
the country of his enemies, so great was the respect they had for
religion, and was treated honorably by Pepin, who sent an army into
Italy, and besieged the Lombards in Pavia. King Astolphus, compelled by
necessity, made proposals of peace to the French, who agreed to them at
the entreaty of the pope--for he did not desire the death of his enemy,
but that he should be converted and live. In this treaty, Astolphus
promised to give to the church all the places he had taken from her;
but the king's forces having returned to France, he did not fulfill the
agreement, and the pope again had recourse to Pepin, who sent another
army, conquered the Lombards, took Ravenna, and, contrary to the wishes
of the Greek emperor, gave it to the pope, with all the places that
belonged to the exarchate, and added to them Urbino and the Marca.
But Astolphus, while fulfilling the terms of his agreement, died, and
Desiderius, a Lombard, who was duke of Tuscany, took up arms to occupy
the kingdom, and demanded assistance of the pope, promising him
his friendship. The pope acceding to his request, the other princes
assented. Desiderius kept faith at first, and proceeded to resign the
districts to the pope, according to the agreement made with Pepin, so
that an exarch was no longer sent from Constantinople to Ravenna, but it
was governed according to the will of the pope. Pepin soon after died,
and was succeeded by his son Charles, the same who, on account of the
magnitude and success of his enterprises, was called Charlemagne, or
Charles the Great. Theodore I. now succeeded to the papacy, and discord
arising between him and Desiderius, the latter besieged him in Rome.
The pope requested assistance of Charles, who, having crossed the Alps,
besieged Desiderius in Pavai, where he took both him and his children,
and sent them prisoners to France. He then went to visit the pontiff at
Rome, where he declared, THAT THE POPE, BEING VICAR OF GOD, COULD NOT
BE JUDGED BY MEN. The pope and the people of Rome made him emperor; and
thus Rome began to have an emperor of the west. And whereas the popes
used to be established by the emperors, the latter now began to have
need of the popes at their elections; the empire continued to lose
its powers, while the church acquired them; and, by these means, she
constantly extended her authority over temporal princes.

The Lombards, having now been two hundred and thirty-tw