page_title: Frankish Papacy
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Frankish Papacy / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Charlemagne was crowned by Leo III in AD 800 in the Vatican Basilica
context_page_description: From 756 to 857, the papacy shifted from the orbit of the Byzantine Empire to that of the kings of the Franks. Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious had considerable influence in the selection and administration of popes. The "Donation of Pepin" ratified a new period of papal rule in central Italy, which became known as the Papal States.
  This shift was initiated by the Lombards conquering the Exarchate of Ravenna from the Byzantines, strengthened by the Frankish triumph over the Lombards, and ended by the fragmentation of the Frankish Kingdom into West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia. Lothair I continued to rule Middle Francia which included much of the Italian peninsula, from 843 to 855.
  This period was "a critical time in Rome's transformation from ancient capital to powerful bishopric to new state capital." The period was characterized by "battles between Franks, Lombards and Romans for control of the Italian peninsula and of supreme authority within Christendom."
context_section_description: It was during the time of Charlemagne that it became customary for the pope to approve the creation of a new archdiocese and to determine its geographic extent. These changes "made the archbishop seem more like the pope's deputy with a delegated share of the universal primacy." Of course, powerful rulers continued to establish their own archdiocese—for example, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, created Magdeburg in 963, and Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, created Bamberg in 1020—and to strongly influence decisions nominally made by the pope. Pope Gregory IV (822-844) was unsuccessful in 830 when he attempted to side with Lothair I and his bishops against Louis the Pious. Disputes such as these lead to the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, a forgery of the ilk of the "Donation of Constantine."
  The coronations of Pepin, Charlemagne, and Louis by popes planted the idea among generations of European rulers that the pope could confer legitimacy to the title of "emperor."
caption: Raphael's The Coronation of Charlemagne, depicting Pope Leo III
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