Stephen II
Stephen II,
d. 757, pope (752–57), successor of Pope St. ZachariasZacharias or Zachary, Saint, pope (741–52), a Calabrian Greek; successor of St. Gregory III. He was the first pope after Gregory the Great not to seek confirmation of his election from the Byzantine emperor.
..... Click the link for more information. . When Rome was threatened by the Lombard king Aistulf, Stephen went to Gaul and appealed to Pepin the ShortPepin the Short
(Pepin III), c.714–768, first Carolingian king of the Franks (751–68), son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne. Succeeding his father as mayor of the palace (741), he ruled Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his brother Carloman (d.
..... Click the link for more information. for help. He became the first pope to cross the Alps. Pepin responded and defeated (754 and 756) Aistulf and restored the lost papal territories. Pepin rejected the demands of the Byzantine emperor for the return of the exarchate RavennaRavenna
, city (1991 pop. 135,844), capital of Ravenna prov., in Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, near the Adriatic Sea (with which it is connected by a canal). It is an agricultural market, canal port, and an important industrial center.
..... Click the link for more information. , which claimed temporal sovereignty over Rome. Instead, Pepin, in the so-called Act of Donation, ceded all the territories of the duchy of Rome to the papacy, thus laying the basis for the Papal States. In 755, Stephen renewed the coronation of Pepin and gave him and his two sons the title Patrician of the Romans (Patricius Romanorum). He was succeeded by Paul IPaul I,
1754–1801, czar of Russia (1796–1801), son and successor of Catherine II. His mother disliked him intensely and sought on several occasions to change the succession to his disadvantage.
..... Click the link for more information. . Another Stephen II, elected pope in 752 but who died before his coronation, was officially dropped from the list of popes in 1959.