Pippin Carloman King of ITALY

                   In 725 a serious quarrel arose between state and church. The Lonbards,
not immediately involved in the quarrel, took advantage of the situation to
increase their power at the expense of the emperior.  Rome itself was saved
in part because the Lombards and gradually been converted to Catholicism.
By 751 Rome was all that remained of imperial Italy, save for the  Greek
providence at the southern tip.  The pope still recognized the overlordship
of the emperior, but refused to bow on the matter of icons.
The popes had appealed to the Franks for support, and finally Pepin, King of
the Franks, made two successful expedations against the Lombards in 754 &
756.  On the later date Pepin forced the Lonbards to give the pope the
territory extending from Rome to Revenna,  clear across central Italy.
Called the "Donation to Ravenna," this was to become the nucleus of an
independent principality under the rule of the papacy, known as "the Papal
States"