Donation of Pepin and the Papal States
Also called: Carolingian dynasty founded
Pepin, who founded the Carolingian dynasty in 751 with papal backing, gave the pope the lands around Ravenna taken from the Lombards in 756, laying the foundation of the Papal States.
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris · Public domain · Source
In the late Merovingian period real power in the Frankish kingdom lay with the mayor of the palace. The mayor Charles Martel halted the Muslims at the Battle of Tours–Poitiers in 732, and his son Pepin, with the pope’s consent, deposed the last Merovingian king in 751 and took the throne, founding the Carolingian dynasty.
Estranged from Byzantium by the icon dispute and threatened by the Lombards, the pope appealed to Pepin. Pepin campaigned twice in Italy, subdued the Lombards, and in 756 gave the pope the lands around Ravenna that he had taken from them (the Donation of Pepin). This was the beginning of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870, and it sealed the alliance between the papacy and the Frankish kingdom. At the same time, in Unified Silla, construction of Bulguksa and Seokguram began under King Gyeongdeok (751).