Editing Pope Stephen II (section)

==Lombard threat==
Relations were very strained in the mid-8th century between the [[papacy]] and the [[Eastern Roman emperors]] over the support of the [[Isaurian dynasty]] for [[Byzantine Iconoclasm#The first iconoclast period: 730–787|iconoclasm]]. Likewise, maintaining political control over Rome became untenable as the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] itself was beset by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] to the south and [[Bulgars]] to the northwest. Constantinople could send no troops, and Emperor [[Constantine V Copronymus]], in answer to the repeated requests for help of the new pope, Stephen II, could only offer him the advice to act in accordance with the ancient policy of Rome, to pit some other Germanic tribe against the Lombards.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm Schnürer, Gustav. "States of the Church." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 September 2017</ref>

Stephen turned to [[Pepin the Short]], the [[king of the Franks]] who had recently defeated the Muslim [[Umayyad invasion of Gaul]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Gress|title=From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents|date=11 May 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=Preface|isbn=9781439119013|quote=He transferred his political allegiance from the empire to the king of the Franks, who lived north of the Alps, who had recently defeated the Muslims who were invading from Spain...}}</ref> He traveled to [[Paris]] to plead for help in person against the surrounding Lombard and Muslim threats.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Peter O'Brien|title=European Perceptions of Islam and America from Saladin to George W. Bush|date=23 Dec 2008|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780230617803|page=24}}</ref> On 6 January 754, Stephen re-consecrated Pepin as king. In return, Pepin assumed the role of ordained protector of the Church and set his sights on the Lombards, as well as addressing the threat of Islamic [[Al-Andalus]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sampie Terreblanche|title=Western Empires, Christianity and the Inequalities between the West and the Rest|date=30 Sep 2014|publisher=Penguin UK|location=Europes industrialisation|isbn=9780143531555|quote=To address the threat of an Islamic empire settled in south-western Europe, Pope Stephen II crowned Pippin (the son of Charles Martel) as king of the Frankish dynasty...}}</ref> Pepin invaded Italy twice to settle the Lombard problem and delivered the territory between [[Rome]] and [[Ravenna]] to the papacy, but left the Lombard kings in possession of their kingdom.