thumb|Fresco by a painter from the school of [[Giovanni Battista Ricci|Giovan Battista Ricci, depicting the abbot St. Fulrad giving Pepin's written guarantee to Pope Stephen II. ]]
thumb|Map of Lombard territories in 756 before the donation
The Donation of Pepin, or Donation of Pippin, was the transfer of Frankish territory in central Italy to Pope Stephen II made by Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, in 756. Credited with "effectively establishing the temporal authority of the papacy," the Donation took place amid the Byzantine Empire's decline in Italy and marked both "an important moment in the papal–Carolingian alliance" and an "important step" in the formation of the Papal States. "any semblance of imperial protection for Rome" had vanished and the pope, who had technically been a Byzantine subject to this point, turned to Pepin for assistance. The Confession document was created "following Pippin's second invasion of Italy to assist the pope."
Background
In 751, Aistulf, king of the Lombards, conquered what remained of the exarchate of Ravenna, the last vestige of the Roman Empire in northern Italy. In 752, Aistulf demanded the submission of Rome and a tribute of one gold per capita. Pope Stephen II and a Roman envoy, the silentiary John, tried through negotiations and bribes to convince Aistulf to back down. When this failed, Stephen led a solemn procession through the streets of Rome and nailed the treaty which Aistulf had violated to a crucifix. He then sent envoys to Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, with a letter requesting his support and the provision of a Frankish escort so that Stephen could go to Pepin to confer. At the time, the Franks were on good terms with the Lombards.
In 753, John the Silentiary returned from Constantinople to Rome with an imperial order () that Pope Stephen accompany him to meet Aistulf in the Lombard capital of Pavia. The pope duly requested and received a letter of transit from the Lombards. With the Frankish envoys who had by then arrived, the pope and the imperial envoy set out for Pavia on 14 October 753. The Roman magnates did not accompany them past the border of the duchy of Rome. At Pavia, Aistulf denied the requests of Stephen and John to return the conquered exarchate to the empire, but he did not prevent Stephen from continuing with the Frankish envoys to the court of Pepin. They left Pavia on 15 November 753. John the Silentiary did not accompany them. This was the first time a pope had crossed the Alps. The decision to act independently of the imperial envoy was of the immense moment. It is likely that the pope saw himself as acting on behalf of the Italian province subjugated and threatened by Aistulf.
Original promise
thumb|[[Carolingian coinage|Carolingian coin of Pepin the Short, dating from 754/55 to 768.]]
Due to military pressure from the Lombards, in late 753 Pope Stephen II, Pope Zacharias' successor, implored Pippin to defend Rome. Pope Stephen met Pepin the Short at the royal estate at Ponthion on 6 January 754. The king led the Pope's horse, while the pope in sackcloth and ashes bowed down and asked Pepin "that in accordance with the peace treaties [between Rome and the Lombards] he would support the suit of St Peter and of the republic of the Romans". Pepin responded by promising "to restore the exarchate of Ravenna and the rights and territories of the republic". The exact nature of this commitment cannot be known, but it is unlikely that Pepin had in mind the Roman Empire. It has been suggested that the two parties exchanged oaths on this occasion, but that is unlikely.
Over the next two years, Pepin dispatched three embassies to Aistulf demanding that he honour his treaties with the Romans. In April 754, he held a general assembly at Quierzy-sur-Oise. Some noblemen left the proceedings in opposition to the policy, but Pepin restated publicly his promise to the Pope and enumerated the territories that he would restore. Afterwards, this promise was put into writing.<!-- No original document has been preserved, but later 8th century sources quote from it and the Fragmentum Fantuzzianum probably relied on it.--> On 28 July in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the Pope anointed Pepin and his sons Charles and Carloman as kings of the Franks and patricians of the Romans<!-- in a memorable ceremony that was recalled in the coronation rites of French kings until the end of the in 1792-->. He also pronounced a blessing on Queen Bertrada and the assembled nobility. The pope's right to grant the patrician title is doubtful. The 754 anointing also had a sacramental element, giving the king "a place and function in the church with duties, privileges and responsibilities" that would manifest over time through the Franco-Papal alliance.
Military actions
thumb|A [[follis coin of King Aistulf, dating from 749 to 756.]]
In the spring of 755, Pepin summoned the army to muster at Braisne-sur-Vesle. He sent envoys ahead to offer Aistulf an indemnity if he restored the Roman territories he had taken in violation of his treaties. The Frankish army crossed the Mont Cénis and defeated the Lombard army near Susa. Aistulf submitted to some form of Frankish overlordship and promised under oath to return Ravenna and the other cities he had occupied to the Pope. The peace treaty was signed by the "Romans, Franks, and Lombards" without direct reference to the Empire.
As soon as the Frankish army left Italy, Aistulf disregarded the treaty. On 1 January 756, he put Rome under siege. The Pope appealed to the Franks in a series of letters to Pippin about the Lombard threat, which includes the pope claiming that "a good name," or title "means to dispute with all energy for the enhancement of the holy Church of God," since God favors those who are "loyal adherents and defenders of his holy Church." Recorded by the Codex Carolinus, the letters detail the pope's perspective of the Lombard presence. In 755, one letter to Pippin describes the pope's motives for writing, prompted by the "many trials" of Rome due to the "wicked King Aistulf of the Lombards." Charlemagne came to the aid of the pope in 774 and besieged the Lombard capital, Pavia. After his successful conquest of the Lombards, which added Italy from the Alps to Rome to the Carolingian kingdom, Charlemagne received the title of King of the Lombards once their prior king, Desiderius, had surrendered.
See also
- Donation of Constantine, a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope.