[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 21, Ed. 1, Tree #1186, Date of Import: Apr 26, 1999]
Pepin the Short courted the allegiance of the other aristocracy of
Frankish society, the great churchmen, by making a lasting alliance with
the pope. The continuing support of the military aristocracy and the new
sympathy of the ecclesiastical aristocracy enabled Pepin to effect a
major constitutional change. In 751 an assembly of Frankish notables
declared that the last Merovingian king was not truly a king, and they
recognized Pepin as their legitimate sovereign. The pope confirmed the
wisdom and justice of the act. In return for this expression of support
Pepin confirmed papal possession of the Patrimony of St. Peter(Rome and
its environs) and defeated the Lombards, who had been harassing the papal
lands in Italy. Later popes would repeatedly point to this Donation of
Pepin as establishing the Papal States. Roman tradition affirmed that
the king exercised sovereign power; by exposing the character of Frankish
kingship to strong Christian and Roman influences, Pepin strengthened and
transformed it. He bequeathed to his successors a monarchy founded on
the support of the great warriors and priests and dignified by
association with the Christian and Roman past. Pepin, Charlemagne, and
their successors sought energetically to promote learning within their
domains; and historians call the results of their efforts the Carolingian
Renaissance. These rulers were interested in learning for several
reasons. In the sixth and seventh centuries, when the Continent was
divided among many small kingdoms, different styles of writing, known as
national hands(Visigothic, Merovingian, Lombard, Beneventan, and so
forth), had developed, and numerous variant readings had slipped into
such basic texts as the Bible and the Benedictine rule. The Latin
grammar used by scholars had also absorbed many regional peculiarities.
The widespread decline in education had left few persons who could read
at all. Without even priests who could read and write and their
inability to perform the liturgy, upon which God's blessings on the
community were thought to depend; and variations in religious rituals
were also growing, these two situations weakened the unity of the Church
as well as the state.