Chapter 3 - Page 2

Mohammed, and lastly by the Turks, who took Syria,
Africa, and Egypt. These causes induced the reigning pope, in his
distress, to seek new friends, and he applied to the king of France.
Nearly all the wars which the northern barbarians carried on in Italy,
it may be here remarked, were occasioned by the pontiffs; and the
hordes, with which the country was inundated, were generally called in
by them. The same mode of proceeding still continued, and kept Italy
weak and unsettled. And, therefore, in relating the events which have
taken place from those times to the present, the ruin of the empire
will be no longer illustrated, but only the increase of the
pontificate and of the other principalities which ruled Italy till the
coming of Charles VIII. It will be seen how the popes, first with
censures, and afterward with these and arms, mingled with indulgences,
became both terrible and venerable; and how, from having abused both,
they ceased to possess any influence, and were wholly dependent on the
will of others for assistance in their wars.

But to return to the order of our narration. Gregory III. occupied the
papacy, and the kingdom of the Lombards was held by Astolphus, who,
contrary to agreement, seized Ravenna, and made war upon the pope. On
this account, Gregory no longer relying upon the emperor of
Constantinople, since he, for the reasons above given, was unable to
assist him, and unwilling to trust the Lombards, for they had
frequently broken their faith, had recourse to Pepin II., who, from
being lord of Austria and Brabant, had become king of France; not so
much by his own valor as by that of Charles Martel, his father, and
Pepin his grandfather; for Charles Martel, being governor of the
kingdom, effected the memorable defeat of the Saracens near Tours,
upon the Loire, in which two hundred thousand of them are said to have
been left dead upon the field of battle. Hence, Pepin, by his father's
reputation and his own abilities, became afterward king of France. To
him Pope Gregory, as we have said, applied for assistance against the
Lombards, which Pepin promised to grant, but desired first to see him
and be honored with his presence. Gregory accordingly went to France,
passing uninjured through the country of his enemies, so great was the
respect they had for religion, and was treated honorably by Pepin, who
sent an army into Italy, and besieged the Lombards in Pavia. King
Astolphus, compelled by necessity, made proposals of peace to the
French, who agreed to them at the entreaty of the pope--for he did not
desire the death of his enemy, but that he should be converted and
live. In this treaty, Astolphus promised to give to the church all the
places he had taken from her; but the king's forces