Further Reading
Boot, Christine, ed. Cassiodorus’ Historia Ecclesiastica Tripar-
tita in Leopold Stainreuter’s German Translation MS ger.
fol.1109. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1977.
Uiblein, Paul. “Leopold von Wien (Leupoldus de Wienna),” in
Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon,
2d ed., ed. Kurt Ruh et al. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1985, vol. 5,
cols. 716–723.
William C. McDonald
STEPHEN II, POPE (d. 757, r. 752–757)
Pope Stephen II is sometimes identifi ed as Stephen
III—his predecessor, the original Stephen II, having died
in 752 before being consecrated. Stephen became pope
at a time of fl ux that gravely threatened the papacy. Since
the late seventh century, the control of the Byzantine em-
pire over its Italian possessions had steadily deteriorated.
This decline allowed a succession of popes to assume de
facto control over the duchy of Rome and to formulate
an increasingly persuasive ideology justifying the right
of the successors of Saint Peter to guide the orthodox
in Italy, i.e., the true Romans who spurned the heretical
iconoclastic policy of the emperors. However, another
Italian power, the Lombard kingdom, was eager to ex-
ploit the decline of Byzantium. The Lombards became
increasingly aggressive, and in 751 the Lombard king,
Aistulf (r. 749–756), seized the exarchate, an important
Byzantine territory around Ravenna, and threatened to
occupy the duchy of Rome.
Stephen’s central concern throughout his pontifi cate
was to provide security for what was coming to be called
the Republic of Saint Peter. After diplomacy failed to
avert the Lombard threat and after approaches to Con-
stantinople made clear that his theoretical overlord was
incapable of protecting Rome, Stephen turned to Pepin
III, king of the Franks. Pepin was perhaps grateful to the
papacy, which had approved his seizure of the Frank-
ish crown in 751, and indicated that he was willing to
support Stephen’s cause. Stephen thereupon journeyed
to Francia in 753–754. After lengthy negotiations, the
two parties entered a treaty of friendship, and Pepin
agreed to protect the papacy and to restore to it exten-
sive territories described in a written document. For his
part, Stephen solidifi ed the claim of the Carolingians
to the throne by reanointing Pepin and his sons and by
forbidding anyone to replace the Carolingians as kings.
He also bestowed on Pepin and his sons the vague title
patricius Romanorum, which implied that the Frankish
rulers were responsible for protecting the Romans.
These negotiations resulted in a successful Frankish
expedition to Italy in 755, which exacted from Aistulf a
promise to restore extensive territories. However, once
Pepin left Italy, Aistulf refused to respect his promise
and again threatened Rome. Stephen’s appeals led to a
second Frankish expedition in 756 and another defeat for
Aistulf. Pepin’s agents now took possession of formerly
Byzantine cities and territories in the exarchate and the
Pentapolis and granted them to the pope, in a document
known as the Donation of Pepin. Although these terri-
tories did not encompass all that Pepin had promised in
754, they and the duchy of Rome constituted the core of
what was in effect an independent papal state. Stephen II
followed up this success by playing a signifi cant role in
the election of Desiderius (757–774) to succeed Aistulf
under terms favorable to the papacy.
When Stephen II died, there remained many uncer-
tainties about the exact boundaries of the papal state, the
future course of action of the new Lombard king, and
the relationship between the papacy and the Frankish
monarchy. However, Stephen’s successes in expanding
the republic of Saint Peter and in gaining a protector for
it marked a turning point not only in papal and Italian
history but also in the history of the west and its rela-
tionship with the east.
See also Pepin III the ShortFurther ReadingEditions
Codex Carolinus, ed. Wilhelm Gundlach. Monumenta Germaniae
Historica, Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini aevi, 1. Berlin:
Weidmann, 1892, pp. 487–505.
Le liber pontifi calis, 3 vols., ed. Louis Duchesne, 2nd ed. Biblio-
thèque des Écoles Françaises d’Athènes et de Rome. Paris: E.
de Boccard, 1955–1957, Vol. 1, pp. 440–462.Critical Studies
Miller, David Harry. “The Roman Revolution of the Eighth
Century: A Study of the Ideological Background of the Papal
Separation from Byzantium and Alliance with the Franks.”
Mediaeval Studies, 36, 1974, pp. 79–133.
Noble, Thomas F. X. The Republic of Saint Peter. The Birth of
the Papal State, 680–725. The Middle Ages. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984, pp. 61–107.
Richard E. SullivanSTEPHEN LANGTON (ca. 1155–1228)
Stephen Langton and his brother Simon were two of the
most infl uential fi gures of their age. Stephen was born
in Langton-by-Wragby, near Lincoln. His early educa-
tion was probably at the Lincoln cathedral school, but
ca. 1170 he moved to Paris and studied and then taught,
for about twenty years, around the Petit Pont, probably
at the school of Peter the Chanter. Like the Chanter
and Peter Comestor, Stephen was interested in practi-
cal moral questions and in biblical studies. He was at
his best when discussing, in a common-sense way, the
problems of everyday life. He sided most defi nitely with
the active rather than the contemplative life.
Stephen’s fame came not from his theology but from
his preaching and biblical commentaries. He was knownSTAINREUTER, LEOPOLD