Episode 4 - The Pope Travels North

Episode 7 - The Wages of Sin

The Romans murder Waldipert, the personal representative of the Lombard King Desiderius, and Desiderius blames Chrisopher the Primicerius. Pepin, king of the Franks, dies and his kingdom passes to two sons, Carloman and Charles (Charlemagne) who immediately begin feuding. Their mother Bertrada arranges for a marriage between Charles and a Lombard princess, sending the papacy into a panic. Desiderius exacts his revenge on Christopher--cosmic justice for the likely architect of the papal policies described in this podcast series.

Episode 6 - A Papal Game of Thrones

Now a temporal power in Italy, the papacy meddles in the Lombard election and helps get Desiderius elected king of the Lombards. After the death of Pope Paul I, Toto and his brother Constantine seize the papal throne, and drive out of the city their rival, the primicerius Christopher. Christopher allies with Desiderius to retake the city and sets off a week of chaos in Rome marked by no less than 3 popes.

Episode 5 - The Forgery Seals the Deal

Pope Stephen II plays his hole card by producing the famous forgery, The Donation of Constantine, "proving" that the Lombards have stolen Ravenna not from the Emperor but from St. Peter. The reluctant Frankish warriors at last agree to make war on the Lombards, and, under the command of King Pepin, do so twice in a year's time. The end result is the creation of the Republic of St. Peter--what historians later call the Papal States. The last tiny remnant of the Papal States is Vatican City, where even today the pope rules with the powers of a medieval king.

Episode 4 - The Pope Travels North

The Lombards choose a new king, Aistulf, who renews their aggression and captures Ravenna. Pope Stephen II decides it's time to call in his marker with King Pepin and travels north of the Alps to make his appeal in person.

Episode 3 - The Long-Haired Kings Get a Papal Haircut

In 750 A.D. the Frankish royal throne was occupied by an ancient dynasty called the Merovingians, famous for their long hair. The Merovingians reigned but did not rule. Real power was exercised by a royal officer called the mayor of the palace. Mayor Pepin, facing threats to his rule from his own relatives, decides to take the revolutionary step of becoming king himself, and turns to the only power greater in the Frankish mind than the Merovingian mystique: Saint Peter. Pepin cleverly employs an Anglo-Saxon missionary named Boniface to conduct negotiations with the papacy. Pepin gets his wish, but in the process the Church becomes much more powerful.