Pope Stephen III

Pope Stephen III (Latin: Stephanus III; 720 – 24 January 772) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death on 24 January 772. Stephen was a Benedictine monk who worked in the Lateran Palace during the reign of Pope Zachary. In the midst of a tumultuous contest by rival factions to name a successor to Pope Paul I, Stephen was elected with the support of the Roman officials. He summoned the Lateran Council of 769, which sought to limit the influence of the nobles in papal elections. The council also opposed iconoclasm.

A Greek born in Sicily, Stephen III was the son of a man named Olivus. Coming to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Gregory III, he was placed in the monastery of St. Chrysogonus, where he became a Benedictine monk. During the pontificate of Pope Zachary, he was ordained a priest, after which the pope decided to keep him to work at the Lateran Palace. Stephen gradually rose to high office in the service of successive popes, and was at the bedside of the dying Pope Paul I as powerful factions began manoeuvring to ensure the election of their own candidate in late June 767.

768 was consumed by the rival claims of antipopes Constantine II (a layman puppet forcibly installed by a faction of Tuscan nobles) and Philip (the candidate of the Lombards), who were forced out of office by the efforts of Christophorus, the primicerius of the notaries, and his son Sergius, the treasurer of the Roman Church. With the capture of Constantine II, Christophorus set about organising a canonical election, and on 1 August he summoned not only the Roman clergy and army, but also the people to assemble before the Church of St. Adrian in the area of the old Comitium. Here, on 7 August, the combined assembly elected Stephen as pope. They then proceeded to the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, where they acclaimed Stephen as pope-elect, and escorted him to the Lateran Palace.

At this point, supporters of the Pope-elect Stephen began to brutally attack key members of Constantine's regime, including Constantine himself, who was hounded through the streets of Rome, with heavy weights attached to his feet. Bishop Theodore, Constantine's vice-dominus, was blinded and had his tongue cut out, while Constantine's brother, Passivus, was also blinded. Constantine was officially dethroned on 6 August, and Stephen was consecrated pope on the following day. Retributions continued even after the consecration of Stephen; the town of Alatri revolted in support of Constantine, and after its capture, the key members of the revolt were blinded and had their tongues ripped out. Then on the orders of the papal chartularius, Gratiosus, Constantine was removed from his monastic cell, blinded, and left on the streets of Rome with specific instructions that no-one should aid him. Finally, on a charge of conspiring to kill Christophorus and many other nobles, with the intent of handing over the city to the Lombards, the priest Waldipert, who was the prime mover in the elevation of Philip, was arrested, blinded, and soon died of his wounds.

The role of Stephen III in these events is somewhat obscure. According to the historian Horace Mann, Stephen was an impotent observer, and that the responsible agent was in reality the chartularius, Gratiosus. However, according to Louis Marie DeCormenin, Stephen was the key person responsible for issuing the orders, and took great delight in destroying his rival and his rival's supporters. A middle position was taken by the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius, who observed that Stephen, while he may not have instigated or ordered the atrocities, did not seek to prevent them either, either through self-interest or the weakness of his position. What is clear, however, is that the recent creation of the Papal States had seen the traditional rivalries of the ruling families of Rome transformed into a murderous desire to control this new temporal power in Italy, dragging the papacy with it.

With Constantine's supporters largely dealt with, Stephen wrote to the Frankish king, Pepin the Short, notifying him of his election, and asking for a number of bishops to participate in a council he was seeking to hold to discuss the recent confusion. As Pepin had died, it was Charlemagne and Carloman I who agreed to send twelve bishops to participate in the Lateran Council of 769. The council saw the final condemnation of Constantine II, who was beaten and had his tongue removed before being returned to his monastic cell. All clerical appointments made by Constantine were declared null and void. It also set about establishing strict rules for papal elections, thereby restricting the involvement of the nobility in subsequent elections. Finally, the rulings of the Council of Hieria were rejected, and the practice of devotion to icons was confirmed (see iconoclasm).

In 770, Stephen was asked to confirm the election of Michael, a layperson, as archbishop of Ravenna. In fact, Michael, in league with the Lombard king Desiderius and the duke of Rimini, had imprisoned Leo I, who had been elected first. Stephen refused to confirm Michael's election; citing the conventions of the Lateran council, he sent letters and envoys to Michael, demanding that he stand down. Michael refused, and the stand-off continued for over a year, until the arrival of the Frankish ambassador in Ravenna along with the papal legates encouraged Michael's opponents to overthrow him, and send him to Rome in chains. Leo followed soon after, when Stephen consecrated him as archbishop.

Throughout his pontificate, Stephen was apprehensive about the expansionist plans of the Lombards. Placing his hope in the Franks, he attempted to mediate in the quarrels between Charlemagne and Carloman I, Pepin's sons and successors, which were only helping the Lombards' cause in Italy. In 769, he helped them reconcile, and pressured them to support the still infant Papal States, by reminding them of the support that their father had given the papacy in the past. He also begged them to intercede on his behalf by entering into discussions with the Lombards.