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.

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.

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.