Origins of the Papal StatesThe Papal States were territories in central Italy that were directly governed by the papacy—not only spiritually but in a temporal, secular sense. The extent of papal control, which officially began in 756 and lasted until 1870, varied over the centuries, as did the geographical boundaries of the region. Generally, the territories included present-day Lazio, Marche, Umbria, and part of Emilia-Romagna.The bishops of Rome first acquired lands around the city in the 4th century; these lands were known as the Patrimony of St. Peter. Beginning in the 5th century, when the Western Empire officially came to an end and the influence of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire in Italy weakened, the power of the bishops, who were now often called "papa" or pope, increased as the populace turned to them for aid and protection. Pope Gregory the Great, for example, did a great deal to help refugees from invading Lombardsand even managed to establish peace with the invaders for a time. Gregory is credited with consolidating the papal holdings into a unified territory. While officially the lands that would become the Papal States were considered part of the Eastern Roman Empire, for the most part, they were overseen by officers of the Church.The official beginning of the Papal States came in the 8th century. Thanks to the Eastern empire's increased taxation and inability to protect Italy, and, more especially, the emperor's views on iconoclasm, Pope Gregory II broke with the empire, and his successor, Pope Gregory III, upheld the opposition to the iconoclasts. Then, when the Lombard had seized Ravenna and were on the verge of conquering Rome, Pope Stephen II (or III) turned to the King of the Franks, Pippin III(the "Short"). Pippin promised to restore the captured lands to the pope; he then succeeded in defeating the Lombard leader, Aistulf, and made him return the lands the Lombard had captured to the papacy, ignoring all Byzantine claims to the territory.Pippin's promise and the document that recorded it in 756 are known as the Donation of Pippin and provide the legal foundation for the Papal States. This is supplemented by the Treaty of Pavia, in which Aistulf officially ceded conquered lands to the bishops of Rome. Scholars theorize that the forged Donation of Constantine was created by an unknown cleric around about this time, as well. Legitimate donations and decrees by Charlemagne, his son Louis the Piousand his grandson Lothar I confirmed the original foundation and added to the territory.17.What did Pope Gregory the Greatdo in history?