Justinianic ideal of universal reconquest receded in favour of a pragmatic extension of Byzantine cultural influence by Slavspeaking missionaries.
In contrast the ninth century proved a period of uncertainty and upheaval in the western Mediterranean. The late eighth century saw the emergence of a new kind of invader from the north who embodied an aggressive commitment to Christianity and self-confident expansionism on the part of a Latin west, which for centuries had lain prostrate in the face of external attacks. The Frankish King Charlemagne, Charles the Great, inherited from his father Pippin III the recently subjugated Mediterranean lands of Aquitaine and Provence and a tradition of intervening in Italian affairs in support of the pope. After their capture of Ravenna in 751 the Lombards had attempted to take over the former Byzantine territories of the exarchate and the duchy of Rome, much to the alarm of the popes, who never ceased to regard the Lombards as barbarian interlopers. The papacy asserted its own claims to these lands by fabricating a remarkably successful forgery, the Donation of Constantine, which purported to record the first Christian emperor's grant to St Peter of ' Italy and the west'. The popes fostered a special relationship with the Franks by playing upon the Carolingians' veneration of St Peter, and finally in response to papal pleas Charles led an expedition to Italy which resulted in the takeover of the Lombard kingdom in 774.
The momentous repercussions of this step included the creation of a papal state which remained a major factor on the Italian scene until 1870. The strengthened alliance between Charles and the pope led to a flow of Roman manuscripts and relics into Francia. The pope crowned Charles emperor on Christmas Day 800, hoping thereby to strengthen his hold over his protector. The Byzantines were outraged, and conceded only limited recognition of the title in 812 after protracted negotiations. For the papacy the restoration of a western empire represented a decisive turning of its back on Byzantium and an opportunity to stress its political as well as ecclesiastical authority in the west. In the long term the creation of a western empire gave a boost to notions of a distinct European identity
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