How a defiant Pope transformed the papacy from a religious office into a temporal power.

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Pope Gregory II did not just lead the Church; he reshaped the political map of Italy. By challenging the Byzantine Emperor over iconoclasm and navigating the volatile ambitions of Lombard kings, he laid the foundations for the temporal authority that would define the papacy for centuries to come.

Born in 669, Gregory II ascended to the papacy in 715, inheriting a Rome struggling with both environmental disasters and shifting imperial loyalties. Early in his pontificate, he faced a devastating flood of the Tiber in 716, yet he remained focused on expanding the Church's reach. He commissioned the missionary Boniface to preach in Germany and actively managed the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Bavaria, demonstrating a proactive approach to papal governance that extended far beyond the city walls.

The defining conflict of his reign emerged from the iconoclastic controversy initiated by Emperor Leo III. In 726, Leo issued an edict condemning the veneration of icons, which Gregory rejected outright. This defiance sparked widespread revolts across the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Duchy of the Pentapolis. Gregory’s refusal to submit to imperial doctrine—asserting that church dogma was the domain of bishops, not emperors—effectively severed the political reliance of the papacy on Constantinople, despite his continued efforts to maintain imperial order against local usurpers.

Gregory’s political maneuvering was equally complex regarding the Lombards. While he faced constant pressure from expansionist dukes, he maintained a delicate diplomatic relationship with King Liutprand. This culminated in the 729 Donation of Sutri, where Liutprand ceded Sutri and other hill towns to the papacy. This event marked the first time the Church acquired territory beyond the Duchy of Rome, signaling the birth of the Papal States. By the time of his death in 731, Gregory had successfully navigated a path between Byzantine authority and Lombard aggression, leaving behind a papacy that functioned as a sovereign political entity.

The historical record of his life is marked by both documented achievements and legendary accounts. While some sources claim he excommunicated the Emperor, western records like the Liber Pontificalis remain silent on the matter. Similarly, his correspondence with Leo III is sometimes debated as potentially apocryphal. Regardless, his legacy remains tied to the transition of the papacy from a subordinate religious office into a central, independent power in the medieval Mediterranean world.

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