St. Gregory III
Gregory · 731 – 741
The last pope from the Eastern Mediterranean, he excommunicated iconoclasts and made the first papal appeal to the Frankish rulers for military help.
Gregory III was a Syrian, the last pope of Eastern origin for many centuries. He continued his predecessor's opposition to iconoclasm, convening a Roman synod in 731 that excommunicated anyone who destroyed sacred images. Emperor Leo III retaliated by confiscating papal territories in southern Italy and Sicily. Threatened by the Lombards and abandoned by Constantinople, Gregory made the fateful decision to appeal to Charles Martel, the Frankish mayor of the palace, for military protection. Charles did not respond, but the precedent was set: the papacy was looking to the Franks, not the Byzantines, for its future security.
Looking West
Gregory III's appeal to Charles Martel changed the direction of the papacy. For centuries, popes had looked east to Constantinople for protection and legitimacy. Gregory looked west instead, toward the Franks. Charles never came, but the door was opened. Within a generation, the Frankish alliance would reshape Europe and the papacy's place in it.