St. Zachary
Zachary · 741 – 752
A Greek-speaking diplomat who made peace with the Lombards and authorized the Carolingian dynasty's rise to power.
Zachary was the last Greek-speaking pope. A skilled diplomat, he personally negotiated with the Lombard king Liutprand, walking into the enemy camp and persuading him to return captured territories and agree to a truce. His most consequential decision was responding to a question from the Frankish mayor Pepin: who should be king, the man with the title or the man with the power? Zachary answered that the man who wielded real authority should hold the crown. This papal ruling authorized Pepin to depose the last Merovingian king and found the Carolingian dynasty, an alliance that would define medieval Europe.
The Question That Changed Europe
When Pepin asked Zachary whether a powerless king should keep his throne, the pope's answer was simple and revolutionary. The man with the real authority should rule. With that one sentence, Zachary authorized a change of dynasty and established a principle: the papacy could make and unmake kings. It was a power that later popes would use, and sometimes abuse, for centuries.