How did the Papal States begin?

The emergence of the Papal States in the mid-8th century was the result of a complex political reconfiguration in central Italy.12

While popes had held property around Rome since the 4th century, they remained nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire for centuries. By the 750s, however, the papacy turned away from Constantinople due to heavy taxation, the imperial policy of iconoclasm, and the empire's failure to protect Rome from the Lombards.12

Seeking protection, Pope Stephen II appealed to the Frankish ruler Pippin III. In 756, following Pippin’s military intervention against the Lombard king Aistulf, the Donation of Pippin formally granted the pope rights over territories in central Italy, including the Roman duchy and the exarchate of Ravenna. This event provided the foundation for the papacy’s temporal power, which was later confirmed and expanded by Charlemagne and other Carolingian rulers.12