Pope Adrian I

Pope Adrian I
Bishop of Rome
Miniature of Adrian I, c. 1460
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	1 February 772
Papacy ended	25 December 795
Predecessor	Stephen III
Successor	Leo III
Orders
Consecration	9 February 772
Personal details
Born	700 Rome, Exarchate of Ravenna, Byzantine Empire
Died	25 December 795 (aged 94-95) Rome, Papal States
Other popes named Adrian

Pope Adrian I (Latin: Hadrianus I; 700 - 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 to his death.^[1] He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman.

Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic attempts by the Lombards to expand their holdings in Italy at the expense of the papacy. Not receiving any support from Constantinople, the popes looked for help to the Franks. Adrian's tenure saw the culmination of on-going territorial disputes between Charlemagne and his brother Carloman I. The Lombard king Desiderius supported the claims of Carloman's sons to their late father's land, and requested Pope Adrian crown Carloman's sons "Kings of the Franks". When the Pope failed to do so, Desiderius invaded Papal territory and seized the Duchy of the Pentapolis. Charlemagne besieged Pavia and took the Lombard crown for himself. He then restored the Pentapolis to the Papacy as well as some of the captured Lombard territory.