ABSTRACT
One of the key figures in the diplomatic manoeuvres which had preceded the Frankish conquest of Lombard Italy was Bishop George, bishop of the Roman see of Ostia and, after 767, of the Neustrian see at Amiens as well. George continued to be used as an envoy after the Frankish annexation of the Regnum Langobardorum, and, in a letter to Charlemagne dated c. 782, Hadrian described George as 'your bishop and ours', confirming the plurality of his office and his bipartisan allegiances. The same Northumbrian chronicle that had recorded Charlemagne's victories in Italy noted the arrival of George's mission in England. The prime objective of George's mission, the Northumbrian chronicler said, was to reaffirm the bond between the Christians in England and the Church of Rome. The core of George's letter to Pope Hadrian as it survives thus concerns the Northumbrian council which he attended and the reforms which were proposed to the assembled Northumbrian elite.
