ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Pope Stephen III's Letter to Charlemagne. In 770, Pope Stephen III wrote a letter to the young Frankish kings Charles and Carloman to dissuade them from marrying a daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius. The letter opens on a strong note of moral exhortation with an extensive passage that associates the weakness of women with the workings of the devil. It then clearly states its objective: to dissuade both kings from the planned union with a daughter of Desiderius and an alliance with the Lombards, about which the pope has heard. The letter goes on for another 70 lines, revolving around its three main arguments: warning the royal brothers not to marry a foreign-born woman exhorting them to stay with the wives that both brothers already have, and reminding them of their sworn alliance with the popes, which was mainly directed against their Lombard enemies. The letter sounds like a friendlier echo of Stephen's exhortations.
