Editing Siege of Pavia (773–774) (section)

==Background==
Charlemagne, [[King of the Franks|''rex Francorum'']], had succeeded to the throne in 768 jointly with his brother [[Carloman, son of Pepin III|Carloman]]. At the time there was antagonism between not only the two ruling brothers, but between the king of the Lombards, Desiderius, and the [[papacy]]. In 772, [[Pope Hadrian I]] expelled all the Lombard officials from the papal curia. In response, Desiderius invaded papal territory, even taking Otriculum (modern [[Otricoli]]), just a day's march from [[Rome]].<ref name=sieges>*{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Paul K. |title=Besieged: 100 Great Sieges from Jericho to Sarajevo |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2001 |pages=50–51}}.</ref> Hadrian called Charlemagne for assistance.

Charles had produced an alliance with the Lombards by marrying one of Desiderius' daughters, [[Desiderata, wife of Charlemagne|Desiderata]]; within a year, however, he had changed his mind about the marriage and alliance, and divorced his wife, sending her back to her father. This was taken as an insult by the Lombards.

Upon the death of Carloman in 771, his own wife, [[Gerberge, wife of Carloman|Gerberge]], fled the kingdom with her children for reasons now unclear (Einhard disingenuously protests that she spurned her husband's brother "for no reason at all") and sought refuge with Desiderius at [[Pavia]]. Desiderius now returned the insult to the Franks by giving her asylum, and protesting that her children be allowed their share of the Kingdom of the Franks. The relationship between Frank and Lombard now broke down completely and the pope took full advantage. His embassy landed at [[Marseille]] and travelled to [[Thionville]], where they delivered this message:

{{cquote|They [the Lombards] would attack us [the pope] by land and water, conquer the city of Rome and lead ourselves into captivity. . . . Therefore we implore you by the living God and the Prince of the Apostles to hasten to our aid immediately, lest we be destroyed.<ref name=sieges/>}}

Charlemagne ascertained the truth of Desiderius' aggressions and the threat he posed to his own Frankish realm and marched his troops towards Italy in the early summer of 773.