Gregory III, Pope

Gregory III, Pope a native of Syria, succeeded Gregory II in 731. He was as great a favorer of image-worship as his predecessor, and contended, with all weapons, against the Iconoclasts (q.v.), and against the Byzantine court. He found considerable difficulty in maintaining his ground against the warlike prince Luitprand, and had recourse to the stratagem of fomenting discords among the Lombards themselves. His reign was an epoch in the temporal power of the popes: he was the first to rule the exarchate of Ravenna as sovereign, and he obtained by his legates the first sent to France) the homage of Charles Martel, who, however, could not aid him with material force. He died November 28, 741. Some of his Epistles remain. See Dupin, Eccles. Writers, cent. 8.