The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825 - Thomas F. X. Noble - Google Books

https://books.google.de/books?id=2fFxVIY2h4YC

The Republic of St. Peter seeks to reclaim for central Italy an important part of its own history. Noble's thesis is at once original and controversial: that the Republic, an independent political entity, was in existence by the 730s and was not a creation…