Pepin was sincerely grateful for this kindness on the part of the church. He made two expeditions to Italy to defend the Pope against his enemies. He took Ravenna and several other cities away from the Longobards and presented them to His Holiness, who incorporated these new domains into the so-called Papal State, which remained an independent country until half a century ago.After Pepin's death, the relations between Rome and Aix-la-Chapelle or Nymwegen or Ingelheim, (the Frankish Kings did not have one official residence, but travelled from place to place with all their ministers and court officers,) became more and more cordial. Finally the Pope and the King took a step which was to influence the history of Europe in a most profound way.
丕平对教会的善意扶持表示衷心的感激。他两次远征意大利，与教皇的敌人作战。他从伦巴德人手中夺取了拉维纳及其他几座城市，将它们奉献给神圣的教皇陛下。教皇将这些新征服的领地并人所谓的"教皇国"，一直到半个世纪之前，它还作为一个独立的国家而存在。丕平死后，罗马教会和埃克斯·拉·夏佩勒或尼姆韦根或英格尔海姆（法兰克国王没有固定的办公地点，总是携大臣和官员们不断从一个地方迁移到另一个地方）之间的关系日益亲密，最终，教皇和国王一起采取了一个将深刻影响欧洲历史的重大行动。
Charles, commonly known as Carolus Magnus or Charlemagne, succeeded Pepin in the year 768. He had conquered the land of the Saxons in eastern Germany and had built towns and monasteries all over the greater part of northern Europe. At the request of certain enemies of Abdar-Rahman, he had invaded Spain to fight the Moors. But in the Pyrenees he had been attacked by the wild Basques and had been forced to retire. It was upon this occasion that Roland, the great Margrave of Breton, showed what a Frankish chieftain of those early days meant when he promised to be faithful to his King, and gave his life and that of his trusted followers to safeguard the retreat of the royal army.
公元768年，查理，一般称为卡罗勒斯·玛格纳斯或查理曼，继任为法兰克国王。查理曼征服了德国东部原属撒克逊人的土地，并在欧洲北部大量兴建城镇和教堂。应阿布·艾尔·拉赫曼的敌人之邀，查理曼侵人西班牙，与摩尔人激战。但在比利牛斯山区，他遭到野蛮的巴斯克人的袭击，被迫撤退。就在这关键时刻，布列塔尼亚侯爵罗兰挺身而出，展现出一个早期法兰克贵族效忠国王的精神。为掩护皇家军队的撤退，罗兰牺牲了自己和他忠诚部属的生命。他的事迹在欧洲广为传唱，成为后代骑士们倾慕与效仿的偶像。