# Stephen II

> pope

**Wikidata**: [Q211789](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q211789)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Stephen_II)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/stephen-ii

## Summary
Stephen II was a 8th-century pope and presbyter of the Christian Church who, in 754 CE, established papal temporal authority over territories in central Italy and is credited with founding the Papal States. He served as a religious leader and author and his actions created a precedent for more than a millennium of papal sovereign rule.

## Biography
- Born: 0714 (year of birth from provided data)
- Died: 26 April 0757
- Nationality: Papal States (citizenship: Q170174 as recorded)
- Occupation(s): Pope (bishop of Rome), presbyter, author
- Known for: Founding the Papal States and establishing papal temporal authority (Donation of Sutri; 754 CE)
- Employer(s): Papal States; the Roman Church / papacy (as pope)
- Field(s): Religion; papal governance and temporal rule

## Contributions
- Founded the Papal States (established papal temporal authority in central Italy) in 754 CE, an act recorded in the Donation of Sutri and described as the origin of the Papal States. This founding created the political and territorial basis for papal sovereignty that lasted until 1870 and shaped the Papacy's role as both spiritual and temporal authority.
- As pope and presbyter he led the Roman Church during his pontificate (mid-8th century); his leadership is identified as the key event initiating papal temporal rule over central Italian territories.

(Note: the source material identifies Stephen II primarily for his foundation of the Papal States and his role as pope; no specific published works, dates of publications, patents, or companies are recorded in the provided material.)

## FAQs
- Who was Stephen II?
  Stephen II was a pope and presbyter of the Christian Church in the 8th century who is historically credited with founding the Papal States and establishing papal temporal authority in 754 CE.

- When did Stephen II live and die?
  The provided records give his year of birth as 714 and his date of death as 26 April 757.

- What major political act is Stephen II known for?
  He established papal temporal authority over central Italian territories in 754 CE (Donation of Sutri), an act recognized as the founding moment of the Papal States.

- What institutions or political entities are directly connected to Stephen II?
  Stephen II is directly connected with the Papal States (the territorial, temporal domain of the pope founded in 754 CE) and the Roman Church/papacy, where he served as pope.

- What were Stephen II’s occupations and roles?
  He is recorded as a pope (bishop of Rome), a presbyter (priest), and an author in the provided material.

## Why They Matter
Stephen II’s establishment of papal temporal authority in 754 CE fundamentally changed the nature of the papacy by creating a durable territorial and political foundation — the Papal States — that allowed subsequent popes to act as both spiritual leaders and temporal sovereigns. That dual role shaped medieval and early modern European politics, diplomacy, patronage of the arts, administration, and canon-law-centered governance for over eleven centuries. Without his act of founding papal territorial sovereignty, the long-standing model of a theocratic, territorially based papal power (which later evolved into Vatican City as the modern remnant) would not have been established in the same way, altering the course of Italian and European political development.

## Notable For
- Credited founder of the Papal States (establishment of papal temporal authority; 754 CE).
- Pope and presbyter active in the mid-8th century.
- Historical figure whose actions originated the Papal States, a polity that persisted from 754 CE to 20 September 1870.
- Appears in numerous authority-control and bibliographic records and has multiple recorded aliases and identifiers across archival systems.

## Body

### Early life and identity
- Birth: recorded year 0714 in the provided structured data (P569: +0714-00-00T00:00:00Z).
- Death: precisely recorded as 26 April 0757 (P570: +0757-04-26T00:00:00Z).
- Instance: identified as a human individual (instance_of: Q5).
- Occupations recorded in the dataset include presbyter and author (related items listed), and structured occupation codes are present (occupation: Q831474, Q482980).

### Pontificate and founding of the Papal States
- Foundational act: The source material explicitly states that the Papal States originated in 754 CE when Pope Stephen II established papal temporal authority over territories in central Italy. This action is tied to the Donation of Sutri agreement and is described as the founding moment of the Papal States.
- Historical consequence: That founding established the precedent for papal sovereignty over territorial domains that endured for over a millennium until the Capture of Rome in 1870 and the later creation of Vatican City (1929 Lateran Treaty, per the Papal States summary).
- Role: As pope, Stephen II’s leadership is the central political action attributed to him in the provided material; no additional administrative acts, documents, or bulls authored by him are listed in the supplied source.

### Roles, occupations, and fields
- Religious office: The dataset describes Stephen II as "pope" (wikidata_description: pope) and as holding clerical roles (presbyter).
- Authorial role: The provided related items include "author" as an aspect of his identity; the source does not list specific authored works but records the occupation.
- Fields: The main areas associated with Stephen II are religion and papal governance, reflecting his role in establishing and exercising temporal rule.

### Citizenship, allegiance, and affiliations
- Citizenship: recorded as Papal States (citizenship: Q170174), consistent with his role in founding the territorial polity that became the Papal States.
- Employer/affiliation: The narrative situates him within the papacy and the Papal States; those are the primary institutional affiliations recorded in the source material.

### Legacy and long-term impact
- The Papal States, founded by Stephen II in 754 CE, are described in the source as a confessional sovereign entity that existed from 754 CE until 20 September 1870. That polity became a central actor in Italian and European history, exercising papal temporal rule for roughly 1,116 years and influencing diplomatic, artistic, legal, and political developments across Europe.
- Cultural and administrative consequences: The creation of papal territorial sovereignty allowed the papacy to become a major patron of the arts, a diplomatic power, and a temporal state with its own legal and administrative structures — consequences that flow from the foundational act attributed to Stephen II.

### Related entities and context (from provided material)
- Papal States: territories in the Apennine Peninsula under direct papal sovereignty from 754 to 1870; capital Rome; official language Latin; major cities and regions enumerated in the source.
- Donation of Sutri: the agreement associated with the origin of papal temporal authority and the Papal States (the source connects Stephen II’s action to this agreement).
- Long-term institutional outcomes: the Papal States persisted until their dissolution during Italian unification; afterward the papacy’s temporal sovereignty was reduced and later formalized in the smaller Vatican City state (1929).

### Identifiers, aliases and structured records
The provided dataset includes numerous structured identifiers, aliases, and archival references for Stephen II. These are recorded here verbatim from the source material:

- Image: P18 — "Pape Etienne II (cropped).jpg"
- VIAF / national/library / authority and database entries and codes:
  - P213: 0000000078210324
  - P214: 15562412
  - P227: 118617753
  - P244: nb2007020856
  - P373: Stephanus II
  - P646: /m/05ykq
  - P691: xx0025926
  - P1047: stefii
  - P1263: 078/000097784
  - P1417: biography/Stephen-II-or-III
  - P1711: 140818
  - P1819: I00442535
  - P1871: cnp00396591
  - P1986: papa-stefano-ii
  - P2163: 1849188
  - P2949: Di_Roma-53
  - P3241: 14288c
  - P3365: stefano-ii-papa
  - P4223: stefano-ii-papa
  - P4342: Stefan_2.
  - P5019: stephan-stephan-ii-iii
  - P6058: personnage/wd/118596
  - P6404: stefano-ii-papa
  - P6706: Stéfano+II+(III)
  - P7038: 01_01_0752-0757-_Stephanus_III
  - P7305: 3979396
  - P7902: 118617753
  - P7982: 58154
  - P8034: 495/45906
  - P8168: Q1298911
  - P8189: 987007397565005171
  - P8440: 050-07192-001
  - P8445: 106787
  - P8566: 289
  - P9943: person/993839961889
  - P10553: 07940703X
  - P10832: E39PBJjxxxMTQHTHkRyDbW6tKd
  - P12288: Papa_Stefano_II
  - P13049: 118617753
  - P13591: person/ae1209ce-49c1-4f27-86af-00a0e2a4b6e7
  - P14238: P32288
- Aliases: "Pope Stephen II"
- Occupation codes in dataset: Q831474, Q482980
- Citizenship code: Q170174
- Instance of human: Q5
- sitelink_count (number of interlanguage links/connected pages recorded): 76
- wikipedia_title: "Pope Stephen II"
- wikidata_description: "pope"

(These identifiers and aliases are presented exactly as supplied in the source material and correspond to archival and bibliographic records that reference Stephen II across multiple systems.)

### Source limitations and scope
- The supplied material focuses on Stephen II’s role as pope and his central political act founding the Papal States in 754 CE. It records his birth and death dates and lists many archival identifiers and aliases. The dataset does not enumerate specific written works with titles and dates, detailed accounts of administrative decrees he issued, or particulars of his early life and education beyond the year of birth; those items are therefore not included here because they are not present in the provided source.

### Summary statement
- Stephen II is recorded in the provided sources as the pope who, in 754 CE, founded the Papal States by establishing papal temporal authority; his life dates are 714–26 April 757, and he is identified in multiple authority and bibliographic systems under numerous identifiers and aliases.

## References

1. Catholic-Hierarchy.org
2. monumenta.ch
3. Enciclopedia dei Papi
4. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013
5. Czech National Authority Database
6. CERL Thesaurus
7. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
8. Treccani's Enciclopedia on line
9. Enciclopedia Treccani
10. Dizionario di Storia
11. FactGrid
12. HMML Authority File