Pope Adrian I

Hadrian I († December 25 795 in Rome) was from February 1, 772 until his death Pope. His name means: Residents of Hadria (latin ).

In the fight against the Lombard king Desiderius, which he refused the desire to anoint Carloman's sons as kings, Hadrian I. turned to the Frankish ruler Charlemagne, Desiderius forced to retreat. When Charlemagne arrived at Easter 774 in Rome, he renewed the opposite Pope Stephen II uttered by his father Pippin donation promise.

Theologically, the pontificate of Hadrian is significant because under him 787 the worship of images, which had been condemned 754, was re- admitted. However, this reform could not prevail against the resistance of Charlemagne: the resolutions of 787 were rejected by the Synod of Frankfurt in 794. At the request of Charlemagne Hadrian rose in the year 795 the bishopric to the archbishopric of Cologne.

His pontificate of nearly 24 years, should a millennium until Pius VI. (1775-1799), remain the longest history.