<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Stephen_III" id="mwIg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Pope Stephen III">Pope Stephen III</a> is elected to office, and quickly seeks Frankish protection against the Lombard threat, since the Byzantine Empire is no longer able to help.<sup about="#mwt25" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-3"}}' id="cite_ref-3" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./August_7#cite_note-3" id="mwIw" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwJA">[3]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-3"><cite about="#mwt22" class="citation book cs1" id="CITEREFMann1903">Mann, Horace K. (1903). <i id="mwBsg">The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I: The Popes Under the Lombard Rule, Part 2</i>. p.<span id="mwBsk" typeof="mw:Entity"> </span>371.</cite><span about="#mwt22" class="Z3988" id="mwBso" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=The+Lives+of+the+Popes+in+the+Early+Middle+Ages%2C+Vol.+I%3A+The+Popes+Under+the+Lombard+Rule%2C+Part+2&amp;rft.pages=371&amp;rft.date=1903&amp;rft.aulast=Mann&amp;rft.aufirst=Horace+K.&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AAugust+7"></span></span>