WI: No Donation of Pepin?

The Donation of Pepin was the conferring of the lands formerly held by the Exarchate of Ravenna by Pepin the Short to Pope Stephen II after the former conquered lands from the Lombards. This in effect gave the pope temporal powers over the lands we would come to know as the Papal States stretching from Romagna in the north, the Marches and Umbria, and to Lazio. What would have happened if this donation never happened? What if Pepin kept the land for himself or conferred them to other nobles instead of the pope? How would that affect the history of these regions?
 
Italy would have united faster and possibly, Charles I of the Second House of Anjou or The Holy Roman Empire might have been the ones to do it.
 
Italy would have united faster and possibly, Charles I of the Second House of Anjou or The Holy Roman Empire might have been the ones to do it.

The Donation of Pepin was in 756, a ways away from Charles of Anjou in the 1200s or even the HRE in 900. There is the chance that the creation of both could be butterflied by this. I do agree that, in removing the papal barrier between the north and southern parts of the peninsula Italy could have been united faster. But could it have also weakened the cause by further splitting the peninsula since now the pope no longer controls the Papal States aside from Lazio, allowing the Franks/Lombards to divide up the realm into fractious states? We could see the development of Bologna as one of the premier city states alongside Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Florence. Perhaps a town in the Marches and Umbria could also join them; Ancona is a good contender for Marche, while Ravenna could serve the same purpose in Romagna. Umbria is a toss-up, but perhaps Perugia or Spoleto would come to dominate the Appenines.
 
Wasnt another immediate effect the cooling of franco-byzantine relations? The exarchate has only fallen to the lombards in 751 and the byzanines still hoped they might get it back.
 
The Donation of Pepin was grounded in the leading role of the Pope in the defense of the remaining Byzantine domains in Latium and the Appennines. I would say the butterfly host is huge enough that it's really hard to hypothetize about the consequences.
 
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