DESIDERIUS, the last king of the Lombards, is chiefly known through his connection with Charlemagne. He was duke of Tuscany and became king of the Lombards in 756. Seeking to extend the Lombard power, he came into collision with the papacy, and about 772 Adrian I., implored the aid of Charle magne against him. Other causes of quarrel already existed be tween the Frankish and the Lombard kings. In 77o Charlemagne had married a daughter of Desiderius ; but he soon sent her back to her father. Moreover, Gerberga, Charlemagne's sister-in-law, had sought the protection of the Lombard king after her hus band's death in 771 Desiderius had recognized her sons as the lawful Frankish kings, and had attacked Adrian for refusing to crown them. Such was the position when Charlemagne took the Lombard capital, Ticinum, the modem Pavia, in June 774, and appropriated the kingdom of Lombardy. Desiderius was carried to France, where he died, and his son, Adalgis, spent his life in futile attempts to recover his father's kingdom.