rendered the opinion that it was better that he should be king who had the royal power than he who had not. Shortly thereafter, the Frankish nobles decided to abandon Childeric, the last Merovingian king, in favor of Pepin. Zachary remonstrated with the Byzantine emperor Constantine V Copronymus on his iconoclastic policies. Zachary built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva over an ancient temple to Minerva near the Pantheon. He also restored the decaying Lateran Palace, moving the relic of the head of Saint George to the church of San Giorgio al Velabro. After Venetian merchants bought many slaves in Rome to sell to the Muslims of Africa, Zachary forbade such traffic and then paid the merchants their price, giving the slaves their freedom. Death and legacy Pope Zachary died around 15 March 752 (it may also have been the 12th or 14th) and was buried in St. Peter's Basilica. His elected successor, Stephen, died within days, and Zachary was finally succeeded by Stephen II. The letters and decrees of Zachary are published in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrolog. lat. lxxxix. p. 917–960. Church historian Johann Peter Kirsch said of Zachary: "In a troubled era Zachary proved himself to be an excellent, capable, vigorous, and charitable successor of Peter." Peter Partner called Zachary a skilled diplomat, "perhaps the most subtle and able of all the Roman pontiffs, in this dark corridor in which the Roman See hovered just inside the doors of the Byzantine world." References Further reading Delogu, Paolo (2000). "Zaccaria, santo", Enciclopedia dei papi Treccani. Duchesne, Louis, [https://archive.org/details/duchesne01 Le Liber Pontificalis]: texte, introduction et commentaire par L. Duchesne Tome I (Paris: E. Thorin 1886), pp. 426–439. (in Latin) 679 births 752 deaths People from the Province of Crotone Byzantine saints Medieval Italian saints Popes of the Byzantine Papacy Greek popes 8th-century archbishops Popes Papal saints 8th-century Christian saints 8th-century popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica