Hoping for assistance from the Franks, the Lucchesi obstinately resisted the attack of Narses, surrendering only after a siege of seven months (553).

It later fell into the hands of the Lombards, was thenceforward a place of great importance, and became the favourite seat of the Marquesses of Tuscany.

[9] In 739, during the episcopate of Walprandus, the legendary Richard, King of the Angles and father of the Saints Willibald, Winnibald, and Walburga, died at Lucca and was buried in the church of S. Frediano.

Under Bishop Giovanni (c. 781–800) it is said that the Volto Santo was brought to Lucca from Palestine; carbon dating puts the work c.

At the beginning of the 8th century, the seat of the bishop was transferred to S. Martino, and S. Reparata became a collegiate church staffed by canons.

[12] The cathedral was administered and staffed by a corporation called the Chapter, composed of four dignities (Archpriest, Archdeacon, Primicerius, and Abbot) and fourteen canons, two of whom served as the Theologus (preacher) and Penitentiary.

[14] Pope Lucius III granted the bishops the right to have the primatial cross carried before them in procession in their own diocese on 12 November 1181.

[17] The nobles and barons of Garfagnana, taking an opportunity to free themselves from Lucca, swore oaths of allegiance to Pope Gregory IX on 23 November 1228.

[20] On 8 April 1231, Pope Gregory IX wrote a letter to the people, prelates, and clergy of Lucca, announcing that, due to the enormous crimes (propter enormes civium Lucanorum culpas) of the citizens, he had decided to remove the bishop of Lucca and suppress the diocese.

[30] Pope Gregory XII (Roman Obedience) fled from Rome and the power of Paolo Orsini on 9 August 1407.

In September, he and the papal court moved to Siena, where he held meetings with representatives of the French and of Pope Benedict XIII.

The cardinals held a formal meeting at Livorno on 29 June, denouncing Gregory XII and calling for a church council.

In fear of the French fleet, which held the city of Genoa, Gregory abandoned the announced plan to meet in Savona, and returned to Siena on 14 July 1408.

[34] Bishop Alessandro Guidiccioni the Elder (1549–1600) held a diocesan synod in the cathedral of S. Martino in Lucca on 12 November 1564, following the decrees laid down by the Council of Trent, which had adjourned in the previous year.

[42] At the beginning of August 1719, Bishop Genesio Calchi (1714–1723) sent out the usual summonses, announcing that there would be a general diocesan synod in Lucca, to open on 18 September 1719.

Lucca allowed German protestants to reside in the city, spreading heresy; it violated legitimate exemptions of the clergy from laws and regulations; and it considered it its right to tax commercial transactions in goods, particularly grain.

On his death, Cardinal Marco Antonio Franciotti was appointed bishop, in the expectation that a native of Lucca would succeed in restraining the government.

On 1 September 1639, therefore, Pope Urban VIII ordered Franciotti to leave the city, and he appointed an Apostolic Commissary to deal with the Republic, Bishop Cesare Raccagni of Città di Castello, who also failed.

The clergy obeyed the pope, but the Republic trusted to the support of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of Spain.

[47] On 11 September 1726, by the bull "Inscrutabili divinae", Pope Benedict XIII raised the diocese of Lucca to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese.

[52] A document survives dated 1260, giving a complete list of the parishes and churches in the diocese of Lucca, with their annual incomes.