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Pope Paul I (Latin: Paulus I) was Pope from 29 May 757 to his death in 767. He first served as a Roman deacon and was frequently employed by his brother, Pope Stephen II, in negotiations with the Lombard kings.
He and his brother Stephen had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran palace. After Stephen's death on 26 April 757, Paul prevailed over a faction that wanted to make the Archdeacon Theophylact pope and was chosen his brother's successor by the majority that wished a continuation of the late pope's policy. The new pope's reign was dominated by relations with the Frankish and Lombard kings and with the Eastern emperor. He adopted an independent tone in informing the imperial Exarch in Ravenna of his election, but wrote to Pepin the Younger that the Frankish alliance should be maintained unimpaired. | 
