There are twelve chapters in this treatise. The first concerns the purpose of the narrative. The second shows how the Roman Empire had remained based through the reigns of thirty-three emperors and for 345 years and five months invariably at Rome. The third demonstrates how the peoples of the East, namely, the Persians, Arabs, Chaldeans and other bordering nations, fell from the control of the Roman Empire. The fourth identifies the principal peoples who in the circumstances already described raised rebellion of this kind. The fifth treats the beginning and ordering of the transfer of the control of the Empire from the Greeks to the Franks. The sixth explains how Pepin was elevated, in the time of Zacharias, the Pope at Rome, from master of the palace to King of the Franks. The seventh relates how Pepin, King of the Franks, at the petitioning of the Roman church, marched to Italy against Astulphus, King of the Lombards, defeated him, and restored the temporal possessions of the Roman church. The eighth, how in the time of Pope Adrian, Charlemagne was made Patrician of the city and was granted the administration of the apostolic seat at Rome. The ninth, how the transfer of control of the Roman Empire from the Greeks to the Franks was effected. The tenth, how control of the Roman Empire was transferred from the Franks or Gauls to the Germans.