General Notes

Pepin III, King des Francs (Andre Roux: Scrolls, 191.)

(Rosamond, Frankish kingdom under Carolingians.)

(Stuart, Royalty for Commoners, Page 129, Line 171-42.)

(Andre Castelot, Histoire de La France, Tome 1, Pages 269 - 283, 369). Also Known As: Pepin "Le Bref".

Born: in 714 in Austrasia, son of Charles Martel and Rotrude=Chrotrud, Duchesse d'Austrasie ). Married circa 740: Berthe=Bertrada de Laon, daughter of Charibert, Count de Laon and Bertrade N? ;

Berthe was for may years, at least since 740, the concubine of Pepin III.  In 749 she convinced him to marry her. Note - between 742 and 753: Pepin III was baptized by the then future Saint Willibrod, famous apostle of Frisia and was brought up at the Monastery of Saint-Denis. He would protect the bishops.

Upon the death of his father, Charles Martel in Quierzy-sur-Oise on 22 October 741, Pepin III received Neustria, Burgundy and the Provence. The next year, Pepin "Le Bref", whose surname was derived in the 9th. century because of his size, joined his older brother, Carloman in military operations in Aquitaine. They ravaged the region of Bourges and set fire to the Castle of Loches. By Autumn, they had pushed beyond the Rhine, defeated Duke Odilon of Bavaria and forcing the Allemanians to submit. In the year 743, they re-establish a Merovingian King by taking Childeric III from an abbey, purportedly one of the sons of Childeric II. In 744, Hunaud, son of Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, undertakes his campaign in Allemania, crosses the Loire and destroys Chartres, burning its cathedral. The next year, he was forced by Carloman and Pepin III to retire at the Monastery of the Ile de Re. Hunaud's son Waifre succeeds him. Pepin decides to free Grifon, his half-brother, and to thank him, Grifon joins a rebellion against Pepin, refusing Pepin's offer of a dozen Neustrian countships. In 749, Pepin III forces the Allemanians in rebellion to submit as well as the Bavarians. Grifon escapes but dies that year on his way to seek the help Waifre, Duke of Aquitaine, near Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. The Merovingian dynasty comes to an end in November of 751 when Pepin III receives the Holy Oil from Boniface, Bishop of Soissons, thus becoming King. His wife becomes Queen of the Francs the same day. Childeric III and his son Thierry both are shaven and they are sent to the Monastery of Saint-Berton, near Arras.