byname PEPIN THE SHORT, French PÉPIN LE BREF, German PIPPIN DER KURZE,t
he first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charle
magne. A son of Charles Martel, Pepin became sole de facto ruler of the Fr
anks in 747 and then, on the deposition of Childeric III in 751, king of t
he Franks. He was the first Frankish king to be anointed--first by St. Bon
iface and later (754) by Pope Stephen II.
For years the Merovingian kings had been unable to prevent power from slip
ping from their hands into those of the counts and other magnates. The kin
gs were gradually eclipsed by the mayors of the palace, whose status devel
oped from that of officer of the household to regent or viceroy. Among t
he mayors, a rich family descended from Pepin of Landen (Pepin I) held a p
osition of especial importance. When Charles Martel, the scion of that fam
ily, died in 741, he left two sons: the elder, Carloman, mayor of Austrasi
a, Alemannia, and Thuringia, and Pepin III, mayor of Neustria, Burgundy, a
nd Provence. No king had ruled over all the Franks since 737, but to maint
ain the fiction of Merovingian sovereignty, the two mayors gave the cro
wn to Childeric III in 743.
Charles had had a third son, however--Grifo, who had been born to h
im by a Bavarian woman of high rank, probably his mistress. In 741, when h
is two brothers were declared mayors of the Franks, Grifo rebelled. He l
ed a number of revolts in subsequent years and was several times imprisone
d. In 753 he was killed amid the Alpine passes on his way to join the Lomb
ards, at this time enemies of the Franks as well as of the papacy.
Numerous other rebellions broke out. In 742 men of the Aquitaine and Alema
nnia were in revolt; in 743 Odilo, duke of Bavaria, led his men into battl
e; in 744 the Saxons rebelled, in 745 Aquitaine, and in 746 Alemannia, bo
th the latter for the second time.
In 747, when Carloman decided to enter monastic life at Rome, a step he h
ad been considering for years, Pepin became sole ruler of the Franks. B
ut Pepin was ambitious to govern his people as king, not merely as mayo
r. Like his father, he had courage and resolution; unlike his father, he h
ad a strong desire to unite the papacy with the Frankish realm. In 7
50 he sent two envoys to Pope Zacharias with a letter asking: "Is it wi
se to have kings who hold no power of control?" The pope answered: "
It is better to have a king able to govern. By apostolic authority I bid t
hat you be crowned King of the Franks." Childeric III was deposed and se
nt to a monastery, and Pepin was anointed as king at Soissons in Novemb
er 751 by Archbishop Boniface and other prelates.
b. c. 714
d. Sept. 24, 768, Saint-Denis, Neustria [now in France]
byname PEPIN THE SHORT, French PÉPIN LE BREF, German PIPPIN DER KURZE, t
he first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charle
magne. A son of Charles Martel, Pepin became sole de facto ruler of the Fr
anks in 747 and then, on the deposition of Childeric III in 751, king of t
he Franks. He was the first Frankish king to be anointed--first by St. Bon
iface and later (754) by Pope Stephen II.
Background and kingship.
For years the Merovingian kings had been unable to prevent power from slip
ping from their hands into those of the counts and other magnates. The kin
gs were gradually eclipsed by the mayors of the palace, whose status devel
oped from that of officer of the household to regent or viceroy. Among t
he mayors, a rich family descended from Pepin of Landen (Pepin I) held a p
osition of especial importance. When Charles Martel, the scion of that fam
ily, died in 741, he left two sons: the elder, Carloman, mayor of Austrasi
a, Alemannia, and Thuringia, and Pepin III, mayor of Neustria, Burgundy, a
nd Provence. No king had ruled over all the Franks since 737, but to maint
ain the fiction of Merovingian sovereignty, the two mayors gave the cro
wn to Childeric III in 743.
Charle