General Notes

bk&q p 724 "During the reigns of the last kings of the Merovingiandynast
y, the power was assumed by the Mayors of the Palace of Austrasia, particu
lar PEPIN OF HERISTAL (635 - 714) and his son Charles Martel.  Charles' so
n, Pepin, overthrew the Merovingian kings and established a new dynasty."
ema p 114 "This office was the most important in the kingdom, and [Pepi
n] expanded its importance, dominating the Merovingian puppet kings he ser
ved and extending his control over the kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy."
ohme p 89 "The family which was to produce the most powerful rulers in Eur
ope in the eighth century came from Austrasia, where they, the descendan
ts of Dagobert's one-time advisers Pippin and Arnulf, had maintained an al
most uninterrupted ascendancy throughout the seventh century.  Pippin I
's son Grimoald and grandson Pippin II were both mayors of the palace in A
ustrasia.  Pippin II managed by the battle of Tertry in 687 to unite bo
th Neustria and Austrasia under his own puppet Merovingian king.  But t
he power struggles in northern Gaul seriously weakened the power of the Me
rovingians and their mayors.  In the south regional identities were bei
ng forged.  The Aquitanians had their own duke; the patricius of Proven
ce was virtually an independent ruler; the aristocrats of Burgundy paid li
ttle attention to the Franks in the north.  The various Germanic peoples b
eyond the Rhine who had still been under Frankish overlordship in Dagobert
's day were asserting their independence.  And even in northern Gaul the M
erovingians and their mayors were often powerless to stop the activiti
es of local aristocratic families, resting as they did on their own land a
nd on the control of church land through their family monasteries and, occ
asionally, dynastic bishoprics.
It was Pippin II's illegitimate son Charles Martel who began the reun
ification of Gaul, and who gave his name to the dynasty, the Carolingian
s.  (continue with son Charles)