General Notes

The Short, King of the Franks.
Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia 741-751
King of the Franks 751-768
When his father Charles Martel died in 741, Pepin III and his brother Carloman succeeded as joing Mayors of the Palace of Austrasia. In 746, Carloman abdicated and became a monk, leaving Pepin to rule all of Austrasia on his own. In 750, Pepin received papal permission from Pope Zachary to take the Frankish crown from King Childeric III. In 751, Zachary formerly deposed Childeric, and Pepin became the first Caroliginian king of the Franks. In 753, Pope Stephen went to Gaul to affirm Pepin's crown. In 755, on Stephen's wishes, Pepin attacked the Lombards of Italy who were harrasing the Roman See, and peace was made. The next year, the Lombard king again marauded near Rome, was again defeated, and again made peace with Pepin. That year, Pepin promised the Church Frankish protection, thus breaking ties with the Eastern Empire that were only needed for Italian safety. In 760, Pepin and Duke Waifar of independent Aquitaine started a war which lasted many years. In 764, both sides were tired, and the war took a one year break. Pepin launched a final campaign against Aquitaine in 766 with full force, Aquitaine was defeated, and Waifar and his family were executed. By 768, the year Pepin died, Aquitaine had been completely conquered.

Notes for "The Short" PEPIN, KING OF NEUSTRIE AND THE FRANKS


Pepin (Pippin) II., the Short, King of France from 752 to 768, born in 714, died in 768. He had much to do; the Saxons, Bavarians, and Arabs were all menacing or revolting, and he had to rush from one part of
the kingdom to the other, defending its frontiers, and getting no help from the "stupid sluggard king," at Paris. At last, impatient of the farce, he sent this question to the Pope: "Who is king, he who governs
or he who wears the crown?" "He who governs, of course," answered the Pope. "That is myself," said the little man with a great will; "so the sluggards shall go to sleep forever," and he sent the last of them,
Childeric III., the last of the Merovingians, into a monastery. Then the nobles put their shields together, and the little man was seated on a chair, on their shields, and with him thus, "shouting and raising
their shields as high as they could, they marched three times, round the parliament, and then, by St. Boniface, he was anointed Archbishop of Metz, A.D. 752. Pepin did not forget that he owed a debt of
gratitude to the Pope for the answer he had given to his question, and when, shortly after, the Pope sent to complain of the trouble occasioned by the Lombards, Pepin crossed the Alps, punished the Lombards, took from them all the territory about Rome and gave it to the Pope "to belong to him and to the bishops of Rome forever. That was the beginning of the Papal sovereignty. The States of the Church, as they were called, remained under the sovereignty of the Popes until 1871." Pepin Le Bref, King of France, died in 768. He married Bertha(Bertrada) of Laon. She died in 783. Pepin the Short, King of the Franks was born in 714. Died on 24 Sep 768. Pepin the Short (circa 714-68), mayor of the palace of Austrasia and king of the Franks (751-68), the son of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel, and the grandson of Pepin of Herstal. He was mayor of the palace during the reign of Childeric III (reigned about 743-52), the last of the
Merovingian dynasty. In 751, Pepin deposed Childeric and thus became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. He was crowned by Pope Stephen II (III) in 754. When the pope was threatened by the Lombardsof northern Italy, Pepin led an army that defeated them (754-55). He ceded to the pope territory that included Ravenna and other cities. This grant, called the Donation of Pepin, laid the foundation for the Papal States. Pepin enlarged his own kingdom by capturing Aquitaine, or Aquitania, in southwestern France. He was succeeded by his sons Carloman (751-71) and Charlemagne as joint kings. Pepin III, King des Francs (3601) (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 (3596) and Rotrude=Chrotrud, Duchesse d'Austrasie (3598). Married circa 740: Berthe=Bertrada De Laon (3609), daughter of Charibert, Count De Laon (3607) and Bertrade (3608); 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, under- takes 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 Meroving- ian 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, and the Monastery of Saint-Wandrille, near Rouen,
Respectively. Pepin "Le Bref's" first royal campaign was to put down a revolt of the Saxons succesfully complet-ed by 14 October 753, and he conducted a successful campaign in Brittany the same year. He deposed Childeric III and forced the Lombards to yield Ravenne and Pentapol to the Pope. He
becomes the first King of the Caroligian Dynasty. In 742, according to the Gesta Episcoporum Autissiodorensium, he deprived the Bishops of Auxerre of power and possessions, thus strengthen-ing his hold over northern Burgundy. On 28 July 754 at the Cathedral of Saint-Denis, Pope Stephen II reanointed Pepin king, and anointed Pepin's two sons Charles and Carloman and his Queen Bertrada, declaring the Carolingians to be the legitimate rulers of the Frankish kingdom. The Pope's motive was
embedded in his desire to have Pepin's protection from the Lombards. While Pepin had been anointed by Archbishop Boniface, the recognition by God's ambassador on earth made him the legitimate King of the Francs "by the Will of God". Pepin III, Charles and Carloman all were accorded the title Patricius - Protectors of Italy and the See of Saint Peter. On 11 July 755, Pepin fixes the pounds weight of silver at a value of 22 cents. The Roman monetary system had long disappeared. This act marks the beginning of an accounting system to replace the then most-frequently used barter. Pepin on several occasions had to dominate the Lombards who constantly assailed Rome. By May of 756, Alstof, Chief of the Lombards, swears to leave Rome be and yields 22 cities. Upon his death, as the resultof a fall from a horse, the papacy would govern Rome thenceforth. Other cities were still technically within the Byzantium Empire, ruled by Constantin V at the time from Constantinople. Relations between Pepin and Constantin were excellent, and there was even a question at one point of a wedding between Pepin and Constantine's daughter, Gisele. This did not materialize, and Gisele became Abbess of Chelles.760 marked the beginning of the 10-year War for the conquest of Aquitaine, between Pepin III and Duke Waifre. It begins by Pepin's invasion of Berry, followed in 761 by the destruction of the castles of Bourbon, Archambault and Chantelle and the Francs also seize Clermont. While in 762, Pepin takes Bourges, Duke Waifre dismantles Poitiers, Limoges, Perigeux and Angouleme so that the Francs cannot take advantage of them. In 763, Pepin's army lays the Limousin to the torch and massacres the population. By March of 767, Pepin's army has invaded Aquitaine by way of Narbonne and occupy Septimania, Toulouse,
Albi and Rodez. In February, 768, Duke Waifre is killed. Died: on 24 Sep 768 in Saint-Denis, Seine, Ile-De-France, France, Some 7months after having defeated Duke Waifre of Aquitaine, Pepin III, in
accordance with the Franc customs, divided his Kingdom between his two sons, Charles and Carloman.
Michael Raffin