General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> Pippin the /Short/
REFN: 7087AN
Alias:<ALIA> The /Short/
Pippin the Younger (714-September 24, 768) often known under the mistransl
ation Pippin the Short (French, Pépin le Bref; German, Pippin der Klein
e, Pippin der Kurze, Pippin der Jüngere), was a King of the Franks (751-76
8).
He was born in 714 in Jupille, in what is today part of Belgium, but th
en was a part of the kingdom of Austrasia. His father was Charles Marte
l, Mayor of the Austrasian Palace, and his mother was Chrotrud (690-724).
In 740 Pippin married Bertrada of Laon. Of their children, two sons and t
wo daughters survived to adulthood.
Charles/Charlemagne (April 2, 742-January 28, 814)
Carloman (751-December 4, 771)
Redburga
Lady Bertha
On the death of Pippin's father, Charles Martel, in 741, power was pass
ed down to Charles' legimitate sons, Pippin and Carloman. Power may also h
ave been intended for Charles' illegitimate son, Grifo, but he was impriso
ned in a monastery by his two half-brothers. Carloman, who by all eviden
ce was a deeply pious man, retired to a monastery in 747. This left Franc
ia in the hands of Pippin as Mayor of the Palace for the Merovingian Ki
ng Childeric III. Childeric had the title of King but Pippin had control o
ver orders and actually had the power of the king. Pippin then went to a
sk the Pope who should be complete ruler; the person with the title of kin
g, or the person who makes the decisions of king. The Pope agreed that t
he decision making was more important than the title. He succeeded in obta
ining the support of the papacy, which helped to discourage oppositio
n. He was elected King of the Franks by an assembly of the Frankish leadin
g-men and anointed at Soissons, perhaps by Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz.
During his reign, Pippin's conquests gave him more power than anyone sin
ce the days of King Clovis. He added to that power after Pope Stephen I
II traveled all the way to Paris to anoint Pippin in a lavish ceremo
ny at Saint Denis Basilica, bestowing upon him the additional title of Pat
rician of the Romans. As life expectancies were short in those days, and P
ippin wanted family continuity, the Pope also anointed Pippin's sons, Char
les (eventually known as Charlemagne) and Carloman.
Pippin's first major act was to go to war against the Lombard king Aistu
lf as a partial repayment for papal support in his quest for the crown. Vi
ctorious, he forced the Lombard king to return property seized from the Ch
urch. In 759, he drove the Saracens out of France with the capture of Narb
onne and then consolidated his power further by making Aquitaine a pa
rt of his kingdom.
Pippin died at Saint Denis in 768 and is interred there in the Saint Den
is Basilica with his wife Bertrada.