Pépin the Short , King of the Franks

     Pépin the Short , King of the Franks was born between 714 and 715 at Austrasia.^1,2,3,4,5 He was the son of Charles Martel ~ Mayor of the Palace and Rotrou of Allemania.

Pépin the Short , King of the Franks married Bertha Broadfoot, daughter of Caribert , Count of Laon and Bertrada, circa 740.^1,2,3,4,5 Following the death of their father Charles Martel in 741, Pépin the Short along with his older brother Carloman imprisoned their half brother Grifo and took control of the Frankish Empire as joint Mayors of the Palace. Pépin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy and Provence and Carloman ruled in Austrasia. In order to legitimize their rule, the brothers revived the kingship by raising Childeric III to the throne in 743. Pépin and Carloman continued to hold the real power. That same year, Pépin and Carloman conquered their brother-in-law Duke Odilo of Bavaria. However, discord in Bavaria continued; and it was not until 757 that Odilo's son (Pépin's nephew) Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and the magnates of Bavaria were finally forced to acknowledge themselves as vassals of Pépin the Short.^2,5 In 747, Carloman withdrew from politics. With the support of the church and the Pope, Pépin had himself declared King of the Franks in 751. The former king, Childeric III, retired to a monastery.^2,5 In the winter of 753-754 after the Lombards forced Pope Stephen to leave Rome, the Pope visited Pépin the Short. The next summer, Pope Stephen anointed Pépin and his two sons Charlemagne and Carloman, and declared that the Franks were never to elect a king who was not of the sacred lineage of Pépin the Short. In return for Pope Stephen's support, Pépin the Short took his army to Italy and defeated the Lombards. Pépin's gift of a wide strip of land in central Italy to the Pope became known as the "Donation of Pépin". This land, called the Papal States, remained under the control of the popes until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.⁵ Pépin the Short , King of the Franks died on 24 September 768.² He was buried at Basilica of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France.^1,2,3,4,5