King Pepin FRANKS, III

   Other names for Pepin were Pippin I, Rex, "The Short", FRANCE King, PALACE Mayor, "Le Bref" and FRANKS King.

   Ancestral File Number: 9GCB-5M. User ID: 154908623368.

   General Notes:

"Le Bref", "The Short", Mayor of the Palace 741/747-751/752, King of the
FRANKS, King of FRANCE Reigned 751/752-768, Gisant Effigy in Abbey Church of St Denis France.

ABBEY CHURCH OF SAINT-DENIS
Volume II The Royal Tombs, Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, Editions De la Lourelle, 7 Rue Dupuytren 75006 Paris
"7. Pepin the Short d768...In 1263 and 1264 at the request of Saint Louis, the tombs of the kings of France were disposed at St-Denis and buried between the pillars at the crossing of the transept, the merovingians and Carolingians in the south, the Capetians in the north. To commemeorate the occasion, sixteen stone gisants were executed (that of Eudes and Hugh Capet disappeared during the French Revolution), all identically dressed and represented in the same fashion: with the eyes open and calm gestures. The face of the queens, emphasized by the play of light about their veils are the most beautiful. Those of Henry I and Robert the Pious are the most expressive. The work of three different artists can be recognized, each bringing a certain diversity to this sereies of gisants without upsetting its overall plan."

BOOKS
Barber Grandparents: 125 Kings, 143 Generations, Ted Butler Bernard and Gertrude Barber Bernard, 1978, McKinney TX, p72: "261P Pepin Le Bref `The Short', King of France, (S of 246, F of 268); ruling in 751; married Bertha, daughter of Count Charibertof Laon; died in 768."

Europe in the Middle Ages, Robert S Hoyt, 1957, Harcourt Brace & Co, p621: "Genealogical Table II, The Carolingians, Pepin the Short, Mayor 741-751, King 751-768..."

The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, p462, Carolingians: "[Pepin of Landen's] descendants, Pepin of Heristal, Charles Martel, Carloman, and Pepin the Short, continued to govern the territories under the nominal kingship of the Merovingians..."
p458, Carolman: "Died 754, Mayor of the Palace in the Kingdom of Austrasia after the death (741) of his father Charles Martel. Ruling with his brother, Pepin the Short, he carried on successful wars against the Dukes of Aquitaine, the Saxons, the Swabians, and the Bavarians. The brothers helped St Boniface reform the Frankish Church, bringing church and state into closer relationship. In 747, Carloman retired to a monastery."

The Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Editions, France 746: "Pepin-Le-Bref, Mayor of Austrasia 746-752, King of all France 752-768..."

The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, p462, Carolingians: "...In 751, Pepin the Short deposed the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, and became sole Frankish King."

The Story of Civilization,Will Durant, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Bk IV, The Dark Ages, Ch XIX, The Decline of the West, Sec III, France, p461: "In 751 Charles' son Pepin III, as `major domus' to Chelderic III, sent an embassy to Pope Zacharias to ask would it be sinfulto depose the Merovingian puppet and make himself king in name as well as fact. Zacharias, who needed Frank support against the ambitious Lombards, answered with a comforting negative. Pepin called and assembly of nobles and prelates at Soissons; he was there unanimous- ly chosen king of the Franks (751); and the last of the do-nothing kings was tonsured and sent to a monastery. In 754 Pope Stephen II came to the abbey of St Denis outside of Paris, and anointed Pepin `rex Dei grata'or `king by the grace of God'. So ended the Merovingian dynasty (486-751), so began the Carolingian (751-987)."
"Pepin III the Short was a patient and far-seeing ruler, pious and practical, loving peace and invincible in war, and moral beyond any royal precedent in the Gaul of those centuries...He died in the fullness of his power in 768, after bequeathing the realm of the Franks jointly to his sons Carloman II and the Charles who was to be Charlemagne."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol II, p582, Carolingians: "Charles Martel's son Pepin III the Short (died 768), having become sole ruler of the Franks in 747, finally deposed the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, in 750 and in 751, with the church's approval, was himself anointed king."
Vol VII, p862, Pepin III the Short: "Died 24 Sep 768 Saint-Denis France, the first king of the Carolingian dynasty and father of Charlemagne. A son of the mayor of the palace Charles Martel, Pepin becamesole ruler of the Franks in 747 and King in 751. He was the first Frankish king to be anointed by the pope (754). During his reign, Pepin engaged in military campaigns in support of the pope and against rebellions in his territory."

Macropaedia, Vol XIV, p35, Pepin the Short: "...founder of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty of medieval Europe...For years the Merovingian kings had been unable to prevent power from slipping from their hands into those of the counts and other magnates.The kings were gradually eclipsed by the mayors of the palace, whose status developed from that of officer of the household to regent or viceroy. Among the mayors, a rich family descended from Pepin I of Landen held a position of especial importance. When Charles Martel, the scion of that family, died in 741, he left two sons: the elder, Carloman, mayor of Austrasia, Alamannia, and Thuringia; and Pepin III, mayor of Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence. No king had ruled over all the Franks since 737, but to maintain the fiction of Merovingian sovereignty, the two mayors gave the crown to Childeric III in 743."
Pepin suppressed numerous rebellions: in 741 and again in subsequent years by his half-brother Grifo (killed in753)..."in 742 men of Aquitaine and Alamannia were in revolt; in 743 Odilo Duke of Bavaria [Pepin's brother-in-law] led his men into battle; in 744 the Saxons rebelled; in 745 Aquitaine, and in 746 Alamannia both for the second time."
"In747 when Carloman decided to enter monastic life at Rome...Pepin became sole ruler of the Franks...In 750 he sent two envoys to Pope Zacharias with a letter asking: `Is it wise 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 that you be crowned King of the Franks.' Childeric III was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Pepin was anointed as king at Soissons in Nov 751 by Archbishop Boniface andother prelates...In 754, Pope Stephen II, stayed at the abbey of Saint-Denis, Paris. There he himself anointed Pepin and his sons, Charles and Carloman, as king and heirs of the crown."
"Pepin and his army assisted the Pope...in fightingAistulf and the Lombards...until his death in Apr 757 when a new king Desiderius, became ruler of the Lombards...The King of the Franks had other concerns. He had to put down revolts in Saxony in 748 and 753, in Bavaria in 749, and repeatedly in Aquitaine. In 768 Pepin died at Saint-Denis, on his way back from one of his Aquitainian expeditions."
"Pepin is remembered not only as the first of the Carolingians but also as a strong supporter of the Roman Church. The papal claims toterritory in Italy originated with Pepin's campaigns against Aistulf and the latter's pledge to return the Roman territories. His letters also show him as deeply interested in theology."

The Three Germanys, Theodore S Fay, Vol I, Walker & Co,New York, 1889, p95:
"Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel, became major-domo on his father's death. The Frankish king was the Childeric III. The time had now come for the major-domos to throw off the mask. With the consent of the RomanPope, Pepin caused Childeric to be confined in a cloister, and was then himself crowned king by St Boniface at Soissons (752). He was warlike and powerful, and the first king of the Carlovingian line."

France A Modern History, Albert Guerard,1959, Univ Michigan Press, p49: "...[Charles Martel's] son on the contrary, Pepin the Short, renewed and strengthened the pact of Clovis: he protected the pope against Byzantines and Lombards and began a much needed reform of the Frankish Church. It was only with the assent of the pope that he descarded the fiction of Merovingian rule: he had King Childeric deposed and shorn (751), was recognized in his place by the liegemen, and finally was crowned by the pope himself at Saint-Denis (754). Thus was solemnly reaffermed the sacred character of the monarchy, inherited from the `divine' emperors and the miraculous King Clovis, and all but obliterated through generations of Merovingian impotence..."

The Kings of France, Claude Wenzler, Tran. Angela Moyon, Editons Quest-France 13 Rue du Breil, Rennes, France 1995, p4:
"Simplified Family Tree Carolingians (751-987AD)- Pepin the Short, Son of Charles Martel 715- 768, Reigned 751- 768..."
p13: "The Carolingians- Pepin the Short- Jupille (Belgium) 715- 751- 768. Queen: Bertha, known as Bertha of the Large Foot 719- 741- 783. Pepin, one of the sons of Charles Martel and Rothrude, succeeded to the position of mayor of the palace in Paris which he held jointly with his brother, Carloman in 741 AD. In 750, Pepin the Short obtained permission from Pope Sacharias to depose Childeric III.
He was then proclaimed king (751 AD) and was crowned in Soissons by St Boniface (752). He fought the Duke of Aquitaine and the Saracen, and died after having shared out his kingdom between his two sons."

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 125360 Ancestors of Patricia Ann Kieffer.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File 9GCB-5M Pepin "The Short" King of FRANCE, Ver 4.10 King of the FRANKS, EB Pepin III, WCWH Pepin-Le-Bref.

   Marriage Information:

Pepin married Queen Bertrada De Laon FRANCE, daughter of Count Charibert LAON, I and Countess Bertrada LAON, about 740-741. (Queen Bertrada De Laon FRANCE was born about 716-720 in Laon, Aisne, France, died on 12 Jul 783 in Choisy, Haute-Savoie, France and was buried in Abbey, St Denis, Paris, Seine, France.)

   Marriage Information:

Pepin also married Concubine Franks Leuthergis. (Concubine Franks Leuthergis was born about 715 in , Austrasia, France.)