Mayor Pepin I De Landen AUSTRASIA

   Other names for Pepin were "The Elder" and AUSTRASIA Mayor.

   Ancestral File Number: 9GC9-81. User ID: 2478537973890.

   General Notes:

Mayor of AUSTRASIA.

BOOKS
The Three Germanys, Theodore S Fay, Vol I, 1889, Walker & Co, New York p94: "...From about this time,from whatever cause, the kings of the Merovingian line sank into helpless inactivity, and are known as `les rois faineants' (the lazy or sluggard kings). Each king abandoned the royal power to the chief officer of his household, called `Mairedu Palais' (mayor of the Palace). Thence arose a short line of powerfull dukes with a hereditary right that exalted rank. These dukes belonged to the family afterward immortalized by Charlemagne (Carlovingian line). Four of them followed in succession: the first, Pepin of Landen; the second, Pepin of Heristal (680-714), who caused the Merovingian King of the Franks, Dagobert, to be murdered..."

The History of Medieval Europe, Lynn Thorndike, 1917, Houghton Mifflin Co, p193: "...Butthere had to be someone to repel invaders like the Arabs, to protect and control the Church, to keep some order among the great landed proprietors, to see that the local officials did not abuse their offices, and in general to do those things that the kings ought to do, but were now neglecting. The chief official at the Frankish palace, to whom the agents in charge of the royal domains and the other local officials reported, was the `major domus', or mayor of the palace. In the end this steward of the king's estates took the supreme charge of all state business at the palace into his own hands, and he also led the army to war. All this he was enabled to do, not only because of his handy situation at the palace, but becausemost of the nobility were his supporters and he could count upon their armed aid to crush his rivals.
"Under Dagobert's predecessor, who was originally King of Neustria only, both Burgundy and Austrasia were really governed by mayors of the palace. In Austrasia the mayor's name was Pepin of Landen, or Pepin I, and the other leading man of that kingdom was Arnulf, Bishop of Metz. Arnulf's son- for Roman Catholic bishops married in that age- married one of Pepin's daughters and became mayor for a time. Pepin's son, Grimoald, tried to supplant a `good-for- nothing' king entirely by his own son, but the other nobles refused and he was put to death..."
"But a generation later Pepin of Heristal or Pepin II, the grandson of Pepin I and Arnulf, became mayor of the palace in Austrasia, and by the victory of Testry in 687 gained control of Neustria also, and ruled over all the Franks until his death in 714..."

Europe in the Middle Ages, Robert S Hoyt, 1957, Harcourt Brace & Co, p115: "...Under such circumstances it is remarkable that the royal race of the Merovingians was able to continue supplying kings at all. Obviously these kings were ineffective rulers. French historians have called them `roisfaineants', `do-nothing kings'. Ascending their thrones as schildren or striplings, they were little more than figureheads in whose names their officials ruled.
"In the seventh century the real power behind the throne was exercised by an official whose title was mayor of the palace (as it is usual to translate `major domus'). The mayor was originally a household official of the early Germanic kings. Through control of the household in an age of personal and primitive government,when there was hardly a distinction between private propery and public office, the mayor of the Merovingian palace gained control of the royal treasury, taxes, the royal domains, and the grants of lands and immunities by which the government tried in vain to appease overmighty nobles and prelates. Thus, the mayor emerged as the most important dispenser ofpatronage and power in a period when civil wars and revolts were the normal means by which nobles and royal officials struggled togain or retain political control."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol II, p581, Carolingians: "a great dynasty of western Europe. Its rise to power began in the 7th century: the Merovingian Frankish king of Austrasia, Chlotar II, had as his mayor of the palace, or chief minister, a certain Pepin of Landen (Pepin I; died 640); and another of Chlotar's counsellors was a certain Arnulf (died Abt 635), Bishop of Metz. Pepin had a son, Grimoald, and a daughter, Begga, whowas married to Arnulf's son Ansegisel. Grimoald, after succeeding Pepin as mayor, was assassinated, together with his son and with Ansegisel, in 656 for plotting against the Merovingians..."

The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, p462, Carolingians: "dynasty of Frankish rulers, founded in the 7th century by Pepin of Landen, who, as mayor of the palace, ruled the East Frankish Kingdom of Austrasia for Dagobert I. His descendants, Pepin of Heristal, Charles Martel, Carloman, and Pepin the Short, continued to govern the territories under the nominal kingship of the Meroving- ians..."

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, p460:"When Clotaire II became king of the Franks, the Merovingian dynasty seemed secure; never before had a monarch of that family ruled so large and united a realm. But Clotaire was indebted for his rise to the nobles of Austrasia and Burgundy; herewarded them with increased independence and enlarged domains, and chose one of them, Pepin I the Elder, as his `Mayor of the Palace.' The `major domus' or `head of the house' had been originally the superintendent of the royal household and overseer of the royal estates; his administrative functions grew as the Merovingian kings concentrated on debauchery and intrigue; step by step he took control of the courts, the army, the finances."

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 Elder c580- 640...This Frankish family was directly descended from the Pepinides (named after Pepin of Landen, the grandfather of Pepin of Heristal) and it gradually took over power from the descendent Merovingians..."

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

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 Ancestral File 9GC9-81 Pepin De LANDEN Mayor of The Palace Born/?Died 27 Jan 1927< 597, Ver 4.10 Pepin Mayor of the Palace of AUSTRASIA [de Landen] Born Abt 591 Died 639, EB Died 640.

   Marriage Information:

Pepin married Itte AUSTRASIA. (Itte AUSTRASIA was born about 597 in Landen, Liege, Austrasia, France and died in 652.)