Pepin the Short

Pepin III, the Short 751-768

Born in 714 in Jupille, Austrasia, son of Charles Martel and Rotrude (690-724), Duchess of Austrasia.

In 740 Pepin married Berthe of Laon. They would have nine sons.

On the death of his father in 741, he divided power with his brother Carloman. Joint rulership was a weakness and the young kings were immediately under attack. In order to maintain unity under one ruler, in 743 Carloman allowed the Merovingian Childeric to take the throne. Eventually the brothers' opponents were all defeated and the unity of their father’s kingdom remained. However, Carloman would retire to a monastery in 747, leaving Pepin the sole ruler of the Frankish kingdom, first as Mayor of the Palace and then elected King of the Franks by an assembly of his liegemen and anointed at Soissons by Archbishop Boniface.

During his reign, Pepin III’s conquests gave him more power than anyone since the days of King Clovis. He added to that power after Pope Stephen II traveled all the way to Paris to anoint King Pepin in a lavish ceremony at Saint Denis Basilica, bestowing upon him the additional title of Patrician of the Romans. As life expectancies were short in those days, and Pepin wanted family continuity, the Pope anointed Pepin’s eldest son Carloman, and for good measure his younger brother, Charles (born April 2, 742) who would eventually be known as Charlemagne.

King Pepin III’s first major act was to go to war against the Lombards in an effort to strengthen his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. Victorious, Pepin III forced the Lombard king to return property seized from the church. In 759, he drove the Saracens out of France with the capture of Narbonne and then consolidated his power further by making Aquitaine a part of his kingdom.

King Pepin III died at Saint Denis, France on September 24, 768 and is interred there in the Basilica with his wife Berthe (720 - July 12,783).