Pepin II (c. 635 – 16 December 714), commonly known asPepin of Herstal, was aFrankish statesman and military leader who was the de facto ruler ofFrancia as theMayor of the Palace from 680 until his death. He took the titleDuke and Prince of the Franks upon his conquest of all the Frankish realms.

The son of the powerful Frankish statesmanAnsegisel, Pepin worked to establish his family, thePippinids, as the strongest in Francia. He became Mayor of the Palace inAustrasia in 680. Pepin subsequently embarked on several wars to expand his power. He united all the Frankish realms by the conquests ofNeustria andBurgundy in 687. In foreign conflicts, Pepin increased the power of the Franks by his subjugation of theAlemanni, theFrisians, and theFranconians. He also began the process of evangelisation inGermany.

Pepin's statesmanship was notable for the further decrease ofMerovingian royal authority, and for the acceptance of his family's undisputed right to rule. Therefore, Pepin was able to name as heir his grandsonTheudoald. But this was not accepted by his powerful sonCharles Martel, leading to a civil war after his death in which the latter emerged victorious.

Pepin, sometimes calledPepin II andPepin the Middle, was the grandson and namesake ofPepin I the Elder through the marriage of Pepin I's daughterBegga toAnsegisel.^[1] He was also the grandfather ofPepin the Short and great-grandfather ofCharlemagne. That marriage united the two houses of thePippinids and theArnulfings which created what would be called theCarolingian dynasty. Pepin II was probably born inHerstal (Héristal), modernBelgium (where his centre of power lay), whence his byname (sometimes "of Heristal").

As mayor of Austrasia, Pepin andMartin, the duke ofLaon, fought the Neustrian mayorEbroin, who had designs on allFrancia. Ebroin defeated the Austrasians in theBattle of Lucofao and came close to uniting all the Franks under his rule; however, he was assassinated in 681, the victim of a combined attack by his numerous enemies^[2] Pepin immediately made peace with his successor,Waratton.

However, Waratton's successor,Berchar, and the Neustrian kingTheuderic III, who, since 679, was nominal king of all the Franks, made war on Austrasia. The king and his mayor were decisively defeated at theBattle of Tertry (Textrice) in theVermandois in 687. Berchar and Theuderic withdrew themselves toParis, where Pepin followed and eventually forced on them a peace treaty with the condition that Berchar leave his office. Pepin was created mayor in all three Frankish kingdoms (Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy) and began calling himselfDuke and Prince of the Franks (dux et princeps Francorum).^[3] In the ensuing quarrels, Berchar killed his mother-in-law Ansfled and fled. His wife Anstrude married Pepin's eldest sonDrogo,Duke of Champagne, and Pepin's place in Neustria was secured.

The Neustrians barely tolerated an Austrasian overlord, but Pepin preferred to put these local resistances aside to deal with Germany.Over the next several years, Pepin subdued theAlemanni,Frisians, andFranconians, bringing them within the Frankish sphere of influence. Between 690 and 692, Utrecht fell. This gave the Franks control of important trade routes on the Rhine to the North Sea. He also supported the missionary work ofWillibrord.^[4] In 695, he placed Drogo in the Burgundian mayorship and his other son,Grimoald, in the Neustrian one.

Around 670, Pepin had marriedPlectrude, who had inherited substantial estates in theMoselle region. She was the mother ofDrogo of Champagne andGrimoald II, both of whom died before their father. However, Pepin also had a mistress (or possibly, a second wife) namedAlpaida (or Chalpaida) who bore him two more sons:Charles Martel andChildebrand.

Pepin married Plectrude and had two children:

• Drogo
• Grimoald

Pepin had one son by an unnamed mistress:

• Childebrand I

Pepin had one son byAlpaida:

• Charles Martel

Just before Pepin's death, Plectrude convinced him to disinherit the sons he had with his mistressAlpaida in favour of his grandson,Theudoald (the son of Pepin and Plectrude's son Grimoald), who was still a young child (and amenable to Plectrude's control). Pepin died suddenly at the age of 79 on 16 December 714, atJupille (in modern Belgium). His grandchildren through Plectrude claimed themselves to be Pepin's true successors and, with the help of Plectrude, tried to maintain the position of mayor of the palace after Pepin's death. However, Charles (son of Pepin and Alpaida) had gained favour among the Austrasians, primarily for his military prowess and ability to keep them well supplied with booty from his conquests. Despite the efforts of Plectrude to silence her child's rival by imprisoning him, he became the sole mayor of the palace—andde facto ruler of Francia—after a civil war which lasted for more than three years after Pepin's death.

In 2018, the Dutch production company Farmhouse released a movie calledRedbad (film), based on the historicalRedbad and directed byRoel Reiné.Jonathan Banks played Pepin of Herstal, who is the main villain in this movie.^[5]

• Oman, Charles.The Dark Ages 476–918. London: Rivingtons, 1914.
• Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., translator.The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1960.
• Bachrach, Bernard S., translator.Liber Historiae Francorum. 1973.

•   Media related toPepin of Herstal at Wikimedia Commons