| Pepin | |
|---|---|
 Pepin depicted on a 10th century copy of a manuscript originally made in 829–836. | |
| King of Italy | |
| Reign | 781 – 810 |
| Coronation | 781 Rome |
| Predecessor | Charlemagne |
| Successor | Charlemagne andBernard |
| Born | Carloman 777 |
| Died | 8 July 810(810-07-08) (aged 33) |
| Issue more... | |
| House | Carolingian |
| Father | Charlemagne |
| Mother | Hildegard |
| Carolingian dynasty |
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After theTreaty of Verdun (843)
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Pepin orPippin (bornCarloman), (777 – 8 July 810) wasKing of Italy from 781 until his death in 810. He was the third son ofCharlemagne (and his second withQueen Hildegard). Upon his baptism in 781, Carloman was renamed Pepin, where he was also crowned as king of theLombard Kingdom his father had conquered. Pepin ruled the kingdom from a young age under Charlemagne, but predeceased his father. His sonBernard was named king of Italy after him, and his descendants were the longest-surviving direct male line of theCarolingian dynasty.
Carloman was born in 777, the second son ofCharlemagne and his wifeHildegard.[1] Carloman had an older brother,Charles the Younger, and half brotherPepin the Hunchback, Charlemagne's eldest son.[2] Charlemagne had beenking of the Franks since 768, and in 774 conquered theKingdom of the Lombards in northern Italy, partially on the request ofPope Adrian I for assistance against the Lombard kingDesiderius.[3] In 781, Charlemagne and Hildegard brought Carloman along with his younger brotherLouis the Pious and sistersRotrude andBertha, daughter of Charlemagne to Rome at Adrian's request.[4] Carloman was four years old, but his parents had delayed his baptism so that the Pope could perform it.[5] Carloman was baptized, and Adrian then crowned him asking of the Lombards (later styledking of Italy) and his brother Louis asking of Aquitaine.[6][7] As part of Carloman's baptism, he was renamed Pepin, now sharing a name with his half-brother. The reason behind the name change is obscure, but it was likely chosen to evoke the memory of his grandfatherPepin the Short, remembered as a staunch ally of the papacy, and this legacy was important to emphasize for the young king who was to rule Italy.[5]
Though only four years old, Pepin's coronation was not nominal—he was brought to Lombardy to live under the care of advisors provided by Charlemagne, the most important of which wereAdalard of Corbie,Waldo of Reichenau, the Lombard duke Rotchild, andAngilbert.[8] Pepin's court was based primarily atVerona,[9] though he also operated from palaces inMantua and the traditional Lombard capital ofPavia.[10] Pepin was king in his own name, but Charlemagne took a strong hand in Italy even into Pepin's adulthood, even on occasion issuing laws directly.[11]
After Pepin came of age, he began fulfilling his role as a military leader. He participated in his father's campaign againstTassilo III of Bavaria in 786.[12] In 796, he led a campaign against theAvar Khaganate, taking their stronghold and precipitating the collapse of the Avar state, allowing the Frankish realm to expand eastward.[13] Pepin's victory was celebrated in the contemporary Latin poemDe Pippini regis Victoria Avarica.[14] Pepin also led multiple raids against theDuchy of Benevento[15] and a successful campaign in 810 against theRepublic of Venice.[16]
In 806, Charlemagne gathered his sons and issued theDivisio Regnorum, which outlined formalized plans for the inheritance of the empire upon his death. Pepin was confirmed in this rule of Italy while also gaining most ofBavaria andAlamannia; Louis gainedProvence,Septimania, and most ofBurgundy in addition to Aquitaine; and Charles as his eldest son in good favour (Pepin the Hunchback having been confined to a monastery after a failed rebellion),[17] was given the largest share of the inheritance, with rule of Francia proper along with Saxony,Nordgau, and parts of Alemannia.[18] Charlemagne did not address the inheritance of the title ofemperor he had gained in 800.[19] TheDivisio also addressed the death of any of the brothers, and urged peace between them and between any of their nephews who might inherit.[20]
Charlemagne's succession plans did not come to fruition. Pepin died on 8 July 810, followed in quick succession by the deaths of his sisterRotrude, his auntGisela, Abbess of Chelles, and his half brother Pepin, and his brother Charles over the course of 810–811.[21] All were possibly victims of an epidemic that had spread from cattle in 810.[22] In the wake of these deaths, Charlemagne declared Pepin's sonBernard ruler of Italy, and his own only surviving son Louis as heir to the rest of the empire.[23] Louis and Bernard were formally invested as Charlemagne's heirs in September of 813, and would fully succeed upon his death in 814.[24]
Pepin was married to Theodrada, who was his father's cousin and sister to his advisor Adalard.[25] His brother Louis would use the close relation between Pepin and his wife to portray the marriage as illegitimate in order to sideline Bernard.[26] Bernard's male-line descendants continued to rule ascounts of Vermandois in France into the eleventh century, longer than any other agnaticdescendants of Charlemagne.[27] In addition to Bernard, Pepin had five daughters: Adalhaid (the wife ofLambert I of Nantes and mother ofGuy I of Spoleto), Arula, Gundrada, Berthaid, and Theodrada.[28] After Pepin's death, Charlemagne took the girls into his own household.[29] Pepin was also an ancestor ofHugh Capet, the first King of France from theHouse of Capet.
Pepin Carloman Born: April 777 Died: 8 July 810 | ||
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| Preceded by | King of Italy 15 April 781 – 8 July 810 withCharlemagne (774–814) | Succeeded by |
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