Being well disposed towards theChristian Church andPapacy on account of their ecclesiastical upbringing, Pepin and Carloman continued their father's work in supportingSaint Boniface in reforming the Frankish church and evangelizing the Saxons. After Carloman, an intensely pious man, retired to religious life in 747, Pepin became the sole ruler of the Franks. He suppressed a revolt led by his escaped half-brotherGrifo (who was being assisted by his maternal great-uncle DukeOdilo of Bavaria) and succeeded in becoming the undisputed master of all Francia. Giving up pretense, Pepin then forced Childeric into a monastery and had himself proclaimed King of the Franks with the support ofPope Zachary in 751. Not all members of the Carolingian family supported the decision, and Pepin had to put down a revolt led by Carloman's son,Drogo,[citation needed] and again by Grifo.[citation needed]
As King of the Franks, Pepin embarked on an ambitious program to expand his power. He reformed the Franks' legislation and continued Boniface's ecclesiastical reforms. Pepin also intervened in favour of the Papacy ofStephen II against theLombards inItaly. In the midsummer of 754, Stephen II anointed Pepin afresh,[3] together with his two sons, Charles and Carloman.[4] The ceremony took place in theAbbey Church of St. Denis, and the Pope formally forbade the Franks ever to elect as king anyone who was not of the sacred race of Pepin. He also bestowed upon Pepin and his sons the title ofPatrician of Rome.[5] Pepin was able to secure several cities, which he then gave to the Pope as part of theDonation of Pepin. This formed the legal basis for thePapal States in the Middle Ages. TheByzantine Greeks, keen to make good relations with the growing power of the Frankish Empire, gave Pepin the title ofPatricius.[citation needed]
Pepin died in 768 from unknown causes and was succeeded by his sonsCharlemagne andCarloman. Although Pepin was one of the most powerful and successful rulers of his time, his reign is largely overshadowed by that of his more famous son, Charlemagne.[citation needed]
Pepin's fatherCharles Martel died in 741. He divided the rule of the Frankish kingdom between Pepin and his elder brother,Carloman, his surviving sons by his first wife: Carloman became Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, Pepin became Mayor of the Palace of Neustria.Grifo, Charles's son by his second wife, Swanahild (also known as Swanhilde), demanded a share in the inheritance, but he wasbesieged inLaon, forced to surrender and imprisoned in amonastery by his two half-brothers.[citation needed]
In the Frankish realm, the kingdom's unity was essentially connected with the king's person. So Carloman, to secure this unity, raised the Merovingian Childeric to the throne (743). Then, in 747, Carloman resolved to enter a monastery after years of consideration.[8] This left Francia in the hands of Pepin as sole mayor of the palace anddux et princeps Francorum.[citation needed]
At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to DukeOdilo of Bavaria, who was married to Hiltrude, Pepin's sister. Pepin put down the renewed revolt led by his half-brother and successfully restored the kingdom's boundaries.
Under the reorganization of Francia by Charles Martel, thedux et princeps Francorum was the commander of the kingdom's armies, in addition to his administrative duties as mayor of the palace.[9]
As mayor of the palace, Pepin was formally subject to the decisions ofChilderic III, who had only the title of king, with no power. Since Pepin had control over the magnates and had the power of a king, he now addressed toPope Zachary a suggestive question:
In regard to the kings of the Franks who no longer possess the royal power: is this state of things proper?
Hard pressed by theLombards, Pope Zachary welcomed this move by the Franks to end an intolerable condition and lay the constitutional foundations for exercising royal power. The Pope replied that such a state of things is not proper. Under these circumstances, the wielder of actual power should be called King. After this decision, Childeric III was deposed and confined to a monastery. He was the last of the Merovingians.
Pepin was then elected King of the Franks by an assembly of Frankish nobles, with a large portion of his army on hand. The earliest account of his election and anointing is theClausula de Pippino, written around 767. Meanwhile, Grifo continued his rebellion but was eventually killed in the battle ofSaint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 753.
Pepin was assisted by his friendVergilius of Salzburg, an Irish monk who probably used a copy of the "Collectio canonum Hibernensis" (an Irish collection of canon law) to advise him to receive royal unction to assist his recognition as king.[10] Anointed a first time in 751 inSoissons, Pepin added to his power afterPope Stephen II traveled toParis to anoint him a second time in a lavish ceremony at the Basilica of St Denis in 754, bestowing upon him the additional title of Patricius Romanorum (Patrician of the Romans). This was the first recorded crowning of a civil ruler by a Pope.[11] As life expectancies were short in those days, and Pepin wanted family continuity, the Pope also anointed Pepin's sons, Charles (eventually known as Charlemagne), who was 12, and Carloman, who was 3.
The significance of the anointment ceremony is visible in that the Pope newly adopted it and was unheard of in Rome. This, together with granting the title of Patrician of the Romans, which was connected to the role ofDefensor civitatis [fr;es] (protector of oppressed citizens), meant that Pepin was now designated as the defender of the Church.[12]
Pepin's first major act asKing of the Franks was to go to war against the Lombard kingAistulf, who had expanded into theducatus Romanus. After a meeting with Pope Stephen II at Ponthion, Pepin forced the Lombard king to return the property seized from the Church.[13] He confirmed the papacy in possession ofRavenna and thePentapolis, the so-calledDonation of Pepin, whereby thePapal States were established, and the temporal reign of the papacy officially began.[13] At about 752 he turned his attention toSeptimania, a region insouthern Gaul that formally belonged to theVisigothic Kingdom.[14] The new king headed south in a military expedition down theRhône Valley. He received the submission of eastern Septimania (i.e.,Nîmes,Maguelone,Béziers, andAgde) after securing countAnsemund's allegiance. Then, the Frankish king went on to conquer the city ofNarbonne, which had passed briefly to theEmirate of Córdoba, with thefinal victory by theChristianFranks in 759.[15][6][7] Eventually, Pepin chased the Muslim Arabs and Berbers away from Septimania andconquered Narbonne in 759,[6][7] after which the city became part of theFrankishViscounty of Narbonne. Septimania became amarch of theCarolingian Empire and thenWest Francia down to the 13th century, though it was culturally and politically autonomous from the northern France-based central royal government. By the end of the 9th century, the region was renamed asGothia orMarca Gothica ("Gothic March"). The region was under the influence of the people from the count territories ofToulouse,Provence, and ancientCounty of Barcelona. It was part of the wider cultural and linguistic region comprising the southern third of France known asOccitania.
However, Aquitaine remained underWaiofar's Gascon-Aquitanian rule and beyond Frankish reach. Duke Waiofar appears to have confiscated Church lands, maybe distributing them among his troops. In 760, after conquering theRoussillon from the defeated Muslims and denouncing Waiofar's actions, Pepin moved his troops over toToulouse andAlbi, ravaged with fire and sword most ofAquitaine, and, in retaliation, counts loyal to Waiofar ravaged Burgundy.[16] Pepin, in turn, besieged the Aquitanian-held towns and strongholds ofBourbon,Clermont,Chantelle,Bourges andThouars, defended by Waiofar'sGascon troops, who were overcome, captured and deported into northern France with their children and wives.[17]
In 763, Pepin advanced further into the heart of Waiofar's domains and captured major strongholds (Poitiers, Limoges, Angoulême, etc.), after which Waiofar counterattacked and war became bitter. Pepin opted to spread terror, burning villas, destroying vineyards, and depopulating monasteries. By 765, the brutal tactics seemed to pay off for the Franks, who destroyed resistance in central Aquitaine and devastated the whole region. The city ofToulousewas conquered by Pepin in 767, as was Waiofar's capital ofBordeaux.[18] As a result, Aquitanian nobles and Gascons from beyond the Garonne also saw no option but to accept a pro-Frankish peace treaty (Fronsac, c. 768). Waiofar escaped but was assassinated by his frustrated followers in 768.
Pepin died on campaign in 768 at the age of 54. He was interred in theBasilica of Saint Denis in modern-dayMetropolitan Paris. His wifeBertrada was also interred there in 783. Charlemagne rebuilt the Basilica in honor of his parents and placed markers at the entrance.
Historical opinion[who?] often seems to regard him as the lesser son and lesser father of two greater men, though a great man in his own right. He continued building up theheavy cavalry his father had begun. He maintained the standing army that his father had found necessary to protect the realm and form the core of its whole army in wartime. He not only contained the Spanish Muslims as his father had but drove them out of what is nowFrance and, as important, he managed to subdue the Aquitanians and the Gascons after three generations of on-off clashes, opening the gate to central and southern Gaul and Muslim Spain. He continued his father's expansion of the Frankish church (missionary work inGermany andScandinavia) and the institutional infrastructure (feudalism) that would prove the backbone of medieval Europe.
His rule was historically significant and greatly beneficial to theFranks as a people. Pepin's assumption of the crown and the title of Patrician ofRome were harbingers of his son's imperial coronation. He made the Carolingians the ruling dynasty of theFranks and the foremost power ofEurope.
Pepin married Leutberga from theDanube region. They had five children. She was repudiated sometime after the birth of Charlemagne, and her children were sent to convents.[citation needed]
In 744, Pepin marriedBertrada, daughter ofCaribert of Laon. They are known to have had seven children, at least three of whom survived to adulthood:
Charles (Charlemagne) (2 April 747 – 28 January 814)
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Document by Pepin for Fulda Abbey, 760,"digitalised image".Photograph Archive of Old Original Documents (Lichtbildarchiv älterer Originalurkunden).University of Marburg..
Legend: → ≡ "father of", · ≡ "brother of" Begga, the daughter of Pepin I, married Ansegisel, the son of Arnulf of Metz, and was the mother of Pepin II.
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