Pépin le Bref
King of the Franks · 751-768 · born in 715, died on 24 September 768
Son of Charles Martel, Pépin first exercised power as mayor of the palace alongside his brother Carloman. In 751, backed by the agreement of Pope Zachary, he had the last Merovingian king Childeric III deposed and was himself elected king of the Franks at Soissons: this was the birth of the Carolingian dynasty.
In 754, Pope Stephen II, threatened by the Lombards, came in person to Saint-Denis and anointed Pépin, his wife Bertrada and their sons Charles and Carloman. Pépin intervened twice in Italy against the Lombards and handed the pope the territories of the exarchate of Ravenna: the “Donation of Pépin”, one of the territorial bases of the popes’ temporal power.
Domestically, he continued his father’s work: reorganization of the Frankish Church, councils, and a monetary reform based on the silver denier. He died in 768, leaving the kingdom divided between his two sons, the elder of whom, Charles, would be Charlemagne.
In the tree of power
- Era: Carolingians
- Predecessor: Childéric III (743-751)
- Successors: Carloman Ier (768-771), Charlemagne (768-814)