Pepin the Short

Pepin the Short (Pepin III), c.714-768, first Carolingian king of the Franks (751-68), son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne . Succeeding his father as mayor of the palace (741), he ruled Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his brother Carloman (d. 754) received Austrasia and what came to be Thuringia. In 743 the brothers chose Childeric III, a Merovingian, as nominal king of all the Franks. With their help St. Boniface effected far-reaching reforms that strengthened the Frankish church and advanced the conversion of the Saxons. After Carloman had retired (747) to religious life, Pepin, with the consent of the pope, St. Zacharias, forced Childeric into a monastery and had himself proclaimed king (751). In return for recognition by the pope, Pepin defended Rome against the Lombards (754, 756), from whom he wrested the exarchate of Ravenna and other cities. These he ceded to the pope, thus laying the foundation of the Papal States . Pepin also extended his territories and subdued Aquitaine .

Pepin (c.714–68), known as Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne; he became the first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty on the deposition of the Merovingian Childeric III. (See also Donation of Pepin.)

Pepin Three Frankish ‘mayors of the palace’ under MEROVINGIAN rule who gave rise to the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin I of Landen was mayor of Austrasia, and his son Pepin II of both Austrasia and Neustria, the two most important parts of the Merovingian kingdom. Pepin III, the Short, was the grandson of the latter and son of CHARLES MARTEL. He ousted the last Merovingian, Childeric III, in 751 and was crowned King of the Franks. A close ally of the papacy, he defended it from Lombard attacks and made the Donation of Pepin which was the basis for the PAPAL STATES. He added Aquitaine and Septimania to his kingdom, which passed, on his death in 768, to CHARLEMAGNE and Carloman.