Pippin III

Pippin III

 or Pepin or Pippin the Short

(born c. 714—died Sept. 24, 768, Saint-Denix, Neustria) King of the Franks (751–768), the first king of the Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charlemagne. A son of Charles Martel, he became mayor of Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence in 741 and de facto ruler of the Franks when his brother entered a monastery in 747. With the backing of the pope, he deposed the last Merovingian ruler, Childeric III, in 751 and was crowned king by the bishops of his realm and, possibly, by the papal legate St. Boniface. Pippin was crowned king in 754 by Pope Stephen II. The king bestowed on the pope the Donation of Pippin and invaded Italy twice (754, 756) to protect the pope from the Lombards. He also put down revolts in Saxony and Bavaria and struggled to subdue rebellious Aquitaine. Pippin called several church councils and promoted religious reform in the kingdom.