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Childeric III

 
Childeric III

 
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Childeric III
 
 
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Childeric III (died about 753) was the last king of the Franks in the Merovingian dynasty from 743 to his deposition in 751.

The throne had been vacant for seven years when the mayors of the palace, Carloman
Carloman, son of Charles Martel

Carloman was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud. On Charles' death , Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria....
 and Pepin the Short, decided in 743 to recognize Childeric as king. Neither his parentage nor his relation to the Merovingian family are known for sure. He may have been the son of Theuderic IV
Theuderic IV

Theuderic IV or Theuderich, Theoderic, or Theodoric; in French language, Thierry was the Merovingian List of Frankish Kings from 721 until his death....
.

He took no part in public business, which was directed, as previously, by the mayors of the palace.






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Childeric III (died about 753) was the last king of the Franks in the Merovingian dynasty from 743 to his deposition in 751.

The throne had been vacant for seven years when the mayors of the palace, Carloman
Carloman, son of Charles Martel

Carloman was the eldest son of Charles Martel, major domo or mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and his wife Chrotrud. On Charles' death , Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria....
 and Pepin the Short, decided in 743 to recognize Childeric as king. Neither his parentage nor his relation to the Merovingian family are known for sure. He may have been the son of Theuderic IV
Theuderic IV

Theuderic IV or Theuderich, Theoderic, or Theodoric; in French language, Thierry was the Merovingian List of Frankish Kings from 721 until his death....
.

He took no part in public business, which was directed, as previously, by the mayors of the palace. When, in 747, Carloman retired into a monastery, Pepin resolved to take the royal crown for himself. Pepin sent letters to Pope Zachary
Pope Zachary

Saint Zachary , pope . He came from a Greek people family of Calabria. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732; and was on intimate terms with Pope Gregory III, whom he succeeded in December 10 741....
, asking whether the title of king belonged to the one who had exercised the power or the one with the royal lineage. The pope responded that the real power should have the royal title as well. In 751, Childeric was dethroned and tonsure
Tonsure

Tonsure is the practice of some Christianity churches, mystics, Buddhist novices and Bhikkhus, and some Hindu temples of cutting the hair from the scalp of clerics, devotees or holy people as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem....
d, on the orders of Zachary's successor, Stephen II
Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II was a pope of the Roman Catholic Church .The Lombards to the north of Rome had captured Ravenna, former capital of the Byzantine Empire exarchate, in 751, and began to put pressure on Rome....
, according to Einhard
Einhard

Einhard was a Franks courtier, a dedicated servant of Charlemagne, of whom he wrote his famous biography, Vita Karoli Magni, and Louis the Pious....
, "because he was not useful." His long hair was the symbol of his dynasty and thus the royal rights or magical powers; by cutting it, they divested him of all royal prerogatives. In 752, he and his son Theuderic were placed in the monastery of Saint-Bertin or he in Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer

Saint-Omer , a Communes of France and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais....
 and Theuderic in Saint-Wandrille. He died about four years later. Under the Carolingian
Carolingian

File:Charlemagne denier Mayence 812 814.jpgThe Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century....
s, he received bad press, being called a rex falsus, false king, despite the fact that it was Pepin who raised him to his throne.

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