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Pepin the Hunchback

 

 
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Pepin the Hunchback
 
 
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Pepin (or Pippin) the Hunchback, (c. 769 – 811) was the eldest son of Charlemagne
Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
 by Himiltrude
Himiltrude

Himiltrude was the mother of Charlemagne's first-born son Pippin the Hunchback....
.

Accounts describe Pepin as normally proportioned with attractive features. However, his looks were marred by a spinal deformity
Kyphosis

Kyphosis also called "hunch back" or "hunchbackism" or "hunchbackedness", in general terms, is a common condition of a curvature of the upper spine ....
 from which his nickname is derived.

Due to his disability, and possible illegitimacy, Pepin was never likely to inherit much of the Frankish
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
 domains.






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Karl Der Grosse Pippin Der Bucklige
Pepin (or Pippin) the Hunchback, (c. 769 – 811) was the eldest son of Charlemagne
Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
 by Himiltrude
Himiltrude

Himiltrude was the mother of Charlemagne's first-born son Pippin the Hunchback....
.

Accounts describe Pepin as normally proportioned with attractive features. However, his looks were marred by a spinal deformity
Kyphosis

Kyphosis also called "hunch back" or "hunchbackism" or "hunchbackedness", in general terms, is a common condition of a curvature of the upper spine ....
 from which his nickname is derived.

Due to his disability, and possible illegitimacy, Pepin was never likely to inherit much of the Frankish
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
 domains. Nevertheless, Charles treated his son well, giving him precedence over his younger brothers as was appropriate for his age. Pepin was an amiable fellow, and he grew to be a well-liked member of Charles' court. The hunchbacked prince probably held some hope for succession from his father. In addition, Pepin was an easy target for discontented nobles, who lavished sympathies on him and lamented the treatment his mother had received when Charles had put her aside in order to marry a Lombard
Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
 princess, Desiderata.

In 780, Charles formally disinherited Pepin and had the pope baptize his third son, Carloman, who now received the name Pepin. The name had a special significance as Pepin had been a recurring name in the Carolingian dynasty. This move may have been prompted by Hildegard, Charles' wife and Carloman's mother, who felt her son's inheritance expectations threatened by the hunchbacked prince.

Pepin was allowed to remain at court, and Charles continued to give the boy precedence over his younger brothers. Pepin also remained a popular "friend" of discontented nobles, and in 792, several counts played upon Pepin's dislike for his brothers to convince the deformed prince to play the figurehead in their rebellion. The conspirators planned to kill Charles, his wife Hildegarde, and his three sons by her. Pepin the Hunchback would then be set upon the throne as a more sympathetic (and more easily manipulated) king. The day of the assassination, Pepin pretended to be ill in order to meet with the plotters. The scheme nearly succeeded, but a Lombard deacon named Fardulf ultimately exposed it.

Charlemagne held an assembly at Regensburg
Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen River rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube....
 to try the conspirators, and all were found guilty of high treason and ordered executed. Charles seemed still to have held fond feelings for his first son, however, for Pepin's sentence was commuted. Instead, Pepin was forced to enter the monastery of Prüm
Prüm

Art = Stadt|image_photo = AbteikirchePr?m.jpg|imagesize = 180|Wappen = Wappen Pruem.png|lat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 12 |lat_sec = 29...
 to live out the rest of his life as a monk. Pepin died there some twenty years later.

Cultural references


The Broadway musical Pippin
Pippin (musical)

Pippin is a musical theater with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto....
 was based on his life, but uses it more as a framework for very modern issues than to relate history.

Sources

  • Winston, Richard (1954). Charlemagne: From the Hammer to the Cross. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill.