Pippin of Herstal

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Pippin of Herstal

Pepin (also Pippin, Pipin, or Peppin) of Herstal (635/45 – 16 December 714

714

Events...
) was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia

Austrasia

Austrasia formed the north-eastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands....
from 680 to his death and of Neustria

Neustria

The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities....
and Burgundy

Kingdom of Burgundy

Burgundy is a region of Western Europe which has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy, and a third Kingdom of Burgundy was very nearly created....
from 687 to 695. He was also the first mayor of the palace to "reign" as Duke and Prince of the Franks and he by far overshadowed the Merovingian rois fainéants
Roi fainéant

Roi fain?ant is a French language phrase meaning "do-nothing king". It is primarily used to refer to the later kings of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, after they seemed to have lost their initial energy....
.

Pepin, sometimes called Pepin II and Pepin the Middle was the grandson and namesake of Pepin I the Elder

Pippin of Landen

Pepin of Landen , also called the Elder or the Old, was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingians king Dagobert I from 623 to 629....
by the marriage of Pepin I's daughter Begga

Begga

Saint Begga was the daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and his wife Itta. On the death of her husband, she took the veil, founded several churches, and built a convent at Andenne on the Meuse River where she spent the rest of her days as abbess....
and Ansegisel

Ansegisel

Ansegisel was the son of Saint Arnulf of Metz, bishop of Metz and his wife Saint Doda. He served King Sigbert III of Austrasia as a duke and domesticus....
, son of Arnulf of Metz

Arnulf of Metz

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Pepin (also Pippin, Pipin, or Peppin) of Herstal (635/45 – 16 December 714

714

Events...
) was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia

Austrasia

Neustria

Kingdom of Burgundy

Pippin of Landen

Begga

Ansegisel

Ansegisel was the son of Saint Arnulf of Metz, bishop of Metz and his wife Saint Doda. He served King Sigbert III of Austrasia as a duke and domesticus....
, son of Arnulf of Metz

Arnulf of Metz

Saint Arnulf of Metz was born of an important Franks family at an uncertain date around 582. In his younger years he was called to the Merovingian court to serve king Theudebert II of Austrasia and as dux at the Schelde....
. That marriage united the two houses of the Pippinids and the Arnulfings which created what would be called 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....
dynasty. Pepin II was probably born in Herstal

Herstal

Herstal is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Liege along the Meuse river. Herstal is included in the "Greater Li?ge " agglomeration, which counts about 600,000 inhabitants....
(Héristal), modern Belgium

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
(where his centre of power lay), whence his byname (sometimes "of Heristal").

As mayor of Austrasia, Pepin and Martin

Martin of Laon

Martin was the count of Laon in the late 7th century. He is the father of Caribert of Laon, and great-grandfather of Charlemagne....
, the duke of Laon

Laon

Laon is a city in Picardie in northern France, capital of the Aisne Departments of France....
, fought the Neustrian mayor Ebroin

Ebroin

Ebroin was the Franks mayor of the palace of Neustria on two occasions; firstly from 658 to his deposition in 673 and secondly from 675 to his death in 680 or 681....
, who had designs on all Francia. Ebroin defeated the Austrasians at Lucofao (Bois-du-Fay, near Laon

Laon

Laon is a city in Picardie in northern France, capital of the Aisne Departments of France....
) and came close to uniting all the Franks under his rule; however, he was assassinated in 681, the victim of a combined attack by his numerous enemies. Pepin immediately made peace with his successor, Waratton

Waratton

Waratton, Waratto, or Warato was the mayor of the palace of Neustria and Kingdom of Burgundy on two occasions, owing to the deposition he experienced at the hands of his own faithless son....
.

However, Waratton's successor, Berthar

Berthar

Berthar was the mayor of the palace of Neustria and Kingdom of Burgundy from 686 to 687. He was the successor of Waratton, whose daughter Anstrude he had married....
, and the Neustrian king Theuderic III

Theuderic III

Theuderic III was the king of Neustria on two occasions and king of Austrasia from 679 to his death in 691. Thus, he was the king of all the Franks from 679....
, who, since 679, was nominal king of all the Franks, made war on Austrasia. The king and his mayor were decisively defeated at the Battle of Tertry

Battle of Tertry

The Battle of Tertry was an important engagement in Merovingian Gaul between the forces of Austrasia on one side and those of Neustria and Burgundy on the other....
(Textrice) in the Vermandois

Vermandois

Vermandois was a France county, that appears in the Merovingian period. In the tenth century, it was organised around two castellan domains: St Quentin and Peronne ....
in 687. Berthar and Theuderic withdrew themselves to Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, where Pepin followed and eventually forced on them a peace treaty with the condition that Berthar leave his office. Pepin was created mayor in all three Frankish kingdoms (Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy) and began calling himself Duke and Prince of the Franks

Duke of the Franks

The title dux et princeps Francorum, or duke and prince of the Franks, was the title adopted by Pepin of Heristal after his epoch-making victory at the Battle of Tertry in 687....
(dux et princeps Francorum). In the ensuing quarrels, Berthar killed his mother-in-law Ansfled and fled. His wife Anstrude married Pepin's eldest son Drogo

Drogo of Champagne

Drogo , son of Pepin of Heristal and Plectrude, was the duke of Champagne by appointment of his father in 690 and duke of Burgundy from the death of Nordebert in 697....
, Duke of Champagne, and Pepin's place in Neustria was secured.

Over the next several years, Pepin subdued the Alemanni, Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are an ethnic group of Germanic people living in coastal parts of The Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia....
, and Franconians, bringing them within the Frankish sphere of influence. He also began the evangelisation of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. In 695, he placed Drogo in the Burgundian mayorship and his other son, Grimoald, in the Neustrian one.

Around 670, Pepin had married Plectrude

Plectrude

Plectrude or Plectrudis was the wife of Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, from about 670. She was the daughter of Hugobert, seneschal of Clovis IV, and Irmina d'Oeren....
, who had inherited substantial estates in the Moselle

Moselle

Moselle is a departments of France in the east of France named after the Moselle River....
region. She was the mother of Drogo of Champagne

Drogo of Champagne

Drogo , son of Pepin of Heristal and Plectrude, was the duke of Champagne by appointment of his father in 690 and duke of Burgundy from the death of Nordebert in 697....
and Grimoald, both of whom died before their father. However, Pepin also had a mistress named Alpaida

Alpaida

Alpaida was Pippin of Herstal's concubine and mother to Pepin II's illegitimate son, Charles Martel .External links...
(or Chalpaida) who bore him two more sons: Charles

Charles Martel

Charles "The Hammer" Martel was proclaimed Mayor of the Palace and ruled the Franks in the name of a Titular ruler. Late in his reign he proclaimed himself Duke of the Franks and by any name was de facto ruler of the Frankish Realms....
and Childebrand

Childebrand

Childebrand was a Franks duke , son of Pepin of Heristal and Alpaida, brother of Charles Martel. He married Emma of Austrasia and was given Kingdom of Burgundy by his father....
. Just before Pepin's death, Plectrude convinced him to disinherit his bastards in favour of his grandson, Theudoald

Theudoald

Theudoald or Theodald was the mayor of the palace, briefly unopposed in 714 until Ragenfrid was acclaimed in Neustria and Charles Martel in Austrasia by the nobles, after the death of his grandfather, Pepin of Heristal....
, the son of Grimoald, who was still young (and amenable to Plectrude's control). Pepin died suddenly at an old age on 16 December 714, at Jupille

Jupille

Jupille is a former Belgian municipality. It is now a part of the city of Li?ge .Jupille is the location of the brewery Brasserie Piedboeuf , where Jupiler is made....
(in modern Belgium). His legitimate grandchildren claimed themselves to be Pepin's true successors and, with the help of Plectrude, tried to maintain the position of mayor of the palace after Pepin's death. However, Charles had gained favor among the Austrasians, primarily for his military prowess and ability to keep them well supplied with booty from his conquests. Despite the efforts of Plectrude to silence her rival's child by imprisoning him, he became the sole mayor of the palace --and de facto ruler of Francia-- after a civil war which lasted for more than three years after Pepin's death.

Sources

Oman, Charles
Charles Oman

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British Military history of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering....
. The Dark Ages 476–918. London: Rivingtons, 1914.
Wallace-Hadrill, J. M.
John Michael Wallace-Hadrill

John Michael Wallace-Hadrill Order of the British Empire was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Manchester , a Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford , Chichele Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford and a Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford ....
, translator. . Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1960.
Bachrach, Bernard S., translator. Liber Historiae Francorum. 1973.