Pepin (714 – 24 September 768), called le Bref ("the Short"), also known as Pepin the Younger or Pepin III,[1] was the Mayor of the Palace and dux et princeps Francorum (Duke of the Franks, a title originated by his grandfather and namesake Pepin of Heristal) from 741, and King of the Franks from 752 to 768.[2][3] He was the father of Charlemagne.
He was the son of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and of Rotrude of Trier (690–724).
Assumption of power


Coronation in 752 of Pépin the Short by Pope Zachary.
Pepin's father Charles Martel died in 741. He divided the rule of the Frankish kingdom between Pepin and his elder brother, Carloman, his surviving sons by his first wife: Carloman became Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, Pepin became Mayor of the Palace of Neustria. Grifo, Charles's son by his second wife, Swanahild (also known as Swanhilde), demanded a share in the inheritance, but he was imprisoned in a monastery by his two half-brothers.
In the Frankish realm the unity of the kingdom was essentially connected with the person of the king. So Carloman, to secure this unity, raised the Merovingian Childeric to the throne (743). Then in 747 Carloman resolved to enter a monastery. This left Francia in the hands of Pepin as sole mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum.
At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Duke Odilo of Bavaria, who was married to Hiltrude, Pepin's sister. Pepin put down the renewed revolt led by his half-brother and succeeded in completely restoring the boundaries of the kingdom.
Under the reorganization of Francia by Charles Martel, the dux et princeps Francorum was the commander of the armies of the kingdom, in addition to his administrative duties as mayor of the palace, and specifically commander of the standing guard which Charles Martel had begun maintaining year-round since Toulouse in 721.