PIPPIN III

born c. 714 died Sept. 24, 768, Saint-Denis, Neustria [now in France] also spelled Pepin, byname Pippin the Short, French Ppin le Bref, German Pippin der Kurze the first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and the father of Charlemagne. A son of Charles Martel, Pippin became sole de facto ruler of the Franks in 747 and then, on the deposition of Childeric III in 751, king of the Franks. He was the first Frankish king to be anointedfirst by St. Boniface and later (754) by Pope Stephen II. Additional reading Ephraim Emerton, Letters of Saint Boniface (1940, reprinted 1976), an excellent translation, with a helpful preface; Thomas Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, vol. 7 (1899), a full account of Frankish invasions; J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Barbarian West, 4001000, 3rd rev. ed. (1967), history in Africa, Italy, and France; E. Dummler (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae Merovingici et Karolini Aevi, vol. 1 (1892); F. Kurze (ed.), Annales Regni Francorum (1895); W. Wattenbach (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, vol. 2 (1888).