SIGEBERT III

born 630/631 died Feb. 1, 656, Metz, France one of the first so-called rois fainants (sluggard kings) of the Merovingian dynasty, who held no real power of his own but was ruled by whoever was his mayor of the palace. Made king of Austrasia by his father, Dagobert I, in 634, Sigebert was governed first by Bishop Chunibert of Cologne and Duke Adalgisile; then, on Dagobert's death, by Chunibert and Pippin I, the mayor of the palace (d. 640); and finally by Pippin's son, Grimoald, mayor of the palace from 642 or 643 until the king's death. In the early 640s, when a certain Otto was mayor of the palace, Thuringia succeeded in gaining effective autonomy at Austrasian expense. After Sigebert's death, his young son, Dagobert II, was sent off to an Irish monastery by Grimoald, who briefly established his own son, Childebert (adopted by Sigebert when the king was still childless) on the throne.