Pepin the Short

Pepin the Short (c. 714–768), son of Charles Martel, was the first Carolingian king of the Franks, the mayor of the palace who ended the Merovingian line. From Charles Martel's death in 741 he ruled with his brother Carloman, who withdrew to a monastery in 747, leaving Pepin alone.

He consulted Pope Zachary, who ruled the holder of power should bear the king's title. In 751 he deposed the figurehead Childeric III, had him tonsured and sent to a monastery, and was chosen king at Soissons. The cities he won in Italy became the Donation of Pepin to the papacy, the legal basis of the Papal States.

He took Narbonne in 759, ending Muslim rule in Septimania. His nickname, first recorded in the ninth century, is thought to mean he was short. He died in 768 and was buried at Saint-Denis; his sons Charlemagne and Carloman divided the kingdom.