Character Catalog

By overthrowing Childeric III, Pepin founded the first major new royal dynasty in the West in centuries. This lineage would give birth to Charlemagne and dominate Europe for two centuries.

Pepin introduced royal anointing in France, inspired by the Bible, permanently binding monarchy and religion together. This ritual would be practiced until Charles X in 1825.

By handing over the conquered Italian territories to the Pope, Pepin created the Papal States, which would exist until 1870. This act established the structural alliance between the papacy and the Frankish monarchy.

Pepin established a lasting partnership between the King of the Franks and the papacy, replacing Byzantine imperial protection of the Frankish king with Roman protection. This model would shape medieval Europe.

Together with Archbishop Boniface, Pepin organized reforming councils that restructured the Church in the Frankish kingdom, strengthening ecclesiastical discipline and ties with Rome.

Pepin retook Narbonne from the Arabs, ending Muslim presence in Gaul and consolidating the southern borders of the Frankish kingdom.

In the year 751, Pepin was elected king of the Franks and consecrated by the hands of Archbishop Boniface, of blessed memory, and raised to the throne by the Franks in the city of Soissons.

Boniface, by order and with the authorization of the Pope, consecrated Pepin king of the Franks according to the custom of the ancients, anointing him with holy oil.

We beseech you, O most excellent son, to take up the defense of the holy Roman Church and the people of God, so that the Lombards may no longer oppress it.

King Childeric was tonsured and sent to a monastery. Thus ended the reign of the Merovingians, and Pepin was proclaimed king by all the Franks.

Pepin, father of Charles, had wrested the kingdom from the hands of kings who, under the pretense of exercising royalty, had nothing royal left but the empty title.

City where Pepin's coronation took place in 751, marking the official birth of the Carolingian dynasty. This place symbolizes the shift of power from the Merovingians to the Carolingians.

Royal abbey north of Paris where Pepin was anointed a second time by the Pope in 754 and where he was buried in 768. This site became the mausoleum of Carolingian royalty.

One of Pepin's main itinerant palaces on the Oise river, where he regularly held assemblies of the kingdom's magnates and administered justice.

Royal palace where Pepin received Pope Stephen II in January 754, sealing the historic alliance between the papacy and the new Carolingian dynasty.

Capital of the Lombard kingdom besieged by Pepin during his two Italian campaigns of 754 and 756. Its surrender enabled the donation of territories to the Pope.

A long, single-edged combat knife, the favorite weapon of Frankish warriors. Pepin wore it at his belt as a symbol of his status as a military leader.

At his coronation in Soissons, Pepin received a scepter as the insignia of his new royal power, marking a break with the Merovingian tradition.

A vessel containing the oil used for anointing during the coronation. For the first time in the West, a Frankish king was anointed like the biblical sovereigns, conferring divine legitimacy upon Pepin.

Pepin used a seal to authenticate his diplomas and official acts, thereby asserting his royal and administrative authority over the entire kingdom.

During his many military expeditions (Italy, Aquitaine, Septimania), Pepin lived under a large royal tent, which served as a command post and reception hall for ambassadors.

A document written on parchment by which Pepin granted lands and privileges to monasteries or loyal subjects. These charters constitute essential historical sources today.