Pepin of Herstal

Also known as Pippin der Mittlere and Pépin le Gros.

Frankish mayor of the palace.

Events

Date of Birth: about 640 - 650.

Place of Birth: unknown.

The estimated dates are given by Schieffer.

Date of Death: 16 December 714.

Place of Death: Jupille-sur-Meuse, near Liège.

The date and place are given by pére Anselme (1:22) and by Schieffer.

Relationships

Father: Ansegisel.

This relationship is given by pére Anselme (1:22), by Settipani (p. 54), by Bretscher-Gisiger, and by Schieffer.

Mother: Begga.

This relationship is given by pére Anselme (1:22), by Bretscher-Gisiger, and by Schieffer.

Spouse: Plectrude (died after 717).

This relationship is given by pére Anselme (1:22), by Bretscher-Gisiger, and by Schieffer.

Spouse: Chalpaida.

This relationship is given by pére Anselme (1:22), by Bouchard (p. 102), by Bretscher-Gisiger, and by Schieffer. Gerberding (p. 209 ff.) discusses the evidence. Gerberding (p. 209 ff.) discusses the evidence.He argues that historians have been wrong to reject a note in a manuscript of the Liber Historiae Francorum (near-contempory to the composition) that Alpaida was the sister of Dodo. Pepin possibly married Chalpaida bigamously.

Spouse: unknown.

Cousin (propinquus): Wandregesil, founder and first abbot of St.-Wandrille.

This relationship is given by Bouchard (p. 115).

Probably related: Adalgisel-Grimo. In his testament of 634, he called himself a diaconus from Verdun. Almost certainly the same person as a Duke Adalgisel who served the Merovingian kings in Austrasia in the 630s. (Bouchard, p. 115).

Children (by Plectrude):

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Drogo (died 24 March 708) married Adaltrude.

Grimoald (died April 714) married Theodesinde.

Children (by Chalpaida):

Charles “Martel” (about 689 - 22 October 741). His marriages are given on his page.

Children (mother unknown.):

Childebrand (died 751).

References

Sources (available online):

Annales Mettenses Priores (ed. B. de Simson) in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: SS rer. Germ. 10 (Hannover, 1905). (s.a.678-714)

Liber Historiae Francorum (ed. Bruno Krusch) in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum tomus II. (Hannover, 1888). (c.46-51)

(Pseudo-) Fredegarius. Chronicarum quae dicunter Fredegarii Scholastici libri IV. cum Continuationes (ed. Bruno Krusch) in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum tomus II. (Hannover, 1888). (c.3-23)

Literature:

Anselme de Sainte-Marie. Histoire Généalogique et Chronologique de la Maison Royale de France, des Pairs, Grands Officiers de la Couronne, de la Maison du Roy et des Anciens Barons du Royaume. 9 Volumes (Paris: 1726-1733).

Bouchard, Constance Brittain. “Those of My Blood”: Constructing Noble Families in Medieval Francia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).

Bretscher-Gisiger, Ch. genealogical table in volume 9 of Lexikon des Mittelalters. Munich: LexMA-Verlag, 1980-1998.

Gerberding, Richard A. “A Critical Study of the Liber Historie Francorum” (PhD thesis, Oxford, 1982).

Schieffer, Rudolf. “Pippin d. Mittlere”, in Neue Deutsche Biographie 20 (2001), S. 468-469 [Onlinefassung].

Settipani, Christian. Les ancêtres de Charlemagne. (2nd ed., Prosopographia et Genealogica, 2014).