(714-768 C.E.)

BIOGRAPHY WORKBOOK SERIES FOR HIGH SCHOOL

B Bio Pepin the Short

PEPIN THE SHORT (714-768)

Charles Martel, as we have seen of the Palace, in the districts of in other readings, was never king of and respectively, the , and his sons were too under the nominal sovereignty of politic to assume the title on his death. Childeric III, the last of the fainéant Griffo, the third son, may be dismissed kings, whom they set up as a puppet. from our notice at once, as he was from the government of the kingdom, 1. Who ruled as the puppet king of his brothers, Carloman and Pepin, at this time? taking advantage of his weakness to ______dispossess him. After this act of ______supremacy, Carloman and Pepin were ______for some time content to act as ______

Complete the following chart, noting where/how/if each son of Martel held power in France.

Carloman

Charles Pepin Martel

Griffo

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Carloman distinguished himself Shaving off Childeric’s long hair, the by attacking the and other symbol of royalty among the early tribes which threatened aggression. Frankish kings, Pepin sent him to one In 744, Pepin severely punished a monastery at St. Omer, and revolt of his father's old enemy (Eudes, Childeric’s son Thierry to another at Duke of , a.k.a. Odo the Fontenelle. This accomplished, Pepin Great), who had been compelled to do proceeded to obtain justification for homage to the Frankish crown. Pepin his acts from the . soon had no sharer in his power or fame. Carloman was not made for a 3. What grooming style was a symbol soldier, and, under the sudden of royalty among the early impulse of devotional feeling, resigned Frankish kings? his office in 747, and retired into a ______Catholic monastery. ______2. How did Pepin find himself holding ______sole power in France? ______Seeking approval from the Pope ______was a novel step. Although the ______bishops of had great spiritual ______influence over Christendom, in virtue ______of their alleged descent from St. Peter, ______their temporal authority was by no ______means admitted out of their own ______diocese. Pepin was a wise man in his generation, though short-sighted as Pepin, thus left sole lord of far as posterity was concerned. He saw France, did not hastily attempt to cut clearly enough that no sanction which prejudice against the grain. Feeling he could obtain for his acts was likely his way gradually, he sounded popular to be so binding upon the minds of his opinion for three years, on the subject subjects, and the world at large, as of changing the royal , and that pronounced by a power which had placing the crown on the head of one already fastened its yoke on the soul who had a good right arm to defend it. and conscience. Finding himself strong enough at last to take decided measures, Pepin 4. What do you imagine would be the quietly dethroned Childeric III. long-term consequences of Pepin the Short acknowledging the Pope as having 5. Why did Pope Zachariah approve of the power to approve a leader’s Pepin as ruler of France? right to rule? ______Thus fortified against ______opposition, Pepin proceeded to fulfill ______all the ceremonies attaching to the ______kingly dignity. Pepin and his queen, ______Bertha, were duly crowned and ______consecrated by Boniface, the "Apostle ______of ," and Bishop of . ______This rite was performed at , in 752, with all the pomp that the The Pope, Zachariah, was not ancient Jewish kings had been wont to insensible to the importance of the employ on such occasions. The Frankish , being at the time national assembly was summoned. In of Pepin's accession especially in need the presence of the great Frankish of help against Astolpho, king of the nobles, Boniface produced a phial of , who threatened to seize on oil, announcing it as that which had the Eternal City itself. When, fallen from heaven on the day when therefore, Pepin's envoys arrived at the first king of the Franks (Clovis) Rome, and conveyed their master's had received baptism. The sacred oil application, the pontiff did not was then poured upon the head of hesitate to answer that it was truly Pepin, and amid the acclamations of fitting for one to be king in name who nobles, soldiers, and peasants, he was was king in deed. crowned their king.

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Pepin the Short 6. Who crowned Pepin? looking on, when suddenly the king ______started up, and cried: "Who will dare ______to separate those beasts?" There was a dead silence. The attempt was Pepin was a man, like his madness—certain destruction. father, well fitted to rule over a Unsheathing his sword, and warlike and primitive people. What glancing scornfully round upon his was most admired in a king at that courtiers, Pepin leapt into the arena, period was personal courage, and, and drew the attention of the what was most needed, strength of combatants upon himself. Raging with will. Pepin had both. But Pepin had fury, they turned to attack him. But one defect which, though to us it may with cool and measured steps, Pepin seem a trifle, to men who prized the evaded their onset, and by a body far more than soul or mind, was succession of well-aimed blows struck a serious matter. He was of small off, one after the other, the heads of stature, and acquired the name of "the lion and bull. Then, throwing down his Short" in consequence. Fully conscious streaming sword, he accosted the that this was a disadvantage to him, astonished courtiers: "Am I worthy to and, indeed, hearing his name once be your king?" A deafening shout was derided by his courtiers, Pepin took a the reply, and the name of "Pepin the speedy opportunity of proving that Short" was no longer a term of what he lacked in height he more than derision but of honor. made up in strength and bravery. 8. Describe the act in which Pepin 7. By the standards of the time, what proved his physical vigor to the was Pepin’s most serious flaw? French nobles. ______It was common in those days to ______exhibit animal fights at the Frankish ______court. On one of these occasions a lion ______and a bull were engaged in a savage and mortal struggle. Pepin and his Having thus established his courtiers were seated round the arena reputation for those qualities which

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Pepin the Short were most essential to his influence, the great religious quarrel which then Pepin took measures to render it agitated Christendom, with respect to permanent by acts of wisdom and the worship of images, espousing the liberality. He frequently called cause of the image-breakers, while together the national assemblies, and Pope Stephen supported the opposite included in the summons bishops as side. well as chieftains. Consulting with them as to the most prudent course of 10. Why do you suppose that Pepin action, he preserved their affection to continued to court the favor of the his person and obedience to his orders. ? ______9. Why was (and is) it important for a ______national leader to ally himself with ______other powerful people (such as, in ______this instance, bishops and ______chieftains)? ______Threatened with invasion, the ______Pope flew to the court of Pepin, who ______received him with much reverence, ______and in return was crowned king for ______the second time. Stephen even pronounced sentence of Pepin especially courted the excommunication against all who favor of the Church, and showed his should dare to choose a king of France gratitude for the sanction which Pope from any other than Pepin's family. At Zachariah had given to his accession, the Pope's request the king assembled by assisting the next Pope, Stephen an army, and marched against III, in a serious contest which broke Astolpho. out in 753 with the Lombards. Their The war lasted for two years, king, Astolpho, took an active part in but eventually terminated in the

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Pepin the Short success of Pepin, who compelled 11. What was the last relic of the Astolpho to yield up to the Pope the Roman Empire in ? exarchate of , the last relic of ______the great Roman Empire in Italy, and ______of which the Lombards had deprived ______the Eastern emperors. ______

Pepin after the murder of Duke Waifre.

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Pepin the Short Pepin, however, had in view a summoned him to disgorge the spoils more national war than this. The which he had seized from the was perpetually in Aquitanian lands of certain churches a state of resistance to the authority of of France. Waifre replied in defiant the Frankish kings. This was owing, terms, and for nine years resisted the in some measure, to the difference of attempts of Pepin to reduce him to language and civilization which submission. prevailed between the people of the duchy and those of the kingdom. A 13. Who was the ? spirit of hostility was also fostered by a. Childeric the increase of population which b. Pepin Aquitaine obtained from the Gascons, c. Waifre a tribe from the Pyrenees, not subject d. Zachariah to the Franks. After a long period of uncertain warfare, Pepin determined It was a sanguinary and to decide the struggle by active desolating war. The fairest districts of operations. Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry, were laid waste and burnt by Pepin. In the 12. Which of the following is not a Frankish territories, Waifre levied an reason why the duchy of Aquitaine equally terrible retribution. Waifre resisted French rule? was murdered at last by some of his a. Aquitaine’s population own subjects, at the instigation of the increased by adding the Frankish king. This is the one Gascons, a tribe not instance of actual crime which we find previously controlled by the recorded against Pepin; and legend French tells that its shadow rested heavily b. Difference in civilization upon his mind. Aquitaine was c. Difference in language annexed to the kingdom. d. Difference in religion 14. Who instigated the murder of Pepin accordingly, in 759, took Waifre? advantage of a rising of the people of ______Septimania against their Arabian ______rulers. He made himself master of ______Narbonne and other towns, and freed the Septimanians. Then turning upon It was Pepin's last achievement. Waifre, Duke of Aquitaine, he He did not, as we might have expected

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Pepin the Short he would, die in harness on the battle- ______field, but of dropsy, at the age of fifty- ______four. This event occurred in 768, at St. Denis. Long before his death he had To be the successful founder of a obtained the of his two new dynasty demands a genius which sons, Charles (better known to history we may justly entitle heroic, as ) and Carloman, expressive as that word is of strength jointly with his own, and directed his of character merely, without regard to territories to be divided between them. moral worth. Pepin, however, was not devoid of the latter, to a limited 15. Of what did Pepin the Short die? extent, and has left a memory which, ______if not remarkable for virtue, is at least ______not disfigured by vice.

16. What, from the life of Pepin, would you like to emulate in your own life? What, if you were Pepin, might you have done differently? ______

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Pepin the Short Vocabulary Terms: Match each term (used in the text) with its meaning.

17. _____ bloody 18. _____ idle or indolent 19. _____ incitement 20. _____ loud shouts of approval 21. _____ mockery or ridicule 22. _____ of or pertaining to present and worldly things 23. _____ official act of cutting someone off from a church 24. _____ pope or other chief priest 25. _____ physical height of a human being or other animal 26. _____ requital according to merits 27. _____ residence occupied by a community of monks 28. _____ respect paid or rendered 29. _____ the quality or state of being supreme ruler 30. _____ to oust 31. _____ to vomit forth

Terms

(A) acclamations (B) derision (C) disgorge (D) dispossess (E) excommunication (F) fainéant (G) homage (H) instigation (I) monastery (J) pontiff (K) retribution (L) sanguinary (M) sovereignty (N) stature (O) temporal

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Pepin the Short Word Search Puzzle

C H A R L E M A G N E B Terms H A T A V B N C J O A O Aquitaine

A Q R C D O E H Z F S H Astolpho

Carloman I U Z L U P C K E P T P Charlemagne R I F U O R Y F R E E L Church A T Y W U M M R F P P O Franks Pepin H A G H T X A A I G H T Stephen C I C W I Q K N A Q E S Waifre A N V H S J L K W D N A Zachariah

Z E N X M R L S I R H S

Artistic Expression: Select a scene from the life of Pepin the Short and illustrate it.

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