St. Begga DE LANDEN

Begga married Ansegisel VON HERSTAL, Mayor Palace Austrasia. Ansegisel (son of Bishop Arnulf II DE METZ and Clotilde DE SAXONY) was born in 610 in Austrasia, France; died in 685 in Andene Monastery, Austrasia, France. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Pepin of Heristal, Carolingian mayor of the palace, who reunited the Frankish realms in the late Merovingian period. A grandson of Pepin the Elder, he succeeded to his position in the kingdom of Austrasia around 680. In 687, he extended Carolingian rule to the other Frankish kingdoms, Neustria and Bourgoyne, but retained members of the Merovingian dynasty as figurehead monarchs in all three. Two years later he extended his control over the Frisians, a pagan people living on the North Sea coast. Pepin's death was followed by a civil war and succession of his illegitimate son Charles Martel.

Pepin married Aupaide OF SACHSEN in Mistress. Aupaide was born in 654 in Austrasia, France; died in 748. [Group Sheet]

Amalberga married Theuderic III KING OF NEUSTRA. Theuderic (son of Clovis II MEROVINGIAN KING OF THE FRANKS and Bethilde DE CHELLES) was born about 651; died in 690. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Latin - Carolus Martellus, German Karl Martell, mayor of the palace of Austrasia (the Eastern part of the Frankish Kingdom) from 715 to 741. He reunited and ruled the entire Frankish realm and stemmed the Muslim invasion in 732. His byname, Martel, means "the hammer". Charles was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace of Austrasia. By this period the Merovingian kings of the Frankish realm were rulers in name only. The burden of rule lay upon the mayors of the palace, who governed Austrasia, the eastern part of the Frankish kingdon, and Neustria, its western portion. Neustria bitterly resented its conquest and annexation in 687 by Pepin, who, acting in the name of the king, had reorganized and reunified the Frankish realm.

The assination of Pepin's only surviving legitimate son in 714 was followed a few months later by the death of Pepin himself. Pepin left as heirs three grandsons, and until they came of age, Plectrude, Pepin's widow, was to hold power. As an illegitimate son, Charled Martel was entirely neglected in the will. But he was young, strong and determined, and an intense struggle for power at once broke out in the Frankish kingdom.

Both Charles and Plectrude face rebellion througout the Frankish kingdom when Pepin's will was made known. The king, Chilperic II, was in the power of Ragenfried, mayor of the palace of Neustria, who joined forces with the Frisians in Holland in order to eliminate Charles. Plectrude imprisoned Charles and tried to govern in the name of her grandchildren, but Charles escaped, gathered an army, and defeated the Neustrians in battles at Ambleve near Liege (716) and at Vincy near Cambrai (717). His success made resistance by Plectrude and the Austrasians useless; they submitted, and by 719 Charles alone governed the Franks as mayor.

Assured of Austrasia, Charles now attacked Neustria itself, finally subduing it in 724. This freed Charles to deal with hostile elements elsewhere. He attacked Aquitaine, whose ruler, Eudes (Odo), had been an ally of Ragenfrid, but Charles did not gain effective countrol of southern France until late in his reign. He also conducted long campaigns, some as late as the 730s, against the Frisians, Saxons, and Bavarians, whose brigandage endangered the eastern frontiers of his kingdom. In order to consolidate his military gains, Charles supported St. Boniface and other missionaries in their efforts to convert tribes on the eastern frontier to Christianity.

Ever since their arrival in Spain from Africa in 711, the Muslims had raided Frankish territory, threatening Gaul and on one occasion (725) reaching Burgundy and sacking Autun. In 732 Abd ar-Rahman, the govenor of Cordoba, marched to Bordeaux and defeated Eudes. The Muslims then proceeded north across Aqutaine to the city of Poitiers. Eudes appealed to Charles for assistance, and Charles' cavalry managed to turn back the Muslim onslaught at the Battle of Poitiers. The battle itself may have been only a series of small engagements, but after it there were no more great Muslim invasions of Frankish territory.

In 733, Charles began his campaign to force Burgundy to yield to his rule. In 735 word arrived that Eudes was dead, and Charles marched rapidly across the Loire River in order to make his power felt around Bordeaux. By 739, he had completely subdued the petty chieftains of Burgundy, and he continued to fend off Muslim advances into Gaul during the decade. Charles' health began to fail in the late 730s, and in 741 he retired to his palace at Quierzy-sur-Oise, where he died soon after. Before his death he divided the Merovingian kingdom between his two legitimate sons, Pepin and Carloman. He continued to maintain the fiction of Merovingian rule, refraining from transferring the royal title to his own dynasty.

Charles married Duchess Rotrude de Moselle OF AUSTRASIA about 710 in Liege, Belgium. Rotrude (daughter of Leutwinus OF AUSTRASIA) was born in 690 in Moselle, Lorraine, France; died in 724. [Group Sheet]

Bertrade married Martin DE HERISTAL. Martin was born about 660; and died. [Group Sheet]

Bernard married de LAON. de (daughter of Charibert DE LAON and Giselle BERTRADA, de Merovingia) was born in 722; and died. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Pepin (Pippin) II., the Short, King of France from 752 to 768, born in 714, died in 768. He had much to do; the Saxons, Bavarians, and Arabs were all menacing or revolting, and he had to rush from one part of the kingdom to the other, defending its frontiers, and getting no help from the "stupid sluggard king," at Paris. At last, impatient of the farce, he sent this question to the Pope: "Who is king, he who governs or he who wears the crown?" "He who governs, of course," answered the Pope. "That is myself," said the little man with a great will; "so the sluggards shall go to sleep forever," and he sent the last of them, Childeric III., the last of the Merovingians, into a monastery. Then the nobles put their shields together, and the little man was seated on a chair, on their shields, and with him thus, "shouting and raising their shields as high as they could, they marched three times, round the parliament, and then, by St. Boniface, he was anointed Archbishop of Metz, A.D. 752. Pepin did not forget that he owed a debt of gratitude to the Pope for the answer he had given to his question, and when, shortly after, the Pope sent to complain of the trouble occasioned by the Lombards, Pepin crossed the Alps, punished the Lombards, took from them all the territory about Rome and gave it to the Pope "to belong to him and to the bishops of Rome forever. That was the beginning of the Papal sovereignty. The States of the Church, as they were called, remained under the sovereignty of the Popes until 1871." Pepin le Bref, King of France, died in 768. He married Bertha (Bertrada) of Laon. She died in 783.

Pepin married Bartrada DE LEON about 740. Bartrada (daughter of Count Cabaret OF LEON) was born in 720 in Laon (Aisne), France; died on 12 Jul 783. [Group Sheet]

Charibert married Giselle BERTRADA, de Merovingia. Giselle (daughter of Roi Chlotar KING DE MEROVINGIA) was born about 695; and died. [Group Sheet]