Bernard, King of Italy

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: birth to death

Notes:

Name:


History:
In September 813, he was crowned the King of Italy.

He revolted in July 817 when his uncle, Louis (I) the Pious who had succeeded Charlemagne as Emperor, proceeded to divide the empire among his sons, Bernhard's cousins. Bernhard doubtless felt that his father Pépin had been crowned King of Italy by Charlemagne and that he should follow his father as the full fledged King of Italy. Louis the Pious, however, had a different view of the situation. Seeing as Pépin had died before Charlemagne, Louis the Pious felt that as Charlemagne's heir, he was overall king or emperor; and that Bernhard was perhaps sort of a sub-king. Bernhard's revolt didn't work, and he was forced to submit to Louis in December 817, and he abdicated.

Bernard married Cunigunde in 813. Cunigunde died on 15 Jun 835. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Pépin, Count of Senlis, Peronne and St. Quentin was born in 817/18; died after 840.

Other Events and Attributes:

• General Information: He was called at birth Carlolman, but christened Pépin, by which he is known.
• Crowned: 781; In 781, his father, Charlemagne, crowned him the King of Italy.
• Crowned: 15 Apr 781; On 15 April 781, he was crowned the King of Lombardy.

Notes:

Stuart: 114-40; 231-40

Christened:
He was christened by Pope Adrian I.

Name:

Pépin married Chrothais. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: say 770

Notes:

History:
She was also known as Bertha.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 767 to 814; King of the Franks (Carolingian dynasty)
• Land/House: 768
• Reign: From 800 to 814; Holy Roman Emperor

Notes:

Death: Weis (1982) gives his death place as Aix la Chapelle.

Name:


More is known about Charlemagne than most medieval rulers because of a biography written by Einhard, a friend of his son Louis the Pious. This biography describes Charlemagne as more than six feet tall, with piercing eyes, fair hair, a thick neck, and a potbelly. He was strong, fond of exercise, and had an alert mind and a forceful personality. Charlemagne could read and speak Latin, the language of educated people of the time. However, he never learned to write it.

Land/House:
When Pépin the Short died in 768, the Frankish lands were divided according to ancient Frankinsh law and tradition between Pépin's sons Carloman and Charles. During the next three years until Carloman's death in 771, relations between the two brothers were sometimes strained. In 774, Charles "the Great" or Karolus Magnus, more widely known as Charlemagne, conquered Lombardy and confirmed his father's donation of the Papal States. Charlemagne added Bavaria to his realm, and eventually defeated the Saxons and forced them to convert to Christianity. Charlemagne also waged war in Spain. He was returning from an expedition there in 778 when a mountain people called the Basques ambushed and wiped out his rear guard. This incident became the subject of the famous epic poem The Song of Roland, however, the ambushers were the Moors.

Reign:
On 25 December 800, he was crowed Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome.

Charlemagne married Hildegarde, Countess in Linzgau in 771 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hildegarde (daughter of Gerold, Count in the Vinzgau and Emma of Allemania) was born in 758; died on 30 Apr 783. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
She was also known as Hildegarde of Vinzgau.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Title(s): 741
• Crowned: 751
• Reign: From 751 to 768; King of the Franks (Carolingian dynasty)
• Military: 753

Notes:

Name:


Pépin served as Mayor of the Palace.

Title(s):
Following the death of their father Charles Martel in 741, Pépin the Short along with his older brother Carloman imprisoned their half brother Grifo and took control of the Frankish Empire as joint Mayors of the Palace. Pépin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy and Provence and Carloman ruled in Austrasia. In order to legitimize their rule, the brothers revived the kingship by raising Childeric III to the throne in 743. Pépin and Carloman continued to hold the real power. That same year, Pépin and Carloman conquered their brother-in-law Duke Odilo of Bavaria. However, discord in Bavaria continued; and it was not until 757 that Odilo's son (Pépin's nephew) Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and the magnates of Bavaria were finally forced to acknowledge themselves as vassals of Pépin the Short.

Crowned:
In 747, Carloman withdrew from politics. With the support of the church and the Pope, Pépin had himself declared King of the Franks in 751. The former king, Childeric III, retired to a monastery.

Military:
In the winter of 753-754 after the Lombards forced Pope Stephen to leave Rome, the Pope visited Pépin the Short. The next summer, Pope Stephen anointed Pépin and his two sons Charlemagne and Carloman, and declared that the Franks were never to elect a king who was not of the sacred lineage of Pépin the Short. In return for Pope Stephen's support, Pépin the Short took his army to Italy and defeated the Lombards. Pépin's gift of a wide strip of land in central Italy to the Pope became known as the "Donation of Pépin". This land, called the Papal States, remained under the control of the popes until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.

Pépin married Bertha "Broadfoot" about 740. Bertha (daughter of Caribert, Count of Laon and Bertrada) was born about 720 in Laon, Hauts-de-France, France; died on 12 Jul 783. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Bertha was known as Queen Goose-Foot or Goose-Footed Bertha, and is the original Mother Goose.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Living: 779

Notes:

Name:
He was also known as Geroud of Swabia Count in the Anglachau.

Gerold married Emma of Allemania. Emma (daughter of Hnabi "Dux", Duke of Allemania, Count in the Linzgau) died in 798. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]