Pepin I Carolingian
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Carloman Carolingian (777 - 810)

Carloman (Pepin I) "King of Italy, Pippin" Carolingian
Born in Frankish Empiremap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 33 in Mediolanum (Milan), Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)map
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Profile last modified | Created 6 Mar 2012
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Contents

Biography

Disambiguation

Two of Charlemagne's children are easily confused because both were called Pepin:

  • Pepin, called Pepin the Hunchback, was born about 770 to Charlemagne and Himiltrude who was either his mistress or wife according to Germanic custom. He is not known to have had children.
  • Carloman, was named Carloman at birth about 777 to Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard, but baptized with the name Pepin in 781. As Pepin, he became King of Italy.

Name

Carloman was the name he was given at birth in 777.[1][2] He was named after his paternal uncle. [3]
Pepin (Peppinum) was the name he was given at his baptism by the Pope in 781.
Pépin (Carloman)[3]

777 Date of Birth

His year of birth is disputed between 773 and 777.

Favoring 777, the Henry Project quotes Karl Werner's 1967 work in support of 777 [4] *Cawley uses the date 777 as the birth year for Carloman, the son of Charles I, King of the Franks (Charlemagne), and his wife Hildegard. [1]

Favoring 773, Douglas Richardson in Royal Ancestry gives Carloman's birth as April 773 [2] Apparently following Richardson, Wikipedia reports Carloman's date of birth as April 773.</b> [5]

Carloman's parents were Charlemagne, who died 28 January 814, king of the Franks, Emperor, and his mother was Hildegard, who d. 30 April 783, sister of count Gerold.[3]

Place of Birth

His place of birth is unknown. [3]

781 Baptism, Reign and Realm

Originally named Carloman, he was baptized at Rome by Pope Hadrian 15 April 781, at which time he was given the name Pepin or Pippin.[2][1].

He was renamed Pépin in 781 when he was named as king of Italy by pope Hadrian. [3]

At his baptism he was made King of the Lombards at Pavia (under Adalhard's regency). [1] Pepin was king of the Lombards (781-810) under the authority of his father.[5]

Some accounts state that he was given the name Pepin after his older half-brother Pepin the Hunchback betrayed his father. This is false because Carloman was renamed Pepin in 781, while Pepin the Hunchback's betrayal did not occur until 792.

He was King of Italy, 781-810. [3][2]

He was active as ruler of Lombardy and worked to expand the Frankish empire. In 791, he marched a Lombard army into the Drava valley and ravaged Pannonia, while his father marched along the Danube into Avar territory. Charlemagne left the campaigning to deal with a Saxon revolt in 792. [5]

Pepin and Duke Eric of Friuli continued, however, to assault the Avars' ring-shaped strongholds. The great Ring of the Avars, their capital fortress, was taken twice. The booty was sent to Charlemagne in Aachen and redistributed to all his followers and even to foreign rulers, including King Offa of Mercia. [5]

The Kingdom of Italy (Latin: Regnum Italiae or Regnum Italicum, Italian: Regno d'Italia) was one of the constituent kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, along with the kingdoms of Germany, Bohemia, and Burgundy. It comprised northern and central Italy, but excluded the Republic of Venice. Its original capital was Pavia until the 11th century. [6]

The Carolingian dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 773 when Charlemagne invaded the Kingdom of the Lombards, until the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887. [7]

Mistress Chrothais

A mistress was named Chrothais, [3] of whom Settipani states her name is provided by a litany of Reichenau and that she was without doubt a close relative of Adalhard de Corbie and of her half brother Wala, the future protectors of Bernard of Italy. [8] Baldwin believes that Chrothais was the mother of Bernard [3] as does Cawley in the Medieval Lands Database. [9]

Unverified Marriages shown in some sources

There are reports in wikipedia that he married Bertha, born in Toulouse in 777, which would make her the same age as Pepin. Bertha's ancestry is not known from any reliable source although spuriously she has been called the daughter of William of Gellone, count of Toulouse, [5] . A wife Bertha is not confirmed by Richardson, Cawley, or the Henry Project, and Bertha is delinked from this profile as a wife. . There are also reports that he married Ingletrude d'Italia, born in Autun in 775. A wife Ingletrude is not confirmed by Richardson, Cawley, or the Henry Project, and Ingletrude is delinked from this profile as a wife.

At least one site (Find-a-Grave) conflates Bertha and Ingletrude into one person. A collection of secondary source sites is provied on Ingletrude's profile, but nothing rises to the level of a confident fact.

799 Celebratory Poem

A celebratory poem, De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica, was composed after Pepin forced the Avar khagan to submit in 796. [5]

This poem was composed at Verona, Pepin's capital after 799 and the centre of Carolingian Renaissance literature in Italy. The Versus de Verona (c. 800), an urban encomium of the city, likewise praises king Pepin. [5]

810 Liberation of Corsica

The "Codex Gothanus" History of the Lombards hails Pepin's campaign against Benevento and his liberation of Corsica "from the oppression of the Moors."His activities included a long, but unsuccessful siege of Venice in 810. The siege lasted six months and Pepin's army was ravaged by the diseases of the local swamps and was forced to withdraw. A few months later Pepin died.[5]

810 Death

Multiple sources give Pepin's death as 8 July 810, and his place of burial as Mediolanum (modern Milan). [3]

On his premature death in 810, Italy went soon after to his illegitimate son Bernard, who was unable to hold on to it for long.[3]

He died 8 July 810 [1] at Milan [2] He was buried at Verona, San Zeno [1]

Pepin was expected to inherit a third of his father's empire, but he predeceased him. The Lombard crown passed on to his illegitimate son Bernard, but the empire went to Pepin's younger brother Louis the Pious.[5]

Issue

Richardson states that by his mistress, Pepin had one illegitimate son, Bernard [King of Italy] and that by an unknown wife (or mistress), he had five daughters, Adailhaide, Atula, Guntrada, Berthaid, and Theoderade, [2]

Stewart Baldwin [3] shows Bernard and the five daughters all as illegitimate.

Wikipedia, however states that Bertha was the mother of the five daughters: (Adelaide, married Lambert I of Nantes; Atala; Gundrada; Bertha; and Tetrada), all of whom but the eldest were born between 800 and Pepin's death and died before their grandfather's death in 814. [5]

Given the uncertainty of motherhood, none of the illegitimate children of Pepin other than Bernard, son of Chrothais, should be linked to a particular mother.

  1. Bernard (Carolingian) di Italia, b. 797, Vermandois, Neustria [10] Bernard, became King of Italy, son of Pepin and a mistress.[2] who was probably Chrothais. [3] Bernard I, King of Italy (797 - 17 Aug 818 Milan). [1] In 813 Bernard married Cunigundis, who died after 15 June 835. [1] Bernard, b. ca. 797, d. 17 April 818, king of Italy 812×3-817.[3] ["... Bernhardus, filius Pippini ex concubina natus, ...", Thegan, Vita Hludowici, c. 22, MGH SS 2: 596]
  2. Adelais (Carolingian) des Francs, b. 798, Saxony [10] Adelais (798 - after 810). Adélaïde/Adelheid, b. ca. 798, d. after 810.[3]
  3. Adula (Carolingian) di Italia, Aix-la-Chapelle, Austrasia [10] Adula (800/10 - after 810). [11] Atula, d. after 810.[3]
  4. Guntrada (Italy) Carolingian, b. 800, France [10] Guntrada (800/10 - after 810).[11] Gundrada, d. after 810.[3]
  5. Bertaide (Italy) Carolingian, b. 803, France [10] Bertaide (800/10 - after 810).[11] Berthaid, d. after 810.[3]
  6. Theodrada (Italia) Carolingian, b. 800, Vermandois [10] Theodrada (800/10 - after 810).[11] Theodrada, d. after 810.[3]

The following additional child is linked on WikiTree and requires further research: Unknown di Italia, b. 800 [10]

Cawley suggests the possibility of another daughter Aeda. [12] who married (unproven) Billung (p. Unknown)

Baldwin in the Henry Project states that a daughter Aeda who married Billung, is falsely attributed to Pepin and falsely identified with Adélaïde):[3]

Douglas Richardson [2] provides one line of descent from Charlemagne to William the Conqueror and four lines of descent from Charlemagne to William's wife Maud.

Parent: Charlemagne, 747-813
This profile: Pepin/Carloman, 777-810.
Child: Bernard, 797-818

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Cawley, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Medlands Data Base.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Kimball G. Everengham, ed. Salt Lake City, Utah: 2013. Volume V, pages 483-484
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 Pepin I, compiled by Stewart Baldwin. The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England. Stewart Baldwin and Todd Farmerie, eds. "An experiment in cooperative medieval genealogy on the internet. Last updated 3 April 2011 http://home.earthlink.net/~henryproject/hproject/prov/pepin000.htm. See also http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/prov/pepin000.htm. Accessed Feb 21, 2017. jhd
  4. Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen bis um das Jahr 1000 (1.-8. Generation)", Karl der Große 4 (1967): 403-483, page 443, cited by the Henry Project
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Wikipedia. Pepin of Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepin_of_Italy
  6. Wikipedia. Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire Accessed Feb 20, 2017 jhd
  7. In 773, Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, crossed the Alps to invade the Kingdom of the Lombards, which encompassed all of Italy except the Duchy of Rome and some Byzantine possessions in the south. In June 774, the kingdom collapsed and the Franks became masters of northern Italy. The southern areas remained under Lombard control in the Duchy of Benevento. Charlemagne adopted the title "King of the Lombards" and in 800 had himself crowned "Emperor of the Romans" in Rome. Members of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule Italy until the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887, after which they once briefly regained the throne in 894–96. Until 961, the rule of Italy was continually contested by several aristocratic families from both within and without the kingdom. Wikipedia. Italy (Holy Roman Empire.
  8. Christian Settipani, La préhistoire des Capétiens 481-987 (Première partie - Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens) (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 1993). pp 211-2, cited by Henry Project
  9. Charles Cawley. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Medieval Lands Database. Entry for Cunigunde. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/FRANKISH%20NOBILITY.htm#Cunigundisdied835. Accessed May 16, 2017. jhd
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Wiki Data Field, Not otherwise sourced
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 One of Carloman's last four daughters may have married Lambert, Marchese and Duke of Spoleto, Comte de Nantes ... but no-one knows which one, and there are no primary sources to back this claim. [1]
  12. Charles Cawley, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Medieval Lands Database. Billung




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Comments: 7

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See comment below, this page http://www.manfred-hiebl.de/mittelalter-genealogie/karolinger_familie_pippins/pippin_koenig_von_italien_810.html has section from Werner about Pepin. It's in German, but Google translate does a reasonable job.
posted by John Atkinson
The original source for the 777 birth date is the Vita Hludowici, by Thegan, written about 840, which states that Pepin was aged 33 when he died in 810. The April 773 date comes from the research of Erich Brandenburg, and I'm not totally sure of the original source. However it is partly based on the Chroniques (or Annales) de Lorsch which state that Pepin was alive in 774. However this was possibly written much later and also has his younger brother Louis also alive in 774 when most sources place his birth in 778. Apparently the 777 birth date for Pepin also fits in better with what is known about when his sisters were born. On balance it would seem that 777 is more likely but would be interesting to find out why Douglas Richardson uses April 773?
posted by John Atkinson
Actually it is only the English Wikipedia page that has April 773 as his birth date. The French version has 777 and the Italian version April 773 or 777.
posted by John Atkinson
Does anybody have the citation reference from Richardson (2005), saying where he sourced his birth date of April 773? I'd like to correct the date in Wikipedia, using the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy source, which cites the original data from Pauli Gesta Episcop. Mettensium, MGH SS II, p. 265 (I'm looking for an online version of that source). The Wikipedia page says "This article needs additional sources for verification".
posted by Bob Fields
Wikipedia states that he was born in April 773, not 777. Wikipedia
posted by Pierre Goolaerts
King of Italy-13 and Carolingian-85 appear to represent the same person because: Same name, same dates.

But Birth date must be changed from 777 to April 773.

posted by Pierre Goolaerts
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posted by Doug Lockwood

C  >  Carolingian  >  Carloman Carolingian

Categories: Carolingian Dynasty | Charlemagne to William the Conqueror Descent