9691 Individuals
in our Database | |  | | | QUEEN OF THE FRANKS
Bertrada Broadfoot of Laon BERTHA Sex: Female | | | |  | | Birth Date | 0720 | | Death Date | 0783 JUN 12 | | Father | Charibert count of Laon | Born: 0696 | Died: 0747 | | Mother | | Born: | | | Bertrada Broadfoot of Laon
Notes: | Bertrada of Laon, also called Bertha Broadfoot (cf. latin: Regina pede aucae i.e. the queen with the goose-foot), (710/27 – July 12, 783) was a Frankish queen. She was born in Laon, in todays Aisne, France, the daughter of Caribert of Laon. She married Pepin the Short, the son of the Frankish Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel, in 740, although the union was not canonically sanctioned until several years later. Eleven years later, in 751, Pepin and Bertrada became King and Queen of the Franks, following Pepins successful coup against the Frankish Merovingian monarchs. Bertrada and Pepin are known to have had four children, three sons and one daughter: of these, Charles (Charlemagne), Carloman, and Gisela survived to adulthood, whilst Pepin died in infancy. Charlemagne and Carloman would inherit the two halves of their fathers kingdom when he died, and Gisela became a nun. Bertrada lived at the court of her elder son Charles, and according to Einhard their relationship was excellent. She recommended he marry his first wife, Desiderata, a daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius, but he soon divorced her. Einhard claims this was the only episode that ever strained relations between mother and son. Bertrada lived with Charlemagne until her death in 783; the king buried her in Saint Denis Basilica with great honors.
| | Notes: | Berthe was known as Berthe-au-grand-pied because one foot was larger than the other. Berthe was for many years, at least since 740, the concubine of Pepin III. In 749 she convinced him to marry her. Note - in 770: The winds of history in the year 770 no longer blow from Aquitaine but from Lombardy. This Kingdom, north of a strange Italy of the time [Italy being bitten into little pieces by the aspirations of the Lombards to the North, the Byzantines and the Pope. Charles, though the "devoted defender of the Holy Church and its auxilliaries in all things" as he refers to himself, should logically and normally have followed the politics of his father with respect to Rome, and therefore to protect the papacy from its enemies, the Lombards. But he would hear none of it. Carloman casts a benign eye on the Lombards, where Didier, the ancient Duke of Tuscanny still reigned. Bertrada, the widow of Pippin, despairing at the level of hate which separated her two sons, took matters into her hands, as a strong-willed woman is sometimes wont to do when endowed with power. She visits Carloman near Seltz [in Alsace], and secures his agreement from him. She crosses the Alps under the pretext of "worshiping in Rome the temples of the Holy Apostles" and visits Pope Stephen III. In fact, she had but one thing on her mind: To reconcile her two sons by bringing Charles closer to the Lombards, since Carloman is the friend of the ruler of Lombardy. The politics of the two brothers then would become tied to a common interest, That could be a first step. One could also marry Gisele, sister of Charles and Carloman to Didier"s son. Unfortunately, Gisele is not yet nubile. In the meantime, Bertrada proposes the marriage of her son Charles with Desiree, Didier"s daughter! The King of the Lombards accepts the proposal as does Charles. However, the future emperor is already attached to a young frankish woman, Himiltrude, who has born him a son and a daughter -- unfortunately, the son is hunchback. Although Himiltrude is only a concubine of the King, the Pope being furious with the developments bringing together his natural protectors, the Francs, with his natural enemies, the Lombards, calls the union of Charles to Desiree diabolical. How can the Francs, a race ".. endowed with such beautiful women ..." posibly consider a union with "...this fetid race of Lombards, the most perfidious, and odious of all races, who have never been counted in the race of civilized nations, and from whom leprosy came ..." Pope Stephen III exclaimed. Whiles Charles considers the matter, Bertrada gets Desiree and brings her to her son in Pavia. His first look at Desiree immediately caused him to miss Himiltrude. It seems that Desiree was the epitomy of ugliness. The marriage takes place anyway.
| | Notes: | Frankish Queen, daughter of Count Charibert de Laon and Gisele of Aquitaine. For a woman of her time she was well educated and spoke Latin. She met Pippin in 741 and they fell in love, but he was already married to Princess Leutburga with whom he had five children. Another obstacle to their marriage was their close blood relationship. She lived by his side as his mistress for several years. After she gave birth to their first child, Charlemagne around 743, he convinced Leutburga to separate and retire to the monastery of Lorsch. Pippin married Berthe probably in 749. Pippin had succeeded his father Charles Martel as majordomos in 741 and ousted King Childeric III. from power in 751 and sent him also to a monastery. In the same year she gave birth to a second son, Carloman. A few months later the nobles of the kingdom elected him as King and soon after that he went to Narbonne to fight against the Saracen. She accompanied him on this and other campaigns. In later years the marriage became much cooler and they nearly separated. Only the intervention of the Pope prevented that. After Pippins death in 768 she became more involved in the politics in her sons kingdoms. She mediated between Charles and his brother and they stopped fighting with each other. In 770 she traveled to Bavaria where she met her nephew Duke Tassilo. She lived for several years at Charles court at Aachen. She later moved to the Abbey of Choisy sur Aisne where she spend the last decade of her life. Its not sure that she is buried in St. Denis as some say she might be buried in the Val de Meuse. (bio by: Lutetia)
| |  | | Birth Date | 0714 Jupille-sur-Meuse, Liège, Liege, Walloon Region, Belgium | | Death Date | 0768 SEP 24 | | Father | Charles Martel | Born: 0686 AUG 23 | Died: 0741 OCT 22 | | Mother | Rotrude | Born: 0690 | Died: 0724 | | Pepin III King of the Franks THE SHORT Notes: | Pepin or Pippin (714 – 24 September 768), called the Short, and often known as Pepin the Younger or Pepin III,[1] was the Mayor of the Palace and Duke of the Franks from 741 and King of the Franks from 751 to 768. He was the father of Charlemagne. He was the son of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, and of Rotrude of Trier (690–724). Assumption of power Pepins father, Charles Martel, died in 741. He divided the rule of the Frankish kingdom between Pepin and his elder brother, Carloman, his surviving sons by his first wife: Carloman became Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, Pepin became Mayor of the Palace of Neustria. Grifo, Charless son by his second wife, Swanahild (also known as Swanhilde), demanded a share in the inheritance, but he was imprisoned in a monastery by his two half-brothers. As in the Frankish realm the unity of the kingdom was essentially connected with the person of the king, Carloman, to secure this unity raised the Merovingian Childeric to the throne (743). In 747 he resolved to enter a monastery. This left Francia in the hands of Pepin as sole mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum, a title originated by his grandfather and namesake Pepin of Heristal. At the time of Carlomans retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Duke Odilo of Bavaria, who was married to Hiltrude, Pepins sister. Pepin put down the renewed revolt led by his half-brother and succeeded in completely restoring the boundaries of the kingdom. Under the reorganization of Francia by Charles Martel the dux et princeps Francorum were the commanders of the armies of the kingdom, in addition to their administrative duties as mayor of the palace, and specifically commander of the standing guard which Charles Martel had begun maintaining year-round since Toulouse in 721. First Carolingian king Pepin was subject to the decisions of Childric who had only the title of King but no power. Childric was considered a joke by the people. Since Pepin had control over the magnates and actually had the power of the king, he now addressed to Pope Zachary the suggestive question: In regard to the kings of the Franks who no longer possess the royal power, is this state of things proper? | | Individual Notes: | Hard pressed by the Lombards, Pope Zacharias welcomed this advance of the Franks which aimed at ending an intolerable condition of things, and at laying the constitutional foundations for the exercise of the royal power. The pope replied that such a state of things was not proper. The de facto power is more important than the de jure power. After this decision the throne was declared vacant. The crown was given him not by the Pope but by the Franks. According to the ancient custom Pepin was then elected King of the Franks by an assembly of Frankish leading-men, with a large portion of his army on hand (in the event that the nobility inclined not to honor the Papal bull), and anointed at Soissons, by Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, who, along with his niece, Saint Leoba, was a court advisor. Meanwhile, Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean de Maurienne in 753. Childeric III was deposed, his hair shaved off and he was confined to a monastery. He was the last of the Merovingians. | | More Notes: | | | |
Ancestors Chart | Parents 2 | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024 persons | - | count of Laon
Charibert
b.0696
d.0747 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Bertrade de Prum
b.0670
d.0720 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Parents 2 | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024-persons | - | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 persons | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 Persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024 persons | - | | | | |
