Editing Childeric III

{{Short description|King of the Franks from 743 to 751; last king of the Merovingian Dynasty}}
{{Infobox royalty
| succession   = [[King of the Franks]]
| image        = Jean Dassier (1676-1763) - Childéric III roy de France (754).jpg
| caption = Fictitious representation of Childeric III, 18th-century medallion by [[Jean Dassier]]
| reign        = 743–751
| predecessor  = [[Theuderic IV]]
| successor    = [[Pepin the Short]]
| spouse       = 
| issue        = Theuderic
| house        = [[Merovingian]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [[Chilperic II]] or [[Theuderic IV]]{{sfn|Rosenwein|2009|p=84}}
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = {{circa}} 717
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{circa}} 754
| death_place  = 
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = 
}}

'''Childeric III''' ({{circa}} 717 – {{circa}} 754) was [[King of the Franks]] from 743 until he was deposed in 751 by [[Pepin the Short]]. He was the last Frankish king from the [[Merovingian]] dynasty. Once Childeric was deposed, Pepin became king, initiating the [[Carolingian]] dynasty.{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=65}}

==Background==

{{One source section|date=October 2022}}
Following the reign of [[Dagobert I]] (629–634), the power of the [[Merovingian]] kings gradually declined into a ceremonial role, while the real power in the [[Francia|Frankish kingdom]] was increasingly wielded by the [[mayor of the palace|mayors of the palace]]. In 718, [[Charles Martel]] combined the roles of [[mayor of the palace]] of [[Neustria]] and [[mayor of the palace]] of [[Austrasia]], consolidating his position as the most powerful man in Francia. After the death of king [[Theuderic IV]] in 737, Charles Martel ruled without a king on the throne.

After Charles Martel's death in 741, [[Carloman, son of Charles Martel|Carloman]] and [[Pepin the Short]], his sons by his first wife Rotrude, became co-mayors of the palace. However, they soon faced revolts from their younger half-brother [[Grifo (noble)|Grifo]] and their brother-in-law [[Odilo, Duke of Bavaria]]. These revolts may have played a part in their decision to fill the throne with a Merovingian king after a six-year vacancy to add legitimacy to their reigns.{{sfn|McKitterick|1999|p=34}}

==Life==

[[File:Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne - Le dernier des Mérovingiens - Evariste-Vital Luminais -Joconde 04400000403.jpg|thumb|left|''The Last of the Merovingians'', a painting by [[Evariste-Vital Luminais]], depicting the cutting of Childeric's hair.]]

Childeric's parentage and his relation to the Merovingian family are uncertain. He may have been either the son of [[Chilperic II]] or [[Theuderic IV]].{{sfn|Rosenwein|2009|p=84}}

According to Einhard, Charlemagne's biographer, Childeric took little part in public business and would, once a year, be brought in an [[Bullock cart|ox cart]] led by a peasant and preside at court on a throne, giving answers prepared by the mayors to visiting ambassadors.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=118}} In this narrative, he had neither political nor economic power, depending on his own small estate and on mayoral support.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=118}}

After Carloman retired to a monastery in 747, Pepin resolved to take the royal crown for himself. Pepin sent letters to [[Pope Zachary]], asking whether the title of king belonged to the one who had exercised the power or the one with the royal lineage. The pope responded that the real power should have the royal title as well. In 751, Childeric was dethroned and [[tonsure]]d.{{sfn|Tierney|1964|p=20}} His long hair was the symbol of his dynasty, and thus of the royal powers he enjoyed; by cutting it, they divested him of all royal prerogatives. Once dethroned, he was confined to the [[Benedictine]] [[Abbey of Saint Bertinus|monastery of Saint-Bertin]]{{sfn|Theuws|de Jong|van Rhijn|2001|p=326}} in [[Saint-Omer]], while his son Theuderic was sent to the monastery of [[Saint-Wandrille]].

There are conflicting accounts of exactly when Childeric died, with some sources claiming as early as 753, while others state that his death occurred as late as 758.

== References ==

{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==

{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |first=P. S. |last=Barnwell |title=Einhard, Louis the Pious and Childeric III |volume=78 |issue=200 |year=2005 |pages=129–39 |journal=Historical Research |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.2005.00224.x}}
*{{cite journal |first=Constance B. |last=Bouchard |title=Childeric III and the Emperors Drogo Magnus and Pippin the Pious |journal=Medieval Prosopography |volume=28 |year=2013 |pages=1–16}}
*{{cite book |title=Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages |editor1=Frans Theuws |editor2=Mayke de Jong |editor2-link=Mayke de Jong |editor3=Carine Van Rhijn |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |first=Mayke |last=De Jong |chapter=Monastic Prisoners or Opting Out? Political Coercion and Honour in the Frankish Kingdoms |pages=291–327}}
*{{cite book |last=Enright |first=Michael |title=Iona, Tara, and Soissons: The Origin of the Royal Anointing Ritual |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1985}}
*{{cite book |last=Fouracre |first=Paul |chapter=The Long Shadow of the Merovingians |title=Charlemagne: Empire and Society |editor=Joanna Story |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2005 |pages=5–21}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Frassetto|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation|chapter=Childeric III (d.754) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yW-GfElbafQC&pg=PA118|pages=118–19|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-263-9 }}
*{{cite book |first=Patrick J. |last=Geary |author-link=Patrick J. Geary |title=Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1988}}
*{{cite book |title=The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians |first=Rosamond |last=McKitterick |author-link=Rosamond McKitterick |publisher=Longman |year=1999 }}
*{{cite book |first=Pierre |last=Riché |translator1-first=Michael Idomir |translator1-last=Allen |title=The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1993 }}
*{{cite book |first=Barbara H. |last=Rosenwein |title=A Short History of the Middle Ages |publisher=University of Toronto |year=2009 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Theuws |first1=Frans |title=Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages |year=2001 |publisher=Koninklijke Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-11734-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIWJZ7mAMJQC |last2=de Jong |first2=Mayke |last3=van Rhijn |first3=Carine}}
*{{cite book |first=Brian |last=Tierney |title=The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300 |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1964 |url=https://archive.org/details/crisisofchurchst00tier/page/20}}
*{{cite book |first=Ian N. |last=Wood |author-link=Ian N. Wood |title=The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751 |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow |year=1994}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==

{{commons category}}
{{EB1911 Poster|Childeric}}
*Junghans, W. ''Die Geschichte der fränkischen Konige Childerich und Clodovech''. [[Göttingen]], 1857.
*[[Jean-Jacques Chifflet|Chiflet, J. J.]], ''Anastasis Childerici I Francorum regis''. [[Antwerp]], 1655.
*Cochet, J. B. D. ''Le Tombeau de Childeric I, roi des Francs''. [[Paris]], 1859.
*[[Ernest Lavisse|Lavisse, E.]] ''Histoire de France'', Vol. II. [[Paris]], 1903.
*[[John Michael Wallace-Hadrill|Wallace-Hadrill, J. M.]], translator. ''The Fourth Book of the [[Chronicle of Fredegar]] with its Continuations''. Greenwood Press: [[Connecticut]], 1960.
*[[John Michael Wallace-Hadrill|Wallace-Hadrill, J. M.]] ''The Long-Haired Kings''. [[London]], 1962.
*[https://archive.today/20070927212713/http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/unknown/annales_regni_francorum/unknown_annales_regni_francorum.html Einhard. ''Annales Regni Francorum''.]

{{s-start}}
{{s-vac|last=[[Theuderic IV]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[King of the Franks]]|years=743–751}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pepin the Short|Pepin]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Merovingians}}
{{Monarchs of France}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Childeric Iii}}
[[Category:710s births]]
[[Category:750s deaths]]
[[Category:Dethroned monarchs]]
[[Category:Merovingian kings]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:8th-century Frankish kings]]
[[Category:Forcibly monasticised]]