Editing Mayor of the palace

{{short description|Merovingian-dynasty term for the manager of the King's household}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2023}}
{{No footnotes|date=August 2023}}
Under the [[Merovingian dynasty]], the '''mayor of the palace''' or '''[[majordomo]]''',<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/majordomo Cambridge Dictionary] Consulted 09 July 2024. </ref>
({{langx|la|maior palatii}} or {{lang|la|maior domus}}) was the manager of the household of the [[List of Frankish kings|Frankish king]]. He was the head of the Merovingian administrative ladder and orchestrated the operation of the entire court. He was appointed by the king from among the magnates, the most powerful families.<ref>Yitzhak Hen, The Merovingian Polity: A Network of Courts and Courtiers, in: Bonnie Effros and Isabel Moreira (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 226</ref> [[Austrasia]], [[Neustria]] and [[Burgundy]] had their own mayor of the palace. After [[Chlothar II]], who ruled over the entire [[Frankish Kingdom]], had ordered the execution of [[Warnachar]], the mayor of Burgundy, the magnates of Burgundy declared in 626 not to want their own mayor anymore; see Fredegar IV.54. This declaration marks the effective end of the Burgundian court and the beginning of the Neustrian-Burgundian political alliance against Austrasian influence. The Austrasian magnates revolted and the [[Battle of Tertry]] of 687 became the Austrasian victory with [[Pepin of Herstal]] as their leader and the new mayor of the palace.

During the second half of the seventh century, the office evolved into the "[[power behind the throne]]". At that time the mayor of the palace held and wielded the real and effective power to make decisions affecting the kingdom, while the kings were increasingly reduced to performing merely ceremonial functions, which made them little more than figureheads ({{lang|fr|[[rois fainéants]]}}, 'do-nothing kings'). The office may be compared to that of the [[peshwa]], {{lang|ja-Latn|[[shōgun]]}}, {{lang|te-Latn|[[sarvadhikari]]}} or [[Rana dynasty|prime minister]], all of which have similarly been the real powers behind some ceremonial monarchs.

In 687, after victory over the western kingdom of [[Neustria]], the [[Austrasia]]n mayor, [[Pippin of Herstal]], took the title [[Duke of the Franks]] to signify his augmented rule. His son and successor, [[Charles Martel]], ruled without elevating a new king during the last four years of his reign (737–741). His sons [[Carloman, Mayor of the Palace|Carloman]] and [[Pepin the Short]] elevated another Merovingian king, [[Childeric III]], but he was eventually deposed in 751 by Pepin, who was crowned king in his place. 

See also [[Royal Administration of Merovingian and Carolingian Dynasties]].

==Lists of mayors of the palaces==
===Austrasia===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:65%;"
|- style="background:#F9F9F9;"
! style="background:#FFDEAD; width:20%;"| Name
! style="background:#FFDEAD; width:15%;"| In office
! style="background:#FFDEAD; width:15%;"| Family
! style="background:#FFDEAD; width:45%;"| Remarks
|-
|-
|Parthenius
|align="center"|531–548
|court position is unknown
|
|-
|Carloman, father of Pepin of Landen
|align="center"|c. 550-560
|
|
|-
|[[Gogo (Mayor of the Palace)|Gogo]]
|align="center"|567–581
|court position is mentioned as 'comes' and 'nutricius'
|
|-
|[[Wandalenus]]
|align="center"|581–583
|[[Waltrichs]]
|
|-
|...
|align="center"|
|
|
|-
|[[Florentianus]]
|align="center"|by 589
|
|
|-
|...
|align="center"|
|
|
|-
|Protadus
|align="center"|595–600
|
|
|-
|Claudius
|align="center"|600
|
|
|-
|[[Gondulphus]]
|align="center"|600–612
|[[Merowingians]] (uncert.)
|
|-
|[[Warnachar]]
|align="center"|613
|
|Short after the assassination of [[Sigibert II]]
|-
|[[Rado (Hausmeier)|Rado]]
|align="center"|613–616/617
|
|
|-
|[[Hugh of Austrasia|Hugh]] (''Chucus'')
|align="center"|617–622
|[[Hugobertins]] (uncert.)
|
|-
|[[Pepin of Landen]] 
|align="center"|624/25–634
|[[Pippinids]]
|First time
|-
|[[Adalgisel]]
|align="center"|634–639
|
|
|-
|Pepin of Landen
|align="center"|639–640
|Pippinids
|Second time
|-
|[[Otto (Mayor of the Palace)|Otto]]
|align="center"|640–643
|
|
|-
|[[Grimoald I]]
|align="center"|643–657 or 662
|Pippinids
|
|-
|[[Ansegisel]]
|align="center"|657 or 662–662
|[[Arnulfingians]]
|
|-
|[[Wulfoald]]
|align="center"|662–679
|[[Etichonen]] (uncert.)
|
|-
|[[Pepin of Herstal]]
|align="center"|679–714
|Pippinids
|
|-
|[[Theudoald]]
|align="center"|714–715
|Pippinids
|de jure under his grandmother [[Plectrude]]
|-
|[[Karl Martell|Charles]] Martel
|align="center"|715–741
|Pippinids
|After the [[Battle of Soissons (718)]] Maior Domus in all parts of the realm
|-
|[[Carloman, Mayor of the Palace|Carloman]]
|align="center"|741–747
|Pippinids
|Austrasia containing also Alemania
|-
|[[Pepin the Short]]
|align="center"|747–751
|Pippinids
|Maior Domus for the whole realm
|-
|}

===Neustria===
*[[Mummolin of Soissons|Mummolin]] (566)
*[[Landric]], under [[Clotaire II]]
*[[Gundoland]] (613 or 616–639)
*[[Aega (Mayor of the Palace)|Aega]] (639–641), also in Burgundy
*[[Erchinoald]] (641–658)
*[[Ebroin]] (658–673), deposed
*[[Wulfoald]] (673–675), also in Austrasia (662–680)
*[[Leudesius]] (675), chosen but later deposed
*Ebroin (675–680), again
*[[Waratto]] (680 or 681–682), deposed by his son Gistemar
*[[Gistemar]] (682), usurper his father Waratton
*[[Waratto]] (682–684 or 686), again
*[[Berchar]] (686–688 or 689), murdered in 688 or 689
*[[Nordebert]] 687-695), under protection of [[Pippin of Herstal]]
*[[Grimoald II]] (695–714)
*[[Theudoald]] (714–715), also in Austrasia. Driven out of Neustria by the nobility, surrendered claim in 716.
*[[Ragenfrid]] (715–718), took power in Neustria in 714 or 715 but defeated by Charles Martel first in 717 and definitively in 718
*[[Charles Martel]] (718–741), also in Austrasia (715–741)
*[[Pepin the Short]] (741 or 742–751), became [[king of the Franks]] in 751

===Burgundy===

*[[Warnachar I]] (596–599)
*[[Berthoald]] (before 603–604)
*[[Protadius]] (604–606)
*[[Claudius (Mayor of the Palace)|Claudius]]
*[[Rado (mayor of the palace)|Rado]] (613–617)
*[[Warnachar II]] (617–626), also in Austrasia
*[[Godinus]] (626–627)
*...
*[[Aega (Mayor of the Palace)|Aega]] (639–641), also in Neustria
*[[Flaochad]] (642)
*[[Radobertus]] (642–662)

Hereafter the office remained vacant, with [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]] a separate realm under the King of Neustria and Burgundy. The administration of Burgundy was briefly separate under:

*[[Drogo of Champagne|Drogo]] (695–708), also duke of [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] from 690 and duke of Burgundy from 697

===Aquitaine===

*[[Brodulf]] (627–628)

==Further reading==
*[[Charles Oman|Oman, Charles]]. ''The Dark Ages, 476–918''. London: Rivingtons, 1914.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayor Of The Palace}}
[[Category:Mayors of the Palace| ]]
[[Category:Pippinids]]
[[Category:Titles]]

[[no:Liste over frankiske rikshovmestre]]