Childeric III

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Childeric III (died about 753), king of the Franks, was the last king of the Merovingian dynasty from 743 to his deposition in 751.

The throne had been vacant for seven years when the mayors of the palace, Carloman and Pepin the Short, decided in 743 to recognize Childeric as king. Neither his parentage nor his relation to the Merovingian family are known for sure. He may have been the son of Chilperic II.

He took no part in public business, which was directed, as previously, by the mayors of the palace. When, in 747, Carloman retired into a monastery, 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 tonsured, deposit et detonsit, on the orders of Zachary's successor, Stephen II, according to Einhard, quia non erat utilis, "because he was not useful." His long hair was the symbol of his dynasty and thus the royal rights (some say magical powers), by cutting it, they divested him of all royal prerogatives. In 752, he and his son Theuderic were placed in the monastery of Saint-Bertin, though some say he in Saint-Omer and Theuderic in Saint-Wandrille. He died about four years later. Under the Carolingians, he received bad press, being called a rex falsus, false king, despite the fact that it was Pepin who raised him to his throne.

References

• Junghans, W. Die Geschichte der fränkischen Konige Childerich und Clodovech. Göttingen, 1857.
• Chiflet, J. J., Anastasis Childerici I Francorum regis. Antwerp, 1655.
• Cochet, J. B. D. Le Tombeau de Childeric I, roi des Francs. Paris, 1859.
• Lavisse, E. Histoire de France, Vol. II. Paris, 1903.
• Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., translator. The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations. Greenwood Press: Connecticut, 1960.
• Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Long-Haired Kings. London, 1962.
• Einhard. Annales Regni Francorum.

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