Pepin's Rebellion

There was a rebellion against Charlemagne in 792 by a handful of Frankish nobles headed by Charlemagne's eldest son, Pepin the Hunchback.

An anonymous Saxon poet known only as Poeta Saxo, writing in Annales de gestis Caroli magni imperatoris libri quinque ("Annals of the Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne in Five Books"; see the illustration), summed up the plot:

[W]icked men conceived a great crime which almost blotted out forever the shining light of the Franks, for they busied themselves in many ways plotting to put the king to death. For this purpose a cruel conspiracy is said to have been formed among the Frankish nobles. Conspicuous among them, the king's oldest son madly offered himself as the author of this crime, being more ignoble in his own worthless character than in his birth.

The plot was planned while Charlemagne was away from court, but a Lombard named Fardulf learned of it and informed Charlemagne. The co-conspirators were found out, accused of breaking their oaths of fealty to their king. The court found them guilty of oath-breaking and attempted regicide, confiscated their estates, and condemned them to death.

Charlemagne, however, overrode the death sentence on many, including that on his son. Loath to put his eldest son to death, Pepin was (at his own request, according to Einhard and Notker the Stammerer) tonsured and sent to a religious life at the monastery of Prüm (long before Regino of Prüm wrote his Carolingian history).

(And speaking of the religious life, the whistleblower, Fardulf, was given the position of abbot at St. Denis

The Lorsch Annals (covering 703 - 803) point out that, the following year, Charlemagne was extremely generous to his loyal retainers. It is possible that Pepin's rebellion was a perfect turning point in his reign. It gave him an excuse to excise Pepin the Hunchback from any chance of royal succession, it brought disloyal retainers out in the open, it made clear that the court would execute rebels, and it prompted Charlemagne to lavishly reward loyalty to ensure no future rebellions.

Pepin died at Prüm somewhere around 810 or 811.

This era of the Franks produced many contemporary chronicles. Einhard, Notker, the Lorsch Annals—all have been mentioned before, as has Paul the Deacon. We actually have a picture of Paul, so let's talk about him tomorrow.