Pepin the Short
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About
Pepin the Short was the first Carolingian king of the Franks and the father of Charlemagne. Above him the line now climbs four rungs further, on contemporary ground: his father Charles Martel, the victor of Tours; Pepin of Herstal; Ansegisel and St Begga; and so to the two founders of the house, St Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, and Pepin of Landen, both dead by 640. There it stops, because the ancestries written for Arnulf two centuries later are invention.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Standard, undisputed account (the counts of Flanders = a classic gateway pedigree; CP / Europaeische Stammtafeln / Settipani) - relaxed-rule entry 23 Jul 2026, provenance so noted.): PEPIN III 'THE SHORT', KING OF THE FRANKS (r. 751-768), first Carolingian king, father of Charlemagne. Entered as the one rung above Charlemagne to anchor him; the line above (Charles Martel, Pepin of Herstal, Arnulf of Metz) = note-only, documented but thinning toward the legendary. Direct ancestor. Added 23 Jul 2026. UPDATE 25 Oct 2026 (Aynsley's decision to revise the Pepin floor): Charles Martel x Chrotrud (~), Pepin II x Alpaida, Ansegisel x Begga, Arnulf of Metz x Doda (~) and Pepin I of Landen x Itta wired from the contemporary sources cited in each record; the 'Arnoald'/senatorial pedigree above Arnulf is not.