This post may be the shortest one yet! Here are the known vital statistics.

He was the great-grandson of Charlemagne.

Since he is not as famous as some of his ancestors and descendants, historians don’t cover him thoroughly (or I haven’t found one who does).

But he is a link in our chain, so here are some vital facts.

First, let’s begin with genealogical tables.

Here is Michael Idomir Allen’s Table 8, which he put together for his translation of Pierre Riché’s The Carolingians.

K = king and c = count.

To get an overview, let’s insert Constance Bouchard’s table of kings, dukes and counts, some of whom descend from Charlemagne.

And here is Rosamond McKitterick’s table:

Rosamond McKitterick, in her genealogical table, says that he was the count in the Paris region and lived from 815 to after 840. He had three sons: (1) Bernard, count, and lived from 845 to 877/78; (2) Pippin, count, who lived from 845 to 893; (3) Herbert, (next post).

This Pippin married an unidentified woman on an unknown date. A French historian, Ivan Gobry, says he was the Count of Vermandois, while Allen’s Table 8 says he was the Count of Péronne, which falls within Vermandois. So maybe he should be part of the House of Vermandois. Whatever the case, he is a hinge figure from the Carolingians to the Herbertines.

Douglas Richardson adds these basics:

Pippin had three sons:

1. Bernard, possibly count near Laon;

2. Pippin, count of north Paris;

3. Herbert, Count of Vermandois and Soissons (he is our direct line).

Count Pippin, seigneur (lord) of Péronne and Saint Quentin, died after 840.

CAROLINGIANS

Charlemagne: Interesting Facts and Stories

Pippin, Son of Charlemagne

Bernard, King of Italy

Pippin, Great-Grandson of Charlemagne (transition to the House of Vermandois)

HOUSE OF VERMANDOIS

Herbert I, Count of Vermandois

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois

RELATED

Robert I (r. 922-23) (House of Robertines)

Hugh the Great (r. 938-956)

CAPETIANS

Hugh Capet (r. 987-996)

Robert II (r. 996-1031)

Henri I (r. 1031-60)

Philip I (r. 1059 or 1060-1108)

Louis VI (r. 1108-1037)

Louis VII  (r. 1137-1180)

Philip II Augustus (r. 1180-1223)

Louis VIII (r. 1223-1226)

Louis IX, the Saintly King (r. 1226-1270)

Philip III (r. 1270-1285)

Philip IV (r. 1285-1314)

Louis X (r. 1314-1316)

Philip V (r. 1316-1322)

Charles IV (r 1322-1328) (last Capetian king)

SOURCES

Matthias Becher, Charlemagne, trans. David S. Bachrach (New Haven: Yale UP, 1999, 2003).

Christian Bonnet and Christine Descatoire, Les Carolingiens (741-987) (Armand Colin / VUEF, 2001)

Constance B. Bouchard, “The Origins of the French Nobility: A Reassessment.” The American Historical Review vol. 86, no. 1, Feb 1981, 501-32.

—, Those of My Blood: Constructing Noble Families in Medieval Francia (U Penn P 2001)

Jim Bradbury, The Capetians: Kings of France (Continuum, 2007).

Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, and Simon MacLean, the Carolingian World (Cambridge UP, 2011).

Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987 (Routledge, 1983).

Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, eds. William W. Kibler and Grover A. Zinn (New York: Garland, 1995).

Pierre Riché, The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idormir Allen (U Penn P, 1993).

Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 volumes (Salt Lake: Published Privately, 2013).