Grimoald I called the Elder (in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Grimaud LeVieux), was the Mayor of the Palace

Mayor of the Palace

Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus , used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries....

 of Austrasia

Austrasia

Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...

 from 643 to 656. He was the son of Pepin of Landen and Itta

Itta

Saint Itta was the wife of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace of Austrasia. Her brother was Saint Modoald, bishop of Trier. Her sister was abbess Saint Severa...

.

With the death of Pepin of Landen in 640, Grimoald became the head of his household, the most powerful in Austrasia. At this time, Radulf

Radulf, King of Thuringia

Radulf was the Duke of Thuringia from 632 or 633 until his death after 642.According to the Chronicle of Fredegar, he was a son of one Chamar, a Frankish aristocrat, and rose to power under the Merovingian king Dagobert I, who appointed him as dux in the former Thuringian kingdom which Francia...

, Duke of Thuringia, rebelled against Sigebert III

Sigebert III

Sigebert III was the king of Austrasia from 634 to his death; probably on 1 February 656, or maybe as late as 660. He was the eldest son of Dagobert I....

, king of Austrasia. Grimoald participated in the ensuing expedition against the insurrection, but it was a failure. Nevertheless, Grimoald succeeded in saving the life of the king and became his close friend. Then, by removing the mayor of the palace, Otto

Otto (mayor of the palace)

Otto was the mayor of the palace of Austrasia briefly in the mid-seventh century.Otto was the son of a domesticus named Uro who served in the court of Dagobert I. Otto was raised with Dagobert's son Sigebert III and subsequently acted as Sigebert III's baiolos...

, he took over the position which his father once held.

Grimoald convinced the childless king (Sigebert III) to adopt his son, named Childebert

Childebert the Adopted

Childebert III the Adopted was a Frankish King. When King Sigebert III died in 656, Grimoald the Elder had Sigebert's son Dagobert II shorn of hair and sent to an Irish monastery and then proclaimed his own son king of Austrasia....

 at his baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

. Sigebert eventually had an heir, Dagobert II

Dagobert II

Dagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...

, but Grimoald feared the fate of his own dynasty and exiled the young Dagobert to either an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 or the cathedral school of Poitiers

Poitiers

Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...

. Upon Sigebert's death, probably in 651, Grimoald put his son on the throne.

Grimoald was deposed and executed by the king of Neustria

Neustria

The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities...

, who thereby reunited the Kingdom of the Franks. The Liber historiæ Francorum tells that Clovis II

Clovis II

Clovis II succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639 as King of Neustria and Burgundy. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanthild until her death in her early thirties in 642...

 had captured and executed him by 657 (subsequently treating Clovis's reign with hostility and his son Chlothar's reign with disdain).