Pepin the Hunchback (c. 769 – 811) was the eldest son of Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 by Himiltrude

Himiltrude

Himiltrude was the mother of Charlemagne's first-born son Pippin the Hunchback.-Life:Little is known about Himiltrude's origins. Paulus Diaconus calls her a "noble girl"...

. He is known in French as Pépin le Bossu.

Accounts describe Pepin as normally proportioned with attractive features. However, his looks were marred by a spinal deformity

Kyphosis

Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae...

 from which his nickname is derived.

Due to his disability, and possible illegitimacy, Pepin was never likely to inherit much of the Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 domains. Nevertheless, Charles treated his son well, giving him precedence over his younger brothers as was appropriate for his age. Pepin was an amiable fellow, and he grew to be a well-liked member of Charles' court. The hunchbacked prince probably held some hope for succession from his father. In addition, Pepin was an easy target for discontented nobles, who lavished sympathies on him and lamented the treatment his mother had received when Charles had put her aside in order to marry a Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 princess, Desiderata.

In 780, Charles formally disinherited Pepin and had the pope baptize his third son, Carloman, who now received the name Pepin. The name had a special significance as Pepin had been a recurring name in the Carolingian dynasty. This move may have been prompted by Hildegard, Charles' wife and Carloman's mother, who felt her son's inheritance expectations were threatened by the hunchbacked prince.

Pepin was allowed to remain at court, and Charles continued to give the boy precedence over his younger brothers. Pepin also remained a popular "friend" of discontented nobles, and in 792, several counts played upon Pepin's dislike for his brothers to convince the deformed prince to play the figurehead in their rebellion. The conspirators planned to kill Charles, his wife Hildegarde, and his three sons by her. Pepin the Hunchback would then be set upon the throne as a more sympathetic (and more easily manipulated) king. The day of the assassination, Pepin pretended to be ill in order to meet with the plotters. The scheme nearly succeeded, but a Lombard deacon named Fardulf ultimately exposed it.

Charlemagne held an assembly at Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

 to try the conspirators, and all were found guilty of high treason and ordered executed. Charles seemed still to have held fond feelings for his first son, however, for Pepin's sentence was commuted. Instead, Pepin was forced to enter the monastery of Prüm

Prüm

Prüm is a town in the Westeifel , Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Prüm.-Geography:...

 to live out the rest of his life as a monk. Pepin died there some twenty years later.

Cultural references

The Broadway musical Pippin

Pippin (musical)

Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...

was based on his life, but uses it more as a framework for very modern issues than to relate history.

Pippin (shortened to Pip) was a supporting character in Valda the Iron Maiden, the backup strip in DC's sword and sorcery comic Arak, Son of Thunder.

Sources

• Winston, Richard (1954). Charlemagne: From the Hammer to the Cross. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill.