* Pippin of Italy ( 773 – 810 ), whose original name was Carloman

On Charles ' death ( 741 ), Carloman and his brother Pippin the Short succeeded to their father's legal positions, Carloman in Austrasia, and Pippin in Neustria.

By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted their half-brother, Grifo and forced him into a monastery, and each turned his attention towards his own area of influence as major domo, Pippin in the West ( in what was called Neustria, roughly the Area between Nancy and Reims ) and Carloman in the East ( in what was called Austrasia, roughly what is now is the area between Bruges, Metz and Fulda ), which was the Carolingian base of power.

Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin for seven years seemed at least willing to work together ; certainly, they undertook many military actions together.

Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745.

Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743, when Duke Theoderic was forced to come to terms, and against Odilo of Bavaria in 742 and again in 744, when peace was established between the brothers and their brother-in-law, for Odilo had married their sister Hiltrude.

For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty.

Pippin was unmoved, and imprisoned Carloman in Vienne, where he died on 17 August.

Following his victory, Pippin the Short died in 768 and was followed by his sons Charlemagne and Carloman.

* Pippin ( 773 or 777 – 810 ), born Carloman and later renamed at baptism, king of Italy from 781

His elder brother, Pippin the Hunchback, was disinherited, and his younger brothers Carloman ( renamed Pippin ) and Louis the Pious received Italy and Aquitaine, respectively.

* Pepin the Short ( 714 – 768 ), king of the Franks since 751, dies ; he is succeeded by his sons Carloman ( eastern Franks ) and Charles, aka Charlemagne ( western Franks ).

* Carloman ( mayor of the palace ), the brother of Pepin the Short ( 716 – 754 )

In 748, the brothers Pepin the Short and Carloman gave their younger brother Grifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that of Le Mans.

The brothers shared possession of Aquitaine, which broke into rebellion upon the death of Pepin the Short ; when Charlemagne in 769 led an army into Aquitaine to put down the revolt, Carloman led his own army there to assist, before quarrelling with his brother at Moncontour, near Poitiers, and withdrawing, troops and all.

Carloman had married a beautiful Frankish woman, Gerberga, who according to Pope Stephen III was chosen for him, together with Charlemagne's concubine, Himiltrude, by Pepin the Short.

With Gerberga he had two sons, the older of whom was named Pepin after his grandfather, marking him according to Carolingian tradition as the heir of Carloman, and of Pepin the Short.

The throne had been vacant for seven years when the mayors of the palace, Carloman and Pepin the Short, decided in 743 to recognize Childeric as king.

The Royal Frankish Annals mention a 743 Frankish campaign led by the Carolingian Mayor of the Palace Carloman against the Saxons, followed by a second expedition together with his brother Pepin the Short the next year.

Though there had been no king since Theuderic's death in 737, Charles ' sons Pepin the Short and Carloman were still only mayors of the palaces.

After the death of Charles Martel power may well have been intended to be divided among Grifo and his half-brothers Pepin the Younger ( Pepin the Short ) and Carloman.

* Grifo ( 748 – 749 ) — given the twelve counties of Maine by his brothers, Pepin the Short and Carloman, as appeasement, but rebelled the next year.

In 743, Pepin the Short and Carloman waged a campaign to reduce Alamannia and in 746 Carloman began a final thrust to subdue the Alamannic nobility.

In 741, Odilo married Hiltrud, daughter of the Frankish Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel, but a year later he found himself at war with Martel's sons Carloman and Pepin the Short.

With Grifo contained, the two mayors, who had not yet proved themselves in battle in defence of the realm as their father had, on the initiative of Carloman, installed the Merovingian Childeric III as king ( 743 ), even though Martel had left the throne vacant since the death of Theuderic IV in 737.

After Charles Martel was buried, in the Abbey of Saint-Denis alongside the Merovingian kings, conflict immediately erupted between Pepin and Carloman on one side and Grifo their younger brother on the other.

Though Carloman captured and imprisoned Grifo, it may have been enmity between the elder brothers that caused Pepin to release Grifo while Carloman was on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Grifo, considered illegitimate by Pepin and Carloman, was lured into a trap by his half-brothers, however, and imprisoned in a monastery.

After his death, Grifo, half-brother of Carloman and Pepin, sought to establish his own rule in Bavaria, but was defeated by Pepin who installed Odilo's infant son Tassilo III as duke of Bavaria.

When, in 875, the Emperor Louis II, who was also King of Italy, died, having come to terms with Louis the German whereby Carloman would succeed in Italy, Charles the Bald of West Francia invaded the peninsula and had himself crowned king and emperor.

When, in 875, the Emperor Louis II, who was also King of Italy, died, having come to terms with Louis the German whereby the German monarch's eldest son, Carloman, would succeed in Italy, Charles the Bald of West Francia invaded the peninsula and had himself crowned king and emperor.

In 876, Louis the German died and his sons inherited their lands ; Carloman thus became King of Bavaria.

It is commonly agreed that Carloman and Charlemagne disliked each other, although the reasons behind this are unclear: some historians suggest that each brother considered himself rightfully to be the sole heir of their father – Charlemagne as the elder child, Carloman as the legitimate child ( Charlemagne is sometimes claimed to have been born a bastard in 742, a claim not always accepted ).

Relations between the two then degenerated further, requiring the mediation of their mother, Bertrada, who appears to have favoured Charlemagne, with whom she would live out her widowhood, over Carloman.

Despite their difficult relationship, and the events following Carloman's death, Charlemagne would later name his second legitimate son ' Carloman ' after his deceased brother.

Although doubts were cast upon their legitimacy, the brothers obtained recognition and in March 880 divided their father's realm at Amiens, Carloman receiving Burgundy and Aquitaine.

The Frisians replied that they owed taxes only to their king, Louis the German, and his sons ( Carloman, Louis, and Charles ), and a battle ensued, in which Rodulf was killed and his troops routed.

In 863, his rebellious eldest brother Carloman revolted against their father.

Louis the German sent first Charles and then Carloman himself, with armies containing Italian forces under Berengar of Friuli, their cousin, to possess the Italian kingdom.

In 877, Carloman inherited Italy from their uncle Charles the Bald of West Francia.

Boniface had begun his reform attempts of the Frankish church in the 730s, and by the 740s had found a kindred spirit in Carloman, the more religiously oriented of Charles Martel's two sons who divided their father's domain.

Church historian Matthias Schuler, commenting on Boniface's failure to have church property returned to the church, proposes that the time was not yet ripe for Carloman to re-appropriate those properties, which had often been handed ( by way of church offices ) to various noblemen by his father, Charles Martel, to appease them and strengthen their loyalty.

Charlemagne's biographer Einhard calls her a " concubine " and Paulus Diaconus speaks of Pippin's birth " before legal marriage ", whereas a letter by Pope Stephen III refers to Charlemagne and his brother Carloman as being already married ( to Himiltrude and Gerberga ), and advises them not to dismiss their wives.

They said that the popes had found it impossible to recall to their allegiance and to due respect for ecclesiastical discipline the Frankish lords who had possessed themselves of episcopal sees ; that these lords, insensible to censures and anathemas, rude and untaught, recognized no authority but that of force ; and that the popes had, therefore, granted to Carloman, Pepin, and Charlemagne a spiritual authority which they were to exercise only under papal control.