Carloman, son of Charles Martel
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Pippinids
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Arnulfings
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Carolingians
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After the Treaty of Verdun (843)
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Assumption of power
After the death of his father, power was not initially divided to include Grifo, Charles' illegitimate son. This was per Charles' wishes, though Grifo demanded a portion of the realm from his brothers, who refused him. By 742, Carloman and Pippin had ousted 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 and Carloman in the East. 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. Carloman realized that until they had established themselves as defenders of the realm and faith, as their father had, they needed the puppet king which Charles had dispensed with. Unlike most medieval instances of fraternal power sharing, Carloman and Pippin seemed at least willing to work together without plotting against each other, and some sources even suggest that the brothers genuinely liked each other: certainly, they undertook every military action as one. Carloman joined Pippin against Hunald of Aquitaine's rising in 742 and again in 745. Pippin assisted Carloman against the Saxons 742-743 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.
Strengthening of the dynasty
In his own realm, Carloman strengthened his authority in part via his support of the Anglo-Saxon missionary Winfrid (later Saint Boniface), the so-called "Apostle of the Germans," whom he charged with restructuring the chuch in the Austrasia. This was in part the continuation of a policy begun under his grandfather, Pippin of Herstal, and continued to a lesser extent under Charles Martel. Carloman was instrumental in convening the Concilium Germanicum in 742, the first major Church synod to be held in the eastern regions of the Frankish kingdom. Chaired jointly by him and Boniface, the synod ruled that priests were not allowed to bear arms or to host females in their houses and that it was one of their primary tasks to eradicate pagan beliefs. While his father had frequently confiscated church property to reward his followers and to pay for the standing army that had brought him victory at Tours, by 742 the Carolingians were wealthy enough to pay their military retainers and still support the Church. For Carloman, a deeply religious man, it was a duty of love, for Pippin a practical duty. Both saw the necessity of strengthening the ties between their house and the Church. Therefore, Carloman sought to increase the assets of the church. He donated, for instance, the land for one of Boniface's most important foundations, the monastery of Fulda.
Political ruthlessness
Despite his piety, Carloman could be ruthless towards real or perceived opponents. In 746, he convened an assembly of the Alamanni magnates at Cannstatt and then had most of them, numbering in the thousands, arrested and executed for high treason in the Blood Court at Cannstatt. This eradicated virtually the entire tribal leadership of the Alamanni and ended the independence of the tribal duchy of Alamannia, which was thereafter governed by counts appointed by their Frankish overlords.
These actions strengthened Carloman's position, and that of the family as a whole, especially in terms of their rivalries with other leading barbarian families such as the Bavarian Agilolfings.
Withdrawal from public life
On 15 August 747, Carloman renounced his position as major domo and withdrew to a monastic life, being tonsured in Rome by Pope Zachary. He founded Monte Soracte and then went to Monte Cassino. All sources from the period indicate he truly believed his brother was capable of leading the kingdom by himself, and that his calling was the Church. He felt he had done his duty for the family for six years in ruthlessly eliminating its enemies, and strengthening the dynasty. Having completed what he felt were his worldly tasks, and believing "one hand on the sword holds it better than two," he withdrew to a monastery and spent the remainder of his life in meditation and prayer. At the time of Carloman's retirement, Grifo escaped his imprisonment and fled to Bavaria, where Duke Odilo provided support and assistance, but when Odilo died a year later and Grifo attempted to seize the duchy of Bavaria for himself, Pippin, who had become sole major domo and dux et princeps Francorum, took decisive action by invading Bavaria and installing Odilo's infant son, Tassilo III, as duke under Frankish suzerainty. Grifo continued his rebellion, but was eventually killed in the battle of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in 753.
Carloman enters the pages of history only once more, seven years after his retirement and on the eve of his death. In 754, Pope Stephen II had begged Pippin, now king, to come to his aid against the king of the Lombards, Aistulf. Carloman visited his brother to beg him not to bring war to Italy, believing that Frankish intervention there was against the family's long term interest, but Pippin was unmoved and Carloman retired to Vienne, where he died on 17 August. He was buried in Monte Cassino.
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Charles Martel
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