the last Merovingian king.

Effective power in France had long been wielded by the Carolingian mayors of the palace, but the revolt that followed the death of Charles Martel in 741 made it wise for his sons Carloman and Pippin III the Short, in 743, to place Childeric III, a Merovingian of questionable legitimacy, on the Frankish throne, which had been vacant since 737, so that they could dissemble their authority behind his name. Carloman entered a monastery in 747, and, when Pippin felt sufficiently secure to have himself elected king of the Franks (751), Childeric was deposed, tonsured, and confined in the monastery of Sithiu (St. Bertin), near Saint-Omer.