Pepin the Short

Son of Charles Martel and the first Carolingian to wear the Frankish crown, having deposed and tonsured the last Merovingian king Childeric III in 751 with the Pope's blessing. His donation of central Italian lands to the papacy created the Papal States and bound the Carolingian house to Rome for the next century. He left two sons; the elder briefly ruled alongside his brother before dying young, leaving Charlemagne as sole king.