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- [S10709] FindAGrave Old World (Famous), Bertrade "Bertha" de Laon II 726-783 Frankish Queen.
Frankish Queen. The daughter of Count Charibert de Laon and Gisele of Aquitaine, she was well educated and spoke Latin. She met Pippin in 741 and they fell in love, but he was already married to Princess Leutburga with whom he had five children. Another obstacle to their marriage was their close blood relationship. She lived by his side as his mistress for several years. After she gave birth to their first child, Charlemagne around 743, he convinced Leutburga to separate and retire to the monastery of Lorsch. Pippin married Berthe probably in 749. Pippin had succeeded his father Charles Martel as majordomos in 741 and ousted King Childeric III. from power in 751 and sent him also to a monastery. In the same year she gave birth to a second son, Carloman. A few months later the nobles of the kingdom elected him as King and soon after that he went to Narbonne to fight against the Saracen. She accompanied him on this and other campaigns. In later years the marriage became much cooler and they nearly separated. Only the intervention of the Pope prevented that. After Pippin's death in 768 she became more involved in the politics in her son's kingdoms. She mediated between Charles and his brother and they stopped fighting with each other. In 770 she traveled to Bavaria where she met her nephew Duke Tassilo. She lived for several years at Charles' court at Aachen. She later moved to the Abbey of Choisy sur Aisne where she spend the last decade of her life. It's not sure that she is buried in St. Denis as some say she might be buried in the Val de Meuse.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21069/berthe-de-laon
- [S457] Wikipedia: Bertrada of Laon, Bertrade de Laon II.
Bertrada of Laon (born between 710 and 727 – 12 July 783), also known as Bertrada the Younger or Bertha Broadfoot (cf. Latin: Regina pede aucae i.e. the queen with the goose-foot), was a Frankish queen. She was the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of Charlemagne, Carloman and Gisela.
Bertrada's nickname "Bertha Broadfoot" dates back to the 13th century, when it was used in Adenes Le Roi's trouvère Li rouman de Berte aus grands piés.[1] The exact reason that Bertrada was given this nickname is unclear. It is possible that Bertrada was born with a clubfoot,[2] although Adenes does not mention this in his poem.[1] The nickname might have been a reference to an ancient legend about a Germanic goddess named Perchta, to real and mythological queens named Bertha, or to several similarly-named Christian queens.[3] Many myths and legends exist in Europe and Asia, in which clubfooted people are described as the link between the world of the living and the spirit world.[4] The tavern sign in Anatole France's novel At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque alludes to this queen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrada_of_Laon
- [S54] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT : Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;), Database online.
- [S985] Wikipedia: Bertradaof Prum, Bertrada Laon.
Bertrada (b. ca. 670; d. after 721), also called Berthe or Bertree, is known to be the mother of Charibert of Laon, with whom she is co-founder and benefactor of the Prüm Abbey. They founded the abbey in 721.
Through Charibert's daughter Bertrada of Laon, wife of Pippin the Short, Bertrada is the great-grandmother of Charlemagne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrada_of_Prüm
- [S458] Wikipedia: Pepin the Short, Pepin Martel III.
Pepin the Short[a] (German: Pippin der Kurze, French: Pépin le Bref, c. 714 – 24 September 768) was the King of the Franks from 751 until his death. He was the first of the Carolingians to become king.[b][2]
The younger son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude, Pepin's upbringing was distinguished by the ecclesiastical education he had received from the monks of St. Denis. Succeeding his father as the Mayor of the Palace in 741, Pepin reigned over Francia jointly with his elder brother Carloman. Pepin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his brother Carloman established himself in Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia. The brothers were active in suppressing revolts led by the Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons, and the Alemanni in the early years of their reign. In 743, they ended the Frankish interregnum by choosing Childeric III, who was to be the last Merovingian monarch, as figurehead king of the Franks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepin_the_Short
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717 - 783 (66 years)
[1, 2] 
