Bertrada of Laon
(c. 720-783)
BIRTH
c. 720
PLACE
Laon, France
DEATH
July 12, 783
PLACE
Choisy-au-Bac, France
FAMILY
MOTHER
Charlemagne
(c. 742-814)
HOMES
NICKNAMES
Berthe au grand pied
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
CHRISTIAN
CATHOLIC
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Bertrada of Laon was queen of the Franks as the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of Charlemagne. In 751 Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king and took the throne himself. In 754 Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin and their sons and blessed Bertrada at the abbey of Saint-Denis. Bertrada bore Pepin several children, including Charlemagne, Carloman and a daughter, Gisela. She tried to keep the peace between her sons Charlemagne and Carloman.
EARLY LIFE
Bertrada was born around 720, the daughter of Charibert, count of Laon, and a member of a powerful Frankish noble family. Around 741 or 744 she began a union with Pepin, the son of Charles Martel and mayor of the palace of the Franks. Their marriage was later formalized by the church. Her son Charles, later Charlemagne, was born around 748.
In 751 Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king and took the throne himself. In 754 Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin and their sons and blessed Bertrada at the abbey of Saint-Denis.
Bertrada bore Pepin several children, including Charlemagne, Carloman and a daughter, Gisela. After Pepin died in 768, the kingdom was divided between the two brothers, whose rivalry Bertrada tried to calm.
In 770 she arranged Charlemagne's marriage to a daughter of Desiderius, king of the Lombards. She lived on at her son's court and died at Choisy-au-Bac on July 12, 783, and was buried at Saint-Denis.
CAREER
DEATH
Bertrada of Laon was queen of the Franks as the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of Charlemagne. Bertrada bore Pepin several children, including Charlemagne, Carloman and a daughter, Gisela. In 751 Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king and took the throne himself. In 754 Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin and their sons and blessed Bertrada at the abbey of Saint-Denis. Bertrada retired from the court after Carloman's death in 771 to live in Choisy-au-Bac, where Charlemagne had set aside a royal house for her. Bertrada died on 12 July 783 in Choisy-au-Bac. Charlemagne buried her in the Basilica of St Denis near Pepin. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Bertrada of Laon, Pepin the Short’s wife and Charlemagne’s mother, distinct from Bertrade de Montfort. The biographies of Pepin and Charlemagne are related family reading. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne — Janet L. Nelson. [Related biography of her son Charlemagne] Find on Amazon
2. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity — Rosamond McKitterick. [Related biography of her son] Find on Amazon
3. Pépin le Bref: Père de Charlemagne — Ivan Gobry. [Related biography of her husband; French-language work] Find on Amazon
4. Women and Aristocratic Culture in the Carolingian World — Valerie L. Garver. [Related collective women’s history] Find on Amazon
5. Charlemagne and Louis the Pious: Lives by Einhard, Notker, Ermoldus, Thegan, and the Astronomer — Thomas F. X. Noble (translator). [Related primary dynastic biography] Find on Amazon
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