Pepin the Short inherited power as a mayor of the palace after the death of his father, Charles Martel, in 741. Initially sharing authority with his brother Carloman, he governed beneath the nominal kingship of the Merovingians. Carloman's retirement in 747 left Pepin in the stronger position, but the gap between actual command and royal title remained a political problem.

In 751 Pepin displaced Childeric III and became king of the Franks. Papal approval supported the change, linking effective political authority with a new dynastic claim. Childeric was confined to religious life. Pope Stephen II's anointing of Pepin and his sons at Saint-Denis in 754 reinforced the dynasty's legitimacy and established a close relationship between the Frankish monarchy and the papacy.

That alliance drew Pepin into Italy against the Lombard king Aistulf, whose expansion threatened Rome. Campaigns in 754 and 756 forced concessions, and territories associated with Ravenna and other central Italian towns were assigned to St. Peter rather than restored to Byzantine control. These arrangements, remembered as the Donation of Pepin, helped establish the territorial basis of papal government. They also made Frankish military protection central to the pope's independence from neighboring powers.

Pepin continued campaigns within and around his kingdom. The capture of Narbonne in 759 ended Muslim rule there, while repeated warfare against Waifar brought Aquitaine under Frankish control by the end of his reign. He also supported church reform, working with bishops and drawing on the activity associated with Boniface, while retaining strong royal direction over ecclesiastical affairs. His rule joined conquest, assemblies, religious support, and dynastic promotion rather than resting on coronation alone. He died in 768 and divided the kingdom between his sons Charles, later Charlemagne, and Carloman. The division followed Frankish inheritance practice.