Childebert III

{{Short description|King of the Franks from 694 to 711}} {{for|the earlier Childebert sometimes called Childebert III|Childebert the Adopted}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Childebert III the Just | title = | image = Childebert III 694 711.jpg | caption = A coin of Childebert III, now in the British Museum

| spouse= | issue = Dagobert III<br>Chlothar IV (?) | house = Merovingian |house-type=Dynasty | father = Theuderic III | mother = Clotilda | birth_date = {{circa}} 678/679<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'': "Childebert III ({{circa}} 678/9–711) "Frankish King from 694. Succeeded his brother Clovis III as sole ruler during the era of the Mayor Pippin II".</ref> | birth_place = | death_date = 23 April {{death year and age|711|678}} | death_place = | burial_date = | burial_place = | signature = }} '''Childebert III''' (or '''IV'''), called '''the Just''' ({{langx|fr|le Juste}}) ({{circa}} 678/679 – 23 April 711), was the son of Theuderic III and Chrothildis (or Doda) and sole king of the Franks (694–711)[https://web.archive.org/web/20060217064156/http://212.58.224.35/dna/ww2/A251542]. He was seemingly but a puppet of the mayor of the palace, Pepin of Heristal, though his ''placita'' show him making judicial decisions of his own will, even against the Arnulfing clan. His nickname has no comprehensible justification except possibly as a result of these judgements, but the ''Liber Historiae Francorum'' calls him a "famous man" and "the glorious lord of good memory, Childebert, the just king."<ref>''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum rerum Merovingicarum'' vol. II, pp. 323–324</ref>

He had a son named Dagobert, who succeeded him, as Dagobert III. His wife was Ermenechildis, also known as Edonne. It is possible, though not likely, that Chlothar IV was also his son. He spent almost his entire life in a royal villa on the Oise.

In 708, during his reign of sixteen years, the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, founded the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel supposedly at the urging of the Archangel Michael.

Upon his death on 23 April 711, southern Gaul began to grow independent: Burgundy under Bishop Savaric of Auxerre, Aquitaine under Duke Odo the Great, and Provence under Antenor. He died at St Etienne, Loire, France. He was buried in the church of St Stephen at Choisy-au-Bac, near Compiègne.

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060217064156/http://212.58.224.35/dna/ww2/A251542 ''From Merovingians to Carolingians: Dynastic Change in Frankia'']. *{{Cite EB1911 |last=Pfister |first=Christian |author-link=Christian Pfister |wstitle=Childebert|volume=6|page=137 |short=x}}

{{s-start}} {{s-hou|Merovingian Dynasty||678/679||711}} {{s-bef|before=Clovis IV}} {{s-ttl|title=King of the Franks|years=694–711}} {{s-aft|after=Dagobert III}} {{s-end}}

Category:Merovingian kings Category:7th-century births Category:711 deaths Category:7th-century Frankish kings Category:8th-century Frankish kings