PEPIN LE BREF, or le Petit, grandson to Pepin the Gros, and first king of the second race of French monarchs,
narchs, was mayor of the palace to Childeric III. a weak prince: he contrived to confine him and his son Thierri in different monasteries; and then, with the assistance of Pope Stephen III. he usurped the sovereign power. He died in 768, aged 54.