or LE GROS, mayor of the palace under Clovis III., Childebert, and Dagobert. The power of these mayors in France was so great, that they left the sovereign only the empty title, and in the end seized on the throne itself.

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 Thierry in different monasteries; and then, with the assistance of Pope Stephen III., he usurped the sovereign power. He died in 768, aged 54.