According to one chronicler, Pippin was “chosen king by all the Franks, consecrated by the bishops and received the homage of the great men.”2 This writer recorded his judgment in the royal Frankish annals, which were sponsored by Pippin and his descendants and therefore painted them in the softest and most flattering light. Be that as it may, the year 751 still marked a formative time in European history, as Francia entered the Carolingian age. The Carolingians were named in honor of their patriarch, Pippin’s father Charles Martel (Carolus Martellus):
