Anointing of Pepin the Short
Pope Stephen II anoints Pepin and his sons at Saint-Denis
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Saint-Denis, 754
At Saint-Denis in 754, Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin and his sons Charles and Carloman as kings of the Franks. That the papal anointing took place that year is well supported.
What is securely attested is anointing with holy oil, not the placing of a physical crown.
Pepin had been king since 751. What the rite supplied was direct papal consecration, extended to the next Carolingian generation.
What the Clausula adds
The Clausula de unctione Pippini says Stephen also blessed Queen Bertrada and the Frankish nobles, and bound the Franks not to choose a king outside Pepin's descendants.
Pepin and his sons received the title Patricius Romanorum, although the title's precise legal force remained obscure.
The familiar date of 28 July comes from that Clausula tradition; a modern medieval-source repertory notes that the surviving text may be a ninth- or tenth-century composition or forgery.
Why the pope was in Francia
Stephen had crossed the Alps seeking a protector against the Lombard king Aistulf, after Byzantine help proved ineffective. Pepin had already agreed to aid the papacy, and the Saint-Denis rite sacralized that alliance and the Carolingian succession.
The territorial side of the bargain came later: the Donation of Pepin was chiefly fulfilled after campaigns in Italy in 756.
Modern scholarship also questions whether Pepin was anointed at all in 751, so calling 754 a re-consecration needs caution.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Traditional date
How this was checked
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Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.
What the sources leave uncertain
- The ceremony certainly occurred at Saint-Denis in 754, probably in July. The exact date 28 July comes from the Clausula tradition and cannot be held firmly by all chronologies.
- The surviving Clausula's date and authenticity have been debated; a modern medieval-source repertory notes that the extant text may be a ninth- or tenth-century composition or forgery.
- Modern scholarship questions whether Pepin was anointed at all in 751. If he was, Boniface was not demonstrably the officiant; therefore 're-consecration' should be used cautiously.
- Stephen is numbered Stephen II in modern lists that omit an unconsecrated namesake, and Stephen III in lists that include him.