Pepin's Rebellion

There was a rebellion against Charlemagne in 792 by a handful of Frankish nobles headed by Charlemagne's eldest son, Pepin the Hunchback.An anonymous Saxon poet known only as Poeta Saxo, writing in Annales de gestis Caroli magni imperatoris libri quinque ("Annals of the Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne in Five Books"; see the illustration), summed up the plot:[W]icked men conceived a great crime which almost blotted out forever the shining light of the Franks, for they busied themselves in many ways plotting to put the king to death. For this purpose a cruel conspiracy is said to have been formed among the Frankish nobles. Conspicuous among them, the king's oldest son madly offered himself as the author of this crime, being more ignoble in his own worthless character than in his birth.The plot was planned while Charlemagne was away from court, but a Lombard named Fardulf learned of it and informed Charlemagne. The co-conspirators were found out, accused of breaking their oaths of fealty…