2nd of April 742; doubts have been cast upon
his legitimacy, and it is just possible that the marriage of Pippin and
Bertha took place subsequent to the birth of their elder son. When
Pippin was crowned king of the Franks at St Denis on the 28th of July
754 by Pope Stephen II., Charles, and his brother Carloman were anointed
by the pope as a sign of their kingly rank. The rough surroundings of
the Frankish court were unfavourable to the acquisition of learning, and
Charles grew up almost ignorant of letters, but hardy in body and
skilled in the use of weapons.

In 761 he accompanied his father on a campaign in Aquitaine, and in 763
undertook the government of several counties. In 768 Pippin divided his
dominions between his two sons, and on his death soon afterwards Charles
became the ruler of the northern portion of the Frankish kingdom, and
was crowned at Noyon on the 9th of October 768. Bad feeling had existed
for some time between Charles and Carloman, and when Charles early in
769 was called upon to suppress a rising in Aquitaine, his brother
refused to afford him any assistance. This rebellion, however, was
easily crushed, its leader, the Aquitainian duke Hunold, was made
prisoner, and his territory more closely attached to the Frankish
kingdom. About this time Bertha, having effected a temporary
reconciliation between her sons, overcame the repugnance with which Pope
Stephen III. regarded an alliance between Frank and Lombard, and brought
about a marriage between Charles and a daughter of Desiderius, king of
the Lombards. Charles had previously contracted a union, probably of an
irregular nature, with a Frankish lady named Himiltrude, who had borne
him a son Pippin, the "Hunchback." The peace with the Lombards, in which
the Bavarians as allies of Desiderius joined, was, however, soon broken.
Charles thereupon repudiated his Lombard wife (Bertha or Desiderata) and
married in 771 a princess of the Alamanni named Hildegarde. Carloman
died in December 771, and Charles was at once recognized at Corbeny as
sole king of the Franks. Carloman's widow Gerberga had fled to the
protection of the Lombard king, who espoused her cause and requested the
new pope, Adrian I., to recognize her two sons as the lawful Frankish
kings. Adrian, between whom and the Lombards other causes of quarrel
existed, refused to assent to this demand, and when Desiderius invaded
the papal territories he appealed to the Frankish king for help.
Charl