Tassilo III

Tassilo III was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 787, the last of the house of the Agilolfings.

Related Topics:
Bavaria - Agilolfings

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Tassilo, then still an infant, began his rule as a Frankish ward under the tutelage of the Merovingian major domo Pippin the Younger (later king Pepin III) after Tassilo's father, Duke Odilo of Bavaria, had died in 747 and Pepin?s half-brother Grifo tried to seize the duchy for himself. Pippin removed Grifo and installed the young Tassilo as duke, but under Frankish overlordship.

Related Topics:
Frankish - Merovingian - Major domo - Pippin the Younger - Pepin III - Odilo - Grifo - Duchy

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Later, in 757, the Royal Frankish Annals state that Tassilo became Pepin?s vassal for his lands at an assembly held at Compiegne, where he is reported to have "(sworn) numerable oaths" to Pepin upon "relics of the saints" and "promised fealty to King Pepin and his sons Charles and Carloman". This makes it clear that Tassilo?s office was held from the Frankish king and that he would owe certain duties, such as military service. However, this highly legalised account is quite out of character for the period, which has led some authors, such as K. L. Pearson, to suggest that it probably represents a reworking of the original document by the Royal Frankish Annalist to emphasise Charlemagne?s overlordship over Tassilo during the period of hostilities between the two rulers

Related Topics:
Royal Frankish Annals state - Vassal - Compiegne - Charlemagne

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In any case, in 763, Tassilo defaulted on his military obligations to Pepin, leaving the Frankish campaign in Aquitaine on the grounds of ill health. Pearson suggests this could have been part of an earlier alliance made between Tassilo?s father and the Aquitainian duke during his conflict with Pepin in 743. Whatever the motivations behind Tassilo abandoning the campaign, the Royal Frankish Annals for that year are particularly scathing of him, saying that he "brushed aside his oaths and all his promises and sneaked away on a wicked pretext". Working on the premise, argued by Pearson, that these annals may have been revised to emphasise Tassilo as a vassal suggests that this was the beginning of a campaign to depict Tassilo as an oath breaker and as one unprepared to carry out a main function of his office, namely, to fight, making him unfit for rule.

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This incident was the linchpin in Charlemagne and Pope Hadrian?s argument that Tassilo was not an independent prince, but a rebellious vassal deserving of punishment. This punishment was carried out, after much political maneuvering, in 787, when Tassilo was finally deposed. However, he did not fade into insignificance, as the Annals of Lorsch?s entry for 794 see Tassilo brought out once more, at the synod held at Frankfurt, and made to renounce his and his family's claims to Bavaria.

Related Topics:
Pope Hadrian - Lorsch - Synod - Frankfurt - Bavaria

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