Battle of Tertry (687): Pippin of Herstal Takes Power in Francia

The Battle of Tertry, fought in 687 near Saint-Quentin in northern France, was a victory for Pippin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, over the Neustrian mayor Berchar and King Theuderic III. It gave Pippin control of the whole Frankish realm and is usually seen as the start of the rise of the Carolingian family, which later produced Charlemagne.

Background: kings and mayors

By the later 7th century the Frankish kingdom created by Clovis was divided into regions, chiefly Austrasia in the east, around the Rhine and Meuse, and Neustria in the west, around Paris and the Seine. Each had its own aristocracy and its own mayor of the palace, the chief official of the royal household.

Kings of the Merovingian dynasty still reigned, but several came to the throne as children or died young, and real power often lay with the mayors and leading nobles. The Neustrian mayor Ebroin was the strongest of them. Around 680 he defeated Pippin and his ally Martin at a place recorded as Lucofao, but Ebroin was murdered soon after, probably in 680 or 681.

Ebroin’s successor Waratto made peace with Pippin. After Waratto’s death around 686, his son-in-law Berchar became mayor of Neustria. The Liber Historiae Francorum describes Berchar as short in stature, of little wisdom and unwilling to take advice, and several Neustrian nobles went over to Pippin.

The battle

In 687 Pippin, claiming to act on behalf of the disaffected Neustrians and the church, led an Austrasian army west. Berchar marched out with King Theuderic III. The two forces met at Tertry, near the river Omignon, between Péronne and Saint-Quentin.

The surviving accounts are brief. The Liber Historiae Francorum, a Neustrian chronicle written around 727, simply records that Pippin won and Berchar and the king fled. The later Annals of Metz, composed around 805 for the Carolingian court, give a longer and more dramatic version that presents Pippin as a just ruler restoring order. Historians treat this account as Carolingian propaganda, written to justify the family’s later rise.

Consequences

Tertry did not immediately end Neustrian resistance. Berchar was murdered in 688 or 689, according to the Liber Historiae Francorum at the instigation of his mother-in-law Ansfled. Pippin then made peace with the Neustrian nobility. His son Drogo married Berchar’s widow Anstrude, linking the two factions.

Pippin kept Theuderic III on the throne and placed a trusted supporter, Nordebert, at the Neustrian court, while he himself remained based in Austrasia. Later sources style him princeps, leader of the Franks, and he campaigned against the Frisians and Alemans. When he died on 16 December 714, his family dominated Francia, though a succession struggle followed before his son Charles Martel took control.

How historians see Tertry

Older histories treated Tertry as a single decisive turning point, after which the Carolingians simply ruled. Recent scholarship, notably the work of Paul Fouracre and Ian Wood, paints a more gradual picture. Pippin’s power after 687 depended on alliances with Neustrian nobles and bishops, marriages and patronage, rather than on outright conquest.

Much of the traditional view comes from the Annals of Metz, which were written more than a century later to show that the Carolingians had long deserved to rule. Read alongside the earlier Neustrian chronicle, Tertry appears as an important victory within a long struggle between regional elites, not the instant end of Merovingian Francia. Its importance lies in what Pippin and his heirs were able to build on it.

Key people

Pippin of Herstal (c. 635–714), also called Pippin II, was the grandson of two leading Austrasian nobles, Pippin of Landen and Arnulf of Metz. Berchar was the defeated Neustrian mayor, remembered only through hostile sources. Theuderic III (reigned 673 and 675–690/691) was the Merovingian king whose authority both sides claimed to uphold.

Myths and facts

Myth: Tertry ended the Merovingian dynasty. Fact: Merovingian kings reigned for another 64 years, until 751. Pippin and his successors ruled through them.

Myth: The later Merovingians were all useless “do-nothing kings”. Fact: This image owes much to Carolingian writers such as Einhard. Modern historians see the late Merovingian kings as weak but still important symbols of legitimacy that the mayors needed.

Timeline

• c. 680: Ebroin defeats Pippin near Lucofao.
• c. 680–681: Ebroin is murdered.
• c. 686: Berchar becomes mayor of Neustria.
• 687: Pippin defeats Berchar and Theuderic III at Tertry.
• 688 or 689: Berchar is murdered.
• 16 December 714: Death of Pippin of Herstal.
• 732: Charles Martel defeats an Umayyad army near Tours.
• 751: Pippin the Short becomes the first Carolingian king.

Why it matters

Tertry marked the moment when one Austrasian family gained lasting control of the Frankish kingdom. From Pippin of Herstal came Charles Martel, victor at the Battle of Tours, Pippin the Short and finally Charlemagne, crowned emperor in Rome in 800 (see the coronation of Charlemagne). The battle was a key step in the shift of power that created the Carolingian Empire.