Fainéants Rois

Fainéants Rois (the 'Do-nothing Kings'), the sarcastic designation of the later Merovingian sovereigns of France, under whom the famous Mayors of the Palace really governed the country. The first of the series was Thierry III., nominally monarch of Burgundy, Neustria, and Austria (i.e. Austrasia); the others were Clovis III., Childebert III., Dagobert III., Chilperic II., Thierry IV., and Childeric III. The last of these was dethroned in 730 by Pepin le Bref, Mayor of the Palace, who caused himself to be formally proclaimed king. Louis V., the last of the Carolingians, and a descendant of Pepin le bref, also received the epithet of Fainéant.