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194 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE entirely by his own son, but the other nobles refused and he was put to death. But a generation later Pepin of Heristal, or Pepin II, the grandson of Pepin I and Arnulf, became mayor of the palace in Austrasia, and by the victory of Testry in 687 gained control of Neustria also, and ruled over all the Franks until his death in 714. It had been Pepin's intention that his grandsons should succeed him as mayors, but they were not yet of age, and Charles his illegitimate son Charles, known later as "the Martel Hammer," or "Charles Martel," from his mili- tary successes, eventually gained control of all three Frank- ish kingdoms. In order to secure soldiers against Jhe Arabs he seized large amounts of church lands and granted the use of them for life to his followers. Such measures brought him into disrepute with the monkish chroniclers of the time, but show his power over the Church, and gained him a strong party of supporters among the nobility. Both Pepin II and Charles Martel encouraged missionaries to, and kept fight- ing against, the Germans east of the Rhine, endeavoring to bring the Thuringians, Alamanni, and Bavarians back under Frankish control, making partial conquests at the expense of the Frisians and raids into the territory of the Saxons. Charles Martel, who always had acted as if he were king, but who still lacked the title, died in 741, leaving two sons, Pepin III Carloman and Pepin III. Carloman soon went Caroiingian °^ to Itety to become a monk, leaving his chil- dynasty dren to the care of his brother, who took care that they should become monks too. Pepin III now decided to renew the attempt at the throne which his ancestor, Grimoald, had made prematurely. He first obtained the approval of the pope and then that of a general assembly of the Franks. Then in place of the old German custom of raising him upon a shield, he was anointed king by St. Boni- face, apostle to the Germans and promoter of papal influ- ence. This new ceremony gave to the royal office a sacred character and, as it were, divine approval, and so an added power which the Merovingians had lacked. A little later the pope pronounced a curse against any one who should try to