Pépin le Bref struck these deniers following his deposition of Childeric III in 751 — the coup legitimized by papal sanction, which made Pépin the first Carolingian king and rendered his coinage the first to carry genuine royal Frankish authority rather than the ghost-authority of a Merovingian figurehead. The monetary reform he initiated, standardizing the denier as the foundation of Frankish silver currency, was later formalized under his son Charlemagne but the groundwork was entirely Pépin's.
Morrison's classification remains the primary reference; the absence of Prou and Gariel numbers reflects how poorly documented individual dies are for this reign.
Pépin le Bref struck these deniers following his deposition of Childeric III in 751 — the coup legitimized by papal sanction, which made Pépin the first Carolingian king and rendered his coinage the first to carry genuine royal Frankish authority rather than the ghost-authority of a Merovingian figurehead. The monetary reform he initiated, standardizing the denier as the foundation of Frankish silver currency, was later formalized under his son Charlemagne but the groundwork was entirely Pépin's.
Morrison's classification remains the primary reference; the absence of Prou and Gariel numbers reflects how poorly documented individual dies are for this reign.