Born in AD 684, Charles was the third – and illegitimate – son of Pippin, Mayor of the Palace, the most powerful man in the area now covered by France, the low countries, and western Germany. This is because as Mayor, Pippin held and exercised all executive authority available to the Frankish state, which was then comprised of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy.

While Pippin theoretically exercised this power in the name of the ruling Merovingian king (i.e. a descendant of Clovis, the founder of the Frankish state in the 5th century), by the end of the 7th century the Merovingian kings were merely figureheads with no absolutely power. In fact, as Mayor, it was Pippin, and not the king, who directly controlled the King’s own bodyguard!

Pippin died in December of AD 714 without a clear successor (or as a clear a successor as a man who held a non-hereditary office could hope to have). Although Charles was Pippin’s only surviving son and had apparently spent much of his life with his father, Pippin made no provision for him, nominating instead his young grandson, Theudoald to succeed him as Mayor. This effectively placed Pippin’s wife Plectrud in control of the machinery of the Frankish state and she had Charles imprisoned sometime just before or after Pippin’s death. Charles languished there for a year, until he could make his escape.

Pippin’s death touched off a civil war within the Regnum Francorum and upon his escape, Charles raised an army and joined the fray. Although he suffered an initial reverse at the hands of an invading Frisian army allied to one of the Frankish factions (the only known defeat Charles ever suffered), Charles eventually triumphed over all his foes. Thruough crushing victories at Ambleve in April AD 716, Vincy in March AD 717, Cologne later the same year, and in Frisia early in AD 718 Charles defeated all his rivals, including his nephew and stepmother.

While Charles campaigned against the Frisians in AD 718, however, a dissident Neustrian faction forged an alliance with Eudo, naming him the Mayor of the Neustrian Palace. The following year Charles’ army met the rebel Neustrians and Eudo’s army (which contained a sizable contingent of Gascon mercenaries) outside of Paris, but the rebel Neustrians and Aquatinians quit the field without a fight.

In AD 720 Charles and Eudo made peace and agreed to an alliance, with Eudo recognizing Charles’ claim to the Neustrian Mayoralty and surrendering to Charles the Neustrian royal treasure in his possession. It is not clear what promises, if any, Charles made to Eudo, but it is clear that Charles did not attempt to assert authority over Aquitaine during Eudo’s lifetime, thereby tacitly acknowledging the legitimacy of Eudo’s independent rule.

With the Regnum Francorum firmly under his control (the Burgundians had come over to Charles without a fight after his victory at Vincy in AD 717), Charles was able to turn his attention to external affairs. Between AD 720 and AD 732 he undertook a series of successful campaigns against the pagan Saxons (in AD 720 and AD 724), as well as against the Alamans and Bavarians (in AD 725) and the Bavarians again (in AD 728). Thus, when Charles marched out to meet the Islamic invaders in AD 732 he was the undisputed master of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy, and he had established his surenzy over the Alamans, Bavarians, Frisians, and Saxons. His border with Aquitaine was also secure via his alliance with Eudo and he likewise enjoyed favorable relations with the Thuringians as a result of his triumph at Vincy in AD 717.