Who was Charlemagne's mother?

Charlemagne’s mother was Bertrada of Laon, also called Bertrada the Younger or Bertha Broadfoot. She was the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of several children who shaped the Carolingian dynasty, including Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman.

Bertrada married Pepin around 740 or 741, before he became king of the Franks. Pepin later seized the kingship from the Merovingian ruler Childeric III, and papal support helped legitimize the new Carolingian monarchy. Bertrada’s family connections may also have strengthened Pepin’s political standing.

Pepin and Bertrada’s sons inherited a powerful kingdom. Charlemagne became king in 768 and eventually ruled an empire stretching across much of western and central Europe. Bertrada’s daughter Gisela entered religious life at Chelles Abbey, showing how dynastic families used both marriage and monasteries to build influence.

The other options are connected to Charlemagne’s family but are not his mother. Fastrada and Hildegard of Vinzgouw were among his wives, while Ermengarde of Hesbaye was the mother of his son Louis the Pious. Bertrada died in 783, decades before Charlemagne’s imperial coronation.