ABSTRACT
One major difficulty in assessing both the Carolingians and the last Merovingian kings is the bias of the sources; most of the narrative sources for the eighth and early ninth centuries are pro-Carolingian. The Carolingians, a noble, ambitious and powerful family, with considerable wealth and ability at their command, had struggled with other noble families to gain a position of supremacy in Frankish Gaul. Some of the east Frankish lands may have been Carolingian from the beginning of the eighth century, inherited from the family in the Echternach region. The only narrative account is in the Liber Historiae Francorum, and it is quite explicit in saying Grimoald deposed Dagobert and placed his own son on the throne. The third party in the struggle for power in Neustria was the Neustrian magnates who were opposed to Carolingian dominance and, ostensibly at least, supporters of the Merovingian king.
