Most historians agree that he was born on 2 April 742 while his parents, Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, were bound under a private contract, not considered to be a legal union; the couple did not marry until 744.
In addition to Friedelehe the aforementioned Muntehe, Kebsehe (concubinage), Raubehe (abduction) and Entführungsehe (elopement) are said to have existed in the Middle Ages.
[citation needed] According to research in the early years of the 21st century (among others that of Else Ebel, Karl Heidecker[citation needed] and Andrea Esmyol), indications have accumulated providing evidence to the effect that Friedelehe is a mere research artifact, a construct that arose from a faulty interpretation of the sources by Meyer.
The following points of criticism have been raised: That Meyer's theory was still able to prevail in this field of research for decades may be attributed to the specific context in which it developed.
It was, on the one hand, a time in the 19th and early 20th century characterized by a search for historical models for freer choice in the amatory realm.