[1] While Maurontus desired to be free from the Pippinid dominance then affecting the rest of Francia, he may have paid homage to the Merovingian kings.
For this reason, Maurontus' power was not opposed only by the Pippinids and their allies, but by local families, like that of Waldelenus around Besançon, which controlled the passes of Susa, Gap, and Embrun into Italy.
In or before 736, he called in the aid of Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, Wali of Narbonne, to garrison Avignon,[1] though some sources indicate that this city was conquered not granted, along with Arles.
In that year, Martel invaded the Rhone Valley with his brother Childebrand, and devastated the region, taking Arles and Avignon and confining Maurontus to Marseille.
From there, the patrician and his supporters rebelled, but Childebrand and the Lombards decisively defeated them near Avignon and forced Maurontus to go into hiding in the Alps.