 Pepin's son Charlemagne in 773/774 finally incorporated the Italian kingdom into the Carolingian Empire.Charlemagne at first attached the Istrian peninsula to the Lombard Duchy of Friuli, part of the Carolingian Kingdom of Italy under his son Pepin.Though officially a duchy, Friuli "de facto" was a march with a merely titular ducal dignity, from 776 ruled by Frankish appointees.