Carolingian Dynasty
Adelaide
Louis II "the
Stammerer"
Reginonis
Chronicon in Monumenta Germaniæ
Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826)
[878]
Paucis interiectis diebus, Hludowicus rex, filius Caroli, qui Balbus
appellabatur, eo quod impeditioris et tradioris esset eloquii, ab hac
luce subtractus est. Fuit vero iste princeps vir simplex ac mitis,
pacis, iustitiae et religionis amator. Habuit autem, cum adhuc
iuvenilis aetatis flore polleret, quandam nobilem puellam nomine
Ansgard sibi coniugii foedere copulatam, ex qua duos liberos suscepit
elegantis formae ac ingentis animi virtute praestantes: horum unus
Hludowicus, alter Carlomannus vocabatur. Sed quia hanc sine genitoris
conscientia et voluntatis consensu suis amplexibus sociaverat, ab ipso
patre ei postmodum est interdicta, et interposito iurisiurandi
sacramento, ab eius consortio in perpetuum separata. Tradita est autem
eidem ab eodem patre Adalheidis in matrimonium, quam gravidam ex se
reliquit idem rex cum obiret; quae tempore pariendi expleto, enixa est
puerum, cui nomen avi imposuit, eumque Carolum vocitari fecit.
This roughly translates as:
[878] A few days later, King Louis, the son of Charles, who was called
the Babbler, because he was more difficult and more eloquent, was taken
from this world. This prince was a simple man and a lover of peace,
justice and religion. He had, while still in the prime of his youth, a
certain noble girl named Ansgard, who was united to him by a marriage
contract, by whom he had two children, distinguished by their elegant
form and great strength of mind: one of whom was called Louis, the other
Carloman. But because he had associated her with his embraces without
the knowledge and consent of his parents, she was afterwards forbidden
by her father, and, having sworn an oath, was separated from his company
forever. She was given to him by the same father in marriage to
Adelheid, whom the same king left pregnant by him when he died; and when
the time of childbirth was over, she gave birth to a boy, to whom he
gave the name of his grandfather, and had him called Charles.
Adelaide's marriage to Louis was not recognised by the church, which did not
accept her husband's separation from his first wife. The Pope refused
to crown Adelais with her husband at Troyes in 878, considering that she was
not his legitimate wife and her children were considered illegitimate by the
church. Nonetheless, her son, Charles, did become king of West Francia.
Adelaide "our beloved mother" is mentioned in a charter of her son, Charles
"the Simple" dated 9 November 901, indicating that she was still living at
that date (Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France
vol 9 p494 (1757)).
Adelaide
Charles de
Lorraine
When Charles was imprisoned in Orleans by Hugh Capet in 991, Adelaide and
three of their children were imprisoned with him.
Richeri Historiarum Liber IV in Richer:
Histoire de son temps p214 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
Karolum
ergo cum uxore Adelaide et filio Ludovico, et filiabus duabus, quarum
altera Gerberga, altera Adelaidis dicebatur, necnon et Arnulfo nepote
carceri dedit.
This roughly translates as:
Therefore he imprisoned Charles with his wife Adelaide and his son
Louis, and his two daughters, one of whom was called Gerberga, the other
Adelaide, as well as his nephew Arnulf.
Adelaide and her daughters were released after Charle's death in custody.
Les derniers Carolingiens p282 (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891)
Nous pensons qu’après la mort de Charles, arrivée à Orléans peu après
992, Hugues Capet relâcha sa femme et ses filles, laissa à Orléans
Arnoul (le fait est certain), et donna Louis en garde â lévêque de
Laon
This roughly translates as:
We believe that after the death of Charles, who arrived in Orléans
shortly after 992, Hugh Capet released his wife and daughters, left
Arnoul in Orléans (the fact is certain), and gave Louis into the care of
the Bishop of Laon.
The identity of Adelaide's father is debated by historians. According to
Historia Francorum Senonensis, Charles was married to a daughter of count
Heribert of Troyes
Historia
Francorum Senonensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 9 pp367-8 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1851)
Anno 982
... Cui successit Karolus, frater eius, filius Hlotharii regis. Eodem
anno rebellavit contra Karolum Hugo dux Francorum, eo quod accepisset
Karolus filiam Herberti comitis Trecarum.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 982
... He was succeeded by his brother Charles, son of king Lothair. In the
same year Hugh, duke of the Franks, rebelled against Charles, because
Charles had taken the daughter of Herbert, count of Troyes.
However, it has been pointed out that no chronologically suitable count of
Troyes has been found, leading some to suggest that Historia Francorum
Senonensis is in error and Adelaide's father was actually Robert, count of
Troyes. Furthermore, Richer, when discussing Charles's claim to the French
throne on the death of Lothair, writes:
Richeri Historiarum Liber IV in Richer:
Histoire de son temps p156 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
Sed
quid dignum Karolo conferri potest, quem fides non regit, torpor
enervat , postremo qui tanta capitis imminutione hebuit, ut externo
regi servire non horruerit, et uxorem de militari ordine sibi imparem
duxerit?
This roughly translates as:
But what worthy thing can be attributed to Charles, who is not governed
by faith, is weakened by torpor, and finally, who had such a low level
of intelligence that he did not shudder to serve a foreign king, and
married a wife unequal to him in military rank?
Some historians point out that the daughter of the count of Troyes would not
likely be described as being so unequal to Charles in rank, and so they have
hypothesized that Charles was married twice, firstly to the daughter of the
count of Troyes and secondly to Adelaide. See Les derniers Carolingiens pp209n-210n
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891), Medieval
Lands (ADELAIS de Troyes) and The
Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England (Gerberga)
for further discussion of this topic.
Charles Martel
Pepin
II
Alpaida
Rotrude
Suanachildis
Suanachildis was the niece of Odilo,
the duke of Bavaria. After the death of her husband, she incited her son to
rebel against her stepsons. She was defeated and sent to Chelles
Abbey in Seine-et-Marne, Paris.
Charles also had at least three children outside of his marriages.
Mayor of the Palace, and de
facto ruler of the Franks.
Charles was majores palatii, or palace mayor, the de facto ruler of
the Franks, from 718 until his death. He installed puppet kings until 737
when he omitted to nominate a successor on the death of King Theoderic IV,
proclaiming himself princeps et dux Francorum (prince and duke of
Francia).
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp942-3 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
CHARLES
MARTEL1 (c. 688-741), Frankish ruler, was a
natural son of Pippin II., mayor of the palace, and Chalpaïda. Charles
was baptized by St Rigobert, bishop of Reims. At the death of his father
in 714, Pippin’s widow Plectrude claimed the government in Austrasia and
Neustria in the name of her grandchildren, and had Charles thrown into
prison. But the Neustrians threw off the Austrasian yoke and entered
into an offensive alliance with the Frisians and Saxons. In the general
anarchy Charles succeeded in escaping, defeated the Neustrians at
Amblève, south of Liege, in 716, and at Vincy, near Cambrai, in 717, and
forced them to come to terms. In Austrasia he wrested the power from
Plectrude, and took the title of mayor of the palace, thus prejudicing
the interests of his nephews. According to the Frankish custom he
proclaimed a king in Austrasia in the person of the young Clotaire IV.,
but in reality Charles was the sole master—the entry in the annals for
the year 717 being “Carolus regnare coepit.” Once in possession of
Austrasia, Charles sought to extend his dominion over Neustria also. In
719 he defeated Ragenfrid, the Neustrian mayor of the palace, at
Soissons, and forced him to retreat to Angers. Ragenfrid died in 731,
and from that time Charles had no competitor in the western kingdom. He
obliged the inhabitants of Burgundy to submit, and disposed of the
Burgundian bishoprics and countships to his leudes. In Aquitaine
Duke Odo (Eudes) exercised independent authority, but in 719 Charles
forced him to recognize the suzerainty of northern France, at least
nominally. After the alliance between Charles and Odo on the field of
Poitiers, the mayor of the palace left Aquitaine to Odo’s son Hunald,
who paid homage to him. Besides establishing a certain unity in Gaul,
Charles saved it from a very great peril. In 711 the Arabs had conquered
Spain. In 720 they crossed the Pyrenees, seized Narbonensis, a
dependency of the kingdom of the Visigoths, and advanced on Gaul. By his
able policy Odo succeeded in arresting their progress for some years;
but a new vali, Abdur Rahman, a member of an extremely fanatical sect,
resumed the attack, reached Poitiers, and advanced on Tours, the holy
town of Gaul. In October 732—just 100 years after the death of
Mahomet—Charles gained a brilliant victory over Abdur Rahman, who was
called back to Africa by the revolts of the Berbers and had to give up
the struggle. This was the last of the great Arab invasions of Europe.
After his victory Charles took the offensive, and endeavoured to wrest
Narbonensis from the Mussulmans. Although he was not successful in his
attempt to recover Narbonne (737), he destroyed the fortresses of Agde,
Béziers and Maguelonne, and set fire to the amphitheatre at Nimes. He
subdued also the Germanic tribes; annexed Frisia, where Christianity was
beginning to make progress; put an end to the duchy of Alemannia;
intervened in the internal affairs of the dukes of Bavaria; made
expeditions into Saxony; and in 738 compelled some of the Saxon tribes
to pay him tribute. He also gave St Boniface a safe conduct for his
missions in Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria.
During the government of Charles Martel important changes appear
to have been made in the internal administration. Under him began the
great assemblies of nobles known as the champs de Mars. To
attach his leudes Charles had to give them church lands as precarium,
and this had a very great influence in the development of the feudal
system. It was from the precarium, or ecclesiastical benefice,
that the feudal fief originated. Vassalage, too, acquired a greater
consistency at this period, and its rules began to crystallize. Under
Charles occurred the first attempt at reconciliation between the papacy
and the Franks. Pope Gregory III., menaced by the Lombards, invoked the
aid of Charles (739), sent him a deputation with the keys of the Holy
Sepulchre and the chains of St Peter, and offered to break with the
emperor and Constantinople, and to give Charles the Roman consulate (ut
a partibus imperatoris recederet et Romanum consulatum Carolo sanciret).
This proposal, though unsuccessful, was the starting-point of a new
papal policy. Since the death of Theuderich IV. in 737 there had been no
king of the Franks. In 741 Charles divided the kingdom between his two
sons, as though he were himself master of the realm. To the elder,
Carloman, he gave Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia, with suzerainty
over Bavaria; the younger, Pippin, received Neustria, Burgundy and
Provence. Shortly after this division of the kingdom Charles died at
Quierzy on the 22nd of October 741, and was buried at St Denis. The
characters of Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne offer many
striking points of resemblance. Both were men of courage and activity,
and the two men are often confused in the chansons de geste.
See T. Breyrig, Jahrbücker d. fränk. Reichs, 714-741; die
Zeit Karl Martells (Leipzig, 1869); A. A. Beugnot, “Sur la
spoliation des biens du clergé attribuée à Charles Martel,” in the Mém.
de l’Acad. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, vol. xix. (Paris, 1853);
Ulysse Chevalier, Bio-bibliographie (2nd ed., Paris,
1904). (C. PF.)
1 Or “The Hammer.”
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp17-8
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
II. At
the time of Childeric’s deposition, Pepin, the father of King Charles,
held this office of Mayor of the Palace, one might almost say, by
hereditary right; for Pepin’s father, Charles, had received it at the
hands of his father, Pepin, and filled it with distinction.
 |
Illumination of Charles Martel defeating
Eudo and the Saracens, from the manuscript Grandes chroniques de
France, Royal 16 G.VI, f.117v, dated between 1332 and 1350
|
It was this Charles that crushed the tyrants
who claimed to rule the whole Frank land as their own, and that utterly
routed the Saracens, when they attempted the conquest of Gaul, in two
great battles—one in Aquitania, near the town of Poitiers, and the other
on the River Berre,5 near Narbonne—and compelled them to
return to Spain. This honour was usually conferred by the people only
upon men eminent from their illustrious birth and ample wealth.
5 Not L’Etang de Berre, but a small stream emptying
into L’Etang de Sijean.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire vol 10 pp20-4 (Edward Gibbon, 1788)
A victorious
line of march had been prolonged above a thouſand miles from the rock of
Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire; the repetition of an equal ſpace
would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the
Highlands of Scotland: the Rhine is not more impaſſable than the Nile or
Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval
combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the
Koran would now be taught in the ſchools of Oxford, and her pulpits
might demonſtrate to a circumciſed people the ſanctity and truth of the
revelation of Mahomet.
From ſuch calamities was Chriſtendom delivered by the genius and
fortune of one man. Charles, the illegitimate ſon of the elder Pepin,
was content with the titles of mayor or duke of the Franks, but he
deſerved to become the father of a line of kings. In a laborious
adminiſtration of twenty-four years, he reſtored and ſupported the
dignity of the throne, and the rebels of Germany and Gaul were
ſucceſſively cruſhed by the activity of a warrior, who, in the ſame
campaign, could diſplay his banner on the Elbe, the Rhône, and the
shores of the ocean.
… No ſooner had he collected his forces than he fought and found the
enemy in the centre of France, between Tours and Poitiers. His well
conduced march was covered by a range of hills, and Abderame appears to
have been ſurpriſed by his unexpected preſence. The nations of Aſia,
Africa, and Europe, advanced with equal ardour to an encounter which
would .change the hiſtory of the world. In the ſix firſt days of
deſultory combat, the horſemen and archers of the Eaſt maintained their
advantage: but in the cloſer orſet of the ſeventh day, the Orientals
were oppreſſed by the ſtrength and ſtature of the Germans, who, with
ſtout hearts and iron hands, aſſerted the civil and religious
freedom of their poſterity. The epithet of Martel, the Hammer,
which has been added to the name of Charles, is expreſſive of his
weighty and irreſiſtible ſtrokes: … After a bloody field, in which
Abderame was flain, the Saracens, in the cloſe of the evening, retired
to their camp.
… Yet the victory of the Franks was complete and final; Aquitain was
recovered by the arms of Eudes; the Arabs never reſumed the conqueſt of
Gaul, and they were ſoon driven beyond the Pyrenees by Charles Martel
and his valiant race. It might have been expected that the ſaviour of
Chriſtendom would have been canonized, or at leaſt applauded by the
gratitude of the clergy, who are indebted to his ſword for their preſent
exiſtence. But in the public diſtreſs, the mayor of the palace had been
compelled to apply the riches, or at leaſt the revenues, of the biſhops
and abbots, to the relief of the ſtate and the reward of the ſoldiers.
His merits were forgotten, his ſacrilege alone was remembered, and, in
an epiſtle to a Carlovingian prince, a Gallic ſynod preſumes to declare
that his anceſtor was damned; that on opening his tomb, the ſpectators
were affrighted by a ſmell of fire and the aſpect of an horrid dragon;
and that a ſaint of the times was indulged with a pleaſant viſion of the
ſoul and body of Charles Martel, burning, to all eternity, in the abyſs
of hell.
in Quierzy-sur-Oise
on 22 October 741
in the basilica
of Saint-Denis, Paris
Charlemagne
 |
A wax seal of Charlemagne dated November
775 (Archives Nationales, Paris K6 no. 8)
|
 |
A wax seal of Charlemagne dated 7 August
807 (Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich, KS3)
|
Pepin the Short
Bertrada
the daughter of Desiderius,
king of the Lombards & his wife Ansa, in 769
Charlemagne sent her back to her father after repudiating her in 770 or 771.
Hildegard
in 771-2
 |
A denier, or penny, from the reign
of Charlemagne, minted at Mainz between 812 and 814.
photo by PHGCOM of a coin
held at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, posted on wikipedia
|
Fastrada in October 783, in Worms, East
Francia
Royal Frankish annals p61 (trans. Bernhard
Walter Scholz, 1970)
783
… When the Lord King Charles came to Worms, he took the Lady Queen
Fastrada as his wife.2
2. R: “by whom he begot two daughters”; the daughters were Theoderada
and Hiltrude.
Fastrada was the daughter of a Frankish count named Radolf. She died on 10
October 794 in Frankfurt-am-Main, and was buried in St
Alban's Abbey, Mainz,
East Francia.
Luitgarde
Luitgarde died on 4 June 800 in Tours, where she was buried in the church of
St Martin. There were no children from this marriage.
Charlemagne had a number of children with different women outside of his
marriages.
- Pepin the
Hunchback (770 - 811) whose mother was Himiltrude
- Hruodhaid
- Ruothild
( ? - 852) whose mother was Madelgard
- Adaltrude whose mother was Gersuinda
- Drogo
(801–855) whose mother was Regina
- Hugo
( ? – 844) whose mother was the same Regina
- Theodoric (810 - ? ) whose mother was Adallind
Emperor
Charlemagne was king
of the Franks from 768, king
of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire
from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp891-7 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
CHARLEMAGNE
[CHARLES THE GREAT] (c. 742-814),
Roman emperor, and king of the Franks, was the elder son of Pippin the
Short, king of the Franks, and Bertha, or Bertrada, daughter of
Charibert, count of Laon. The place of his birth is unknown and its date
uncertain, although some authorities give it as the 2nd of April 742;
doubts have been cast upon his legitimacy, and it is just possible that
the marriage of Pippin and Bertha took place subsequent to the birth of
their elder son. When Pippin was crowned king of the Franks at St Denis
on the 28th of July 754 by Pope Stephen II., Charles, and his brother
Carloman were anointed by the pope as a sign of their kingly rank. The
rough surroundings of the Frankish court were unfavourable to the
acquisition of learning, and Charles grew up almost ignorant of letters,
but hardy in body and skilled in the use of weapons.
In 761 he accompanied his father on a campaign in Aquitaine, and
in 763 undertook the government of several counties. In 768 Pippin
divided his dominions between his two sons, and on his death soon
afterwards Charles became the ruler of the northern portion of the
Frankish kingdom, and was crowned at Noyon on the 9th of October 768.
Bad feeling had existed for some time between Charles and Carloman, and
when Charles early in 769 was called upon to suppress a rising in
Aquitaine, his brother refused to afford him any assistance. This
rebellion, however, was easily crushed, its leader, the Aquitainian duke
Hunold, was made prisoner, and his territory more closely attached to
the Frankish kingdom. About this time Bertha, having effected a
temporary reconciliation between her sons, overcame the repugnance with
which Pope Stephen III. regarded an alliance between Frank and Lombard,
and brought about a marriage between Charles and a daughter of
Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Charles had previously contracted a
union, probably of an irregular nature, with a Frankish lady named
Himiltrude, who had borne him a son Pippin, the “Hunchback.” The peace
with the Lombards, in which the Bavarians as allies of Desiderius
joined, was, however, soon broken. Charles thereupon repudiated his
Lombard wife (Bertha or Desiderata) and married in 771 a princess of the
Alamanni named Hildegarde. Carloman died in December 771, and Charles
was at once recognized at Corbeny as sole king of the Franks. Carloman's
widow Gerberga had fled to the protection of the Lombard king, who
espoused her cause and requested the new pope, Adrian I., to recognize
her two sons as the lawful Frankish kings. Adrian, between whom and the
Lombards other causes of quarrel existed, refused to assent to this
demand, and when Desiderius invaded the papal territories he appealed to
the Frankish king for help. Charles, who was at the moment engaged in
his first Saxon campaign, expostulated with Desiderius; but when such
mild measures proved useless he led his forces across the Alps in 773.
Gerberga and her children were delivered up and disappear from history;
the siege of Pavia was undertaken; and at Easter 774 the king left the
seat of war and visited Rome, where he was received with great respect.
… Returning to the scene of hostilities, Charles witnessed the
capitulation of Pavia in June 774, and the capture of Desiderius, who
was sent into a monastery. He now took the title “king of the Lombards,”
to which he added the dignity of “Patrician of the Romans,” which had
been granted to his father.
… Charles now sought to increase his authority in Italy, where Frankish
counts were set over various districts, and where Hildebrand, duke of
Spoleto, appears to have recognized his overlordship. In 780 he was
again in the peninsula, and at Mantua issued an important capitulary
which increased the authority of the Lombard bishops, relieved freemen
who under stress of famine had sold themselves into servitude, and
condemned abuses of the system of vassalage. At the same time commerce
was encouraged by the abolition of unauthorized tolls and by an
improvement of the coinage; while the sale of arms to hostile peoples,
and the trade in Christian slaves were forbidden. Proceeding to Rome,
the king appears to have come to some arrangement with Adrian about the
donation of 774. At Easter 781, Carloman, his second son by Hildegarde,
was renamed Pippin and crowned king of Italy by Pope Adrian, and his
youngest son Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine; but no mention was
made at the time of his eldest son Charles, who was doubtless intended
to be king of the Franks. In 783 the king, having lost his wife
Hildegarde, married Fastrada, the daughter of a Frankish count named
Radolf; and in the same year his mother Bertha died. The emperor
Constantine VI. was at this time exhibiting some interest in Italian
affairs, and Adalgis the Lombard was still residing at his court; so
Charles sought to avert danger from this quarter by consenting in 781 to
a marriage between Constantine and his own daughter Rothrude.
… The continuous interest taken by the king in ecclesiastical affairs
was shown at the synod of Frankfort, over which he presided in 794. It
was on his initiative that this synod condemned the heresy of adoptianism
and the worship of images, which had been restored in 787 by the second
council of Nicaea; and at the same time that council was declared to
have been superfluous. This policy caused a further breach with Pope
Adrian; but when Adrian died in December 795, his successor, Leo III.,
in notifying his elevation to the king, sent him the keys of St Peter's
grave and the banner of the city, and asked Charles to send an envoy to
receive his oath of fidelity. There is no doubt that Leo recognized
Charles as sovereign of Rome. He was the first pope to date his acts
according to the years of the Frankish monarchy, and a mosaic of the
time in the Lateran palace represents St Peter bestowing the banners
upon Charles as a token of temporal supremacy, while the coinage issued
by the pope bears witness to the same idea. Leo soon had occasion to
invoke the aid of his protector. In 799, after he had been attacked and
maltreated in the streets of Rome during a procession, he escaped to the
king at Paderborn, and Charles sent him back to Italy escorted by some
of his most trusted servants. Taking the same journey himself shortly
afterwards, the king reached Rome in 800 for the purpose (as he
declared) of restoring discipline in the church. His authority was
undisputed; and after Leo had cleared himself by an oath of certain
charges made against him, Charles restored the pope and banished his
leading opponents.
The great event of this visit took place on the succeeding
Christmas Day, when Charles on rising from prayer in St Peter’s was
crowned by Leo and proclaimed emperor and augustus amid the
acclamations of the crowd.
… Thus the emperor's dominions now stretched from the Eider to the Ebro,
and from the Atlantic to the Elbe, the Saale and the Raab, and they also
included the greater part of Italy; while even beyond these bounds he
exercised an acknowledged but shadowy authority. In 806 Charles arranged
a division of his territories among his three legitimate sons, but this
arrangement came to nothing owing to the death of Pippin in 810, and of
the younger Charles in the following year. Charles then named his
remaining son Louis as his successor; and at his father’s command Louis
took the crown from the altar and placed it upon his own head. This
ceremony took place at Aix on the 11th of September 813.
… In 811 Charles made his will, which shows that he contemplated the
possibility of abdication. The bulk of his possessions were left to the
twenty-one metropolitan churches of his dominions, and the remainder to
his children, his servants and the poor. In his last years he passed
most of his days at Aix, though he had sufficient energy to take the
field for a short time during the Danish War. Early in 814 he was
attacked by a fever which he sought to subdue by fasting; but pleurisy
supervened, and after partaking of the communion, he died on the 28th of
January 814, and on the same day his body was buried in the church of St
Mary at Aix. In the year 1000 his tomb was opened by the emperor Otto
III., but the account that Otto found the body upright upon a throne
with a golden crown on the head and holding a golden sceptre in the
hands, is generally regarded as legendary. The tomb was again opened by
the emperor Frederick I. in 1165, when the remains were removed from a
marble sarcophagus and placed in a wooden coffin. Fifty years later they
were transferred by order of the emperor Frederick II. to a splendid
shrine, in which the relics are still exhibited once in every six years.
The sarcophagus in which the body originally lay may still be seen at
Aix, and other relics of the great emperor are in the imperial treasury
at Vienna. In 1165 Charles was canonized by the antipope Paschal III. at
the instance of the emperor Frederick I., and Louis XI. of France gave
strict orders that the feast of the saint should be observed.
The personal appearance of Charles is thus described by
Einhard:—“Big and robust in frame, he was tall, but not excessively so,
measuring about seven of his own feet in height. His eyes were large and
lustrous, his nose rather long and his countenance bright and cheerful.”
He had a commanding presence, a clear but somewhat feeble voice, and in
later life became rather corpulent. His health was uniformly good, owing
perhaps to his moderation in eating and drinking, and to his love for
hunting and swimming. He was an affectionate father, and loved to pass
his time in the company of his children, to whose education he paid the
closest attention. His sons were trained for war and the chase, and his
daughters instructed in the spinning of wool and other feminine arts.
His ideas of sexual morality were primitive. Many concubines are spoken
of, he had several illegitimate children, and the morals of his
daughters were very loose. He was a regular observer of religious rites,
took great pains to secure decorum in the services of the church, and
was generous in almsgiving both within his empire and without. He
reformed the Frankish liturgy, and brought singers from Rome to improve
the services of the church. He had considerable knowledge of theology,
took a prominent part in the theological controversies of the time, and
was responsible for the addition of the clause filioque to the
Nicene Creed. The most attractive feature of his character, however, was
his love of learning. In addition to his native tongue he could read
Latin and understood Greek, but he was unable to write, and Einhard
gives an account of his futile efforts to learn this art in later life.
He loved the reading of histories and astronomy, and by questioning
travellers gained some knowledge of distant parts of the earth. He
attended lectures on grammar, and his favourite work was St Augustine’s
De civitate Dei. He caused Frankish sagas to be collected, began
a grammar of his native tongue, and spent some of his last hours in
correcting a text of the Vulgate. He delighted in the society of
scholars—Alcuin, Angilbert, Paul the Lombard, Peter of Pisa and others,
and in this company the trappings of rank were laid aside and the
emperor was known simply as David. Under his patronage Alcuin organized
the school of the palace, where the royal children were taught in the
company of others, and founded a school at Tours which became the model
for many other establishments. Charles was unwearying in his efforts to
improve the education of clergy and laity, and in 789 ordered that
schools should be established in every diocese. The atmosphere of these
schools was strictly ecclesiastical and the questions discussed by the
scholars were often puerile, but the greatness of the educational work
of Charles will not be doubted when one considers the rude condition of
Frankish society half a century before. The main work of the Carolingian
renaissance was to restore Latin to its position as a literary language,
and to reintroduce a correct system of spelling and an improved
handwriting. The manuscripts of the time are accurate and artistic,
copies of valuable books were made and by careful collation the texts
were purified.
Charles was not a great warrior. His victories were won rather by
the power of organization, which he possessed in a marked degree, and he
was eager to seize ideas and prompt in their execution. He erected a
stone bridge with wooden piers across the Rhine at Mainz, and began a
canal between the Altmuhl and the Rednitz to connect the Rhine and the
Danube, but this work was not finished. He built palaces at Aix (his
favourite residence), Nijmwegen and Ingelheim, and erected the church of
St Mary at Aix, modelled on that of St Vitalis at Ravenna and adorned
with columns and mosaics brought from the same city. He loved the simple
dress and manners of the Franks, and on two occasions only did he assume
the more stately attire of a Roman noble. The administrative system of
Charles in church and state was largely personal, and he brought to the
work an untiring industry, and a marvellous grasp of detail. He
admonished the pope, appointed the bishops, watched over the morals and
work of the clergy, and took an active part in the deliberations of
church synods; he founded bishoprics and monasteries, was lavish in his
gifts to ecclesiastical foundations, and chose bishops and abbots for
administrative work. As the real founder of the ecclesiastical state, he
must be held mainly responsible for the evils which resulted from the
policy of the church in exalting the ecclesiastical over the secular
authority.
In secular affairs Charles abolished the office of duke, placed
counts over districts smaller than the former duchies, and supervised
their government by means of missi dominici, officials
responsible to himself alone. Marches were formed on all the borders of
the empire, and the exigencies of military service led to the growth of
a system of land-tenure which contained the germ of feudalism. The
assemblies of the people gradually changed their character under his
rule. No longer did the nation come together to direct and govern, but
the emperor summoned his people to assent to his acts. Taking a lively
interest in commerce and agriculture, Charles issued various regulations
for the organization of the one and the improvement of the other. He
introduced a new system of weights and measures, which he ordered should
be used throughout his kingdom, and took steps to reform the coinage. He
was a voluminous lawgiver. Without abolishing the customary law of the
German tribes, which is said to have been committed to writing by his
orders, he added to it by means of capitularies, and thus
introduced certain Christian principles and customs, and some degree of
uniformity.
… AUTHORITIES.—The chief authorities for the life and
times of Charlemagne are Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni, the Annales
Laurissenses majores, the Annales Fuldenses, and other
annals, which are published in the Monumenta Germaniae historica.
Scriptores, Band i. and ii., edited by G. H. Pertz (Hanover and
Berlin, 1826-1892). For the capitularies see Capitularia regum
Francorum, edited by A. Boretius in the Monumenta. Leges.
Many of the songs of the period appear in the Poetae Latini aevi
Carolini, edited by E. Dümmler (Berlin, 1881-1884). The Bibliotheca
rerum Germanicarum, tome iv., edited by Ph. Jaffe (Berlin,
1864-1873), contains some of the emperor’s correspondence, and Hincmar’s
De ordine palatii, edited by M. Prou (Paris, 1884), is also
valuable.
See also Life
of Charlemagne by Eginhard (trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
for a longer biography of Charlemagne. Some excerpts describe more of
Charlemagne's personal life:
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp56-61
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
XXII.
Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not
disproportionately tall (his height is well known to have been seven
times the length of his foot); the upper part of his head was round, his
eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face
laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always stately and
dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was
thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the
symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects. His gait was
firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong
as his size led one to expect. His health was excellent, except during
the four years preceding his death, when he was subject to frequent
fevers; at the last he even limped a little with one foot. Even in those
years he consulted rather his own inclinations than the advice of
physicians, who were almost hateful to him, because they wanted him to
give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled meat
instead. In accordance with the national custom, he took frequent
exercise on horseback and in the chase, accomplishments in which
scarcely any people in the world can equal the Franks. He enjoyed the
exhalations from natural warm springs, and often practised swimming, in
which he was such an adept that none could surpass him; and hence it was
that he built his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, and lived there constantly
during his latter years until his death. He used not only to invite his
sons to his bath, but his nobles and friends, and now and then a troop
of his retinue or body-guard, so that a hundred or more persons
sometimes bathed with him.
XXIII. He used to wear the national, that is to say, the Frank,
dress—next his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a
tunic fringed with silk; while hose fastened by bands covered his lower
limbs, and shoes his feet, and he protected his shoulders and chest in
winter by a close-fitting coat of otter or marten skins. Over all he
flung a blue cloak, and he always had a sword girt about him, usually
one with a gold or silver hilt and belt; he sometimes carried a jewelled
sword, but only on great feast-days or at the reception of ambassadors
from foreign nations. He despised foreign costumes, however handsome,
and never allowed himself to be robed in them, except twice in Rome,
when he donned the Roman tunic, chlamys, and shoes; the first time at
the request of Pope Hadrian,59 the second to gratify Leo,60
Hadrian’s successor. On great feast-days he made use of embroidered
clothes, and shoes bedecked with precious stones; his cloak was fastened
by a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a diadem of gold and
gems: but on other days his dress varied little from the common dress of
the people.
XXIV. Charles was temperate in eating, and particularly so in
drinking, for he abominated drunkenness in anybody, much more in himself
and those of his household; but he could not easily abstain from food,
and often complained that fasts injured his health. He very rarely gave
entertainments, only on great feast-days, and then to large numbers of
people. His meals ordinarily consisted of four courses, not counting the
roast, which his huntsmen used to bring in on the spit; he was more fond
of this than of any other dish. While at table, he listened to reading
or music. The subjects of the readings were the stories and deeds of
olden time: he was fond, too, of St. Augustine’s books, and especially
of the one entitled “The City of God.” He was so moderate in the use of
wine and all sorts of drink that he rarely allowed himself more than
three cups in the course of a meal. In summer, after the midday meal, he
would eat some fruit, drain a single cup, put off his clothes and shoes,
just as he did for the night, and rest for two or three hours. He was in
the habit of awaking and rising from bed four or five times during the
night. While he was dressing and putting on his shoes, he not only gave
audience to his friends, but if the Count of the Palace told him of any
suit in which his judgment was necessary, he had the parties brought
before him forthwith, took cognizance of the case, and gave his
decision, just as if he were sitting on the judgment-seat. This was not
the only business that he transacted at this time, but he performed any
duty of the day whatever, whether he had to attend to the matter
himself, or to give commands concerning it to his officers.
XXV. Charles had the gift of ready and fluent speech, and could
express whatever he had to say with the utmost clearness. He was not
satisfied with command of his native language merely, but gave attention
to the study of foreign ones, and in particular was such a master of
Latin that he could speak it as well as his native tongue; but he could
understand Greek better than he could speak it.
59 Hadrian I., 772-795.
60 Leo III., 795-816
28 January 814, from pleurisy
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp69-70
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
[813] After
sending his son back to Aquitania, although weak from age he set out to
hunt, as usual, near his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, and passed the rest
of the autumn in the chase, returning thither about the first of
November. While wintering there, he was seized, in the month of January,
with a high fever, and took to his bed. [814 Jan. 22.] As soon as he was
taken sick, he prescribed for himself abstinence from food, as he always
used to do in case of fever, thinking that the disease could be driven
off, or at least mitigated, by fasting. Besides the fever, he suffered
from a pain in the side, which the Greeks call pleurisy; but he still
persisted in fasting, and in keeping up his strength only by draughts
taken at very long intervals. He died January twenty-eighth, the seventh
day from the time that he took to his bed, at nine o’clock in the
morning, after partaking of the holy communion, in the 72d year of his
age and the 47th of his reign.
 |
Part of Charlemagne's burial shroud. It is
a polychrome crimson-hued silk with a pattern showing a quadriga,
manufactured in Constantinople. It is held in the Musée
national du Moyen Âge, Paris. This section was cut in 1850
from the shroud in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, where a section
of about the same dimensions remains.
image from De
Byzance a Istambul p129, posted on wikipedia
|
 |
|
28th of January 814 in the church of
St Mary at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen)
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp70-1
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
XXXI.
His body was washed and cared for in the usual manner, and was then
carried to the church, and interred amid the greatest lamentations of
all the people. There was some question at first where to lay him,
because in his lifetime he had given no directions as to his burial; but
at length all agreed that he could nowhere be more honourably entombed
than in the very basilica that he had built in the town at his own
expense, for love of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honour of the
Holy and Eternal Virgin, His Mother. He was buried there the same day
that he died, and a gilded arch was erected above his tomb with his
image and an inscription. The words of the inscription were as follows:
“In this tomb lies the body of Charles, the Great and Orthodox Emperor,
who gloriously extended the kingdom of the Franks, and reigned
prosperously for forty-seven years. He died at the age of seventy, in
the year of our Lord 814, the 7th Indiction, on the 28th day of
January.”
In the year 1000 his tomb was opened by the emperor Otto III. The tomb was
again opened by the emperor Frederick I. in 1165, when the remains were
removed from a marble sarcophagus and placed in a wooden coffin.
 |
The Karlsschrein, in Aachen
cathedral, in which Frederick II reinterred Charlemagne in
1215
|
Fifty years later they were transferred by order of the emperor Frederick
II. to a splendid shrine. The sarcophagus in which the body originally lay
can still be seen at Aix, and other relics of the emperor are in the
imperial treasury at Vienna.
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp74-82
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
XXXIII.
It had been his intention to make a will, that he might give some share
in the inheritance to his daughters and the children of his concubines;
but it was begun too late and could not be finished. Three years before
his death, however, he made a division of his treasures, money, clothes,
and other movable goods in the presence of his friends and servants, and
called them to witness it, that their voices might insure the
ratification of the disposition thus made. He had a summary drawn up of
his wishes regarding this distribution of his property, the terms and
text of which are as follows:
“In the name of the Lord God, the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. This is the inventory and division dictated by the most glorious
and most pious Lord Charles, Emperor Augustus, in the 811th year of the
Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 43d year of his reign in
France and 37th in Italy; the 11th of his empire, and the 4th Indiction,
which considerations of piety and prudence have determined him, and the
favour of God enabled him, to make of his treasures and money
ascertained this day to be in his treasure-chamber. In this division he
is especially desirous to provide not only that the largess of alms
which Christians usually make of their possessions shall be made for
himself in due course and order out of his wealth, but also that his
heirs shall be free from all doubt, and know clearly what belongs to
them, and be able to share their property by suitable partition without
litigation or strife. With this intention and to this end he has first
divided all his substance and movable goods ascertained to be in his
treasure-chamber on the day aforesaid in gold, silver, precious stones,
and royal ornaments into three lots, and has subdivided and set off two
of the said lots into twenty-one parts, keeping the third entire. The
first two lots have been thus subdivided into twenty-one parts because
there are in his kingdom twenty-one recognized metropolitan cities, and
in order that each archbishopric may receive by way of alms, at the
hands of his heirs and friends, one of the said parts, and that the
archbishop who shall then administer its affairs shall take the part
given to it, and share the same with his suffragans in such manner that
one third shall go to the Church, and the remaining two thirds be
divided among the suffragans. The twenty-one parts into which the first
two lots are to be distributed, according to the number of recognized
metropolitan cities, have been set apart one from another, and each has
been put aside by itself in a box labelled with the name of the city for
which it is destined. The names of the cities to which this alms or
largess is to be sent are as follows: Rome, Ravenna, Milan, Friuli,
Grado, Cologne, Mayence, Salzburg, Treves, Sens, Besançon, Lyons, Rouen,
Rheims, Arles, Vienne, Moutiers-en-Tarantpse, Embrun, Bordeaux, Tours,
and Bourges. The third lot, which he wishes to be kept entire, is to be
bestowed as follows: While the first two lots are to be divided into the
parts aforesaid, and set aside under seal, the third lot shall be
employed for the owner’s daily needs, as property which he shall be
under no obligation to part with in order to the fulfilment of any vow,
and this as long as he shall be in the flesh,, or consider it necessary
for his use. But upon his death, or voluntary renunciation of the
affairs of this world, this said lot shall be divided into four parts,
and one thereof shall be added to the aforesaid twenty-one parts; the
second shall be assigned to his sons and daughters, and to the sons and
daughters of his sons, to be distributed among them in just and equal
partition; the third, in accordance with the custom common among
Christians, shall be devoted to the poor; and the fourth shall go to the
support of the men-servants and maid-servants on duty in the palace. It
is his wish that to this said third lot of the whole amount, which
consists, as well as the rest, of gold and silver, shall be added all
the vessels and utensils of brass, iron, and other metals, together with
the arms, clothing, and other movable goods, costly and cheap, adapted
to divers uses, as hangings. coverlets, carpets, woollen stuffs,
leathern articles, pack-saddles, and whatsoever shall be found in his
treasure-chamber and wardrobe at that time, in order that thus the parts
of the said lot may be augmented, and the alms distributed reach more
persons. He ordains that his chapel—that is to say, its church property,
as well that which he has provided and collected as that which came to
him by inheritance from his father—shall remain entire, and not be
dissevered by any partition whatever. If, however, any vessels, books,
or other articles be found therein which are certainly known not to have
been given by him to the said chapel, whoever wants them shall have them
on paying their value at a fair estimation. He likewise commands that
the books which he has collected in his library in great numbers shall
be sold for fair prices to such as want them, and the money received
therefrom given to the poor. It is well known that among his other
property and treasures are three silver tables, and one very large and
massive golden one. He directs and commands that the square silver
table, upon which there is a representation of the city of
Constantinople, shall be sent to the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle
at Rome, with the other gifts destined therefor; that the round one,
adorned with a delineation of the city of Rome, shall be given to the
Episcopal Church at Ravenna; that the third, which far surpasses the
other two in weight and in beauty of workmanship, and is made in three
circles, showing the plan of the whole universe, drawn with skill and
delicacy, shall go, together with the golden table, fourthly above
mentioned, to increase that lot which is to be devoted to his heirs and
to alms.
This deed, and the dispositions thereof, he has made and
appointed in the presence of the bishops, abbots, and counts able to be
present, whose names are hereto subscribed: Bishops—Hildebald, Ricolf,
Arno, Wolfar, Bernoin, Laidrad, John, Theodulf, Jesse, Heito, Waltgaud.
Abbots—Fredugis, Adalung, Angilbert, Irmino. Counts—Walacho, Meginher,
Otulf, Stephen, Unruoch, Burchard, Meginhard, Hatto, Rihwin, Edo,
Ercangar, Gerold, Bero, Hildiger, Rocculf.”
Charles’s son Lewis, who by the grace of God succeeded him, after
examining this summary, took pains to fulfil all its conditions most
religiously as soon as possible after his father’s death.
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p18 p50
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p891 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p48
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p892 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne); wife's father, repudiation from The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p892 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910) and
Medieval
Lands (CHARLES)
- Royal Frankish annals p61 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p48
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); see discussion in The
Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England (Hildegarde);
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p892 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Royal Frankish annals p187 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p48
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); Thegani Vita Hludowici Imperatoris in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p591
(ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p49
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p892 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne); Fastrada's father from Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p49
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880), The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p892 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910) and Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); Fastrada death, burial from Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Fastrada)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p49
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Children outside of
marriage from Royal Frankish annals p200 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp49-50
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard (trans.
Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp891-7 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard (trans.
Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp891-7 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp69-70
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p893 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp70-1
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p893 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charlemagne)
Charles II "the Bald"
 |
Contemporary depiction of Charles the Bald
in the Vivian Bible which was commissioned by count Vivian of
Tours, lay abbot of Saint-Martin de Tours, in 845 and presented to
Charles the Bald in 846 on a visit to the church, as shown in this
presentation miniature at the end of the book. The bible is now in
the Bibliothèque
nationale de France in Paris.
|
 |
A wax seal of Charles II the Bald dated 2
May 848 (Archives Nationales, Paris K11 no. 5/3)
|
13 June 823, in Frankfurt, Francia
Annales
S. Benigni Divionensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 5 p39 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1844)
82414 Natus est Karolus, filius Ludowici, Franconofurt Idus
Iun.
14) rectius 823
This roughly translates as:
82414
Charles, son of Louis, was born in Franconofurt on the Ides of June [13
June].
14) more correctly 823
Louis I "the
Pious"
Judith
of Bavaria
Thegani
Vita Hludowici Imperatoris in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p597 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829)
829
Alio anno venit Wormatiam, ubi et Carolo filio suo, qui erat ex Iudith
augusta natus, terram Alamannicam & Redicam, et partem aliquam
Burgundiae coram filiis suis Hluthario et aequivoco suo lodewico
tradidit.
This roughly translates as:
In 829 he came
to Worms, where he handed over to his son Charles, who was born of
Judith Augusta, the lands of Alemannia and Rhedia, and some part of
Burgundy, in the presence of his sons, to Luther and his equal Louis.
Ermentrude
of Orléans on 13 December 842, in Quierzy
The day is given in a charter by Charles, dated in 862, calling for a
commemoration of the date.
Recueil
des historiens des Gaules et de la France vol 8 p579 (1871)
necnon
et in Idibus Deeembris, quando Deus me dilectam conjugem mecum
Hirmentrudem uxoreo vinculo copulavit
This roughly translates as:
and also on the
Ides of December [13 December], when God has united my beloved spouse,
Hirmentrude, to me in the bond of marriage
Nithard’s Histories IV p173 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970)
Nov. 842
Louis went to Bavaria, and Charles came to Quierzy to take a wife.
… 14 Dec. 842 Charles, as I said before, took a wife,
Hirmentrude, daughter of Odo and Ingeltrud, who was a niece of Adalhard.
Charles’s father in his time had loved this Adalhard so much that he did
anything in his whole empire that Adalhard wanted. Adalhard cared little
for the public good and tried to please everyone. Again and again he
advised Charles’s father to distribute liberties and public property for
private use and, since he knew how to manage it so that everyone got
what he asked for, he ruined the kingdom altogether. This is how he was
easily able at this time to coax the people to do whatever he wanted. It
was for this reason above all that Charles married Hirmentrude, because
he believed that with Adalhard’s help he could win over a large part of
the people to himself. After the wedding had taken place on December 14,
he celebrated Christmas at St.-Quentin. At Valenciennes he decided which
of his vassals would remain to defend the land between the Meuse and the
Seine. He and his wife headed for Aquitaine in the winter of the year of
our Lord 843.
Richilde
of Provence on 12 October 869, confirmed in Aix-la-Chapelle on 22
January 870.
Richilde was descended from a noble family of Lorraine. She was crowned
empress at Tortona in Lombardy by Pope John VIII in 877.
- Rothilde
(871 - 929)
- Drogo (872 - 873)
- Pippin (873 - 874)
- son (875 - 875)
- Charles (876 - 877)
 |
A denier, or penny, from the reign
of Charles the Bald, minted at Reims between 840 and 864.
It is inscribed " + REMIS CIVITAS" on the obverse and "+ CAROLVS
REX FR" on the reverse.
|
Holy Roman emperor and king of
the West Franks
Charles was installed as king of Aquitaine in September 832, but this was
restored to his half-brother, Pepin, on 15 March 1834. He received the
kingdom of West Francia by the treaty
of Verdun in August 843 and deposed Pepin as king of Aquitaine in 848
and declared himself king of Lotharingia in 869. Charles was crowned emperor
by Pope John VIII
on 29 December 875, and elected king of Italy at Pavia in 876.
This extract is from a charter by Charles dated 862, giving his date of
birth and marriage as well as his coronation and restoration.
Recueil
des historiens des Gaules et de la France vol 8 p579 (1871)
videlicet
ut in Idibus Junii, quando Deus nos nasci in mundo voluit, et octavo
Idus Junias, quando Sanctus Sanctorum nos ungi in Regem sua dignatione
disposuit; sed et octavo-decimo Kal. Febroarias, quando me Rex Regum,
fugatis atque contritis ante faciem divinæ potentiæ nobiscum agentis,
inregnum restituit, quæ commemoratio post obitura nostrum in
depositionis diem, cùm me Dominus viam universæ carnis ingredi
jusserit, convertatur; necnon et in Idibus Deeembris, quando Deus me
dilectam conjugem mecum Hirmentrudem uxoreo vinculo copulavit; verùm
et quinto Kal. Octobris, quando ipsa dilectissima nobis conjux nata
fuit, quæ commemoratio convertatur in depositionis ejus diem, quando
divina vocatione ab hac mortalitate migraverit;
This roughly translates as:
namely, on the
Ides of June [13 June], when God willed us to be born into the world,
and on the eighth day of the Ides of June [6 June], when the Holy of
Holies, by his own deign, disposed to anoint us as Kings; but also on
the eighteenth day of the Kalends of February [15 January], when the
King of Kings, having been put to flight and contrite before the face of
the divine power working with us, restored me to the kingdom, which
commemoration after our death is to be converted into the day of my
deposition, when the Lord has commanded me to enter the way of the whole
flesh; and also on the Ides of December [13 December], when God has
united my beloved spouse, Hirmentrude, to me in the bond of marriage;
indeed, and on the fifth day of the Kalends of October [27 September],
when our most beloved spouse was born, which commemoration is to be
converted into the day of her deposition, when by divine calling she
departed from this mortality;
 |
Charles II "the Bald"
The illustration is titled "CAROLVS CALVVS LVD. PII. F" i.e.
Charles "the Bald" son of Louis"the Pious"
|
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p225 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
CAROLVS
CALVVS Cæſar & Franciæ Rex, Brabantiæ, ac ſecundus
Lotharingiæ Dux, ſuperat Normannos, & vrbem Andegauenſem recipit.
Inuaſit nepotes, filios Lodouici fratris ſui Regis Germaniæ, ſed à
minore ſuperatus redijt in Galliam; cumq́ue audiret eos irruptionem
facturos, in Italiam traducto trans Alpes exercitu, vt hoſtem arceret,
Mantuæ febri correptus interijt hauſto veneno, quod Iudæus Medicus in
pharmacum dederat, Imperij ſui anno altero, Regni verò XXXVIII.
Corpus eius delatum eſt apud S. Dionyſium prope Pariſios. Obiit anno
Dom. IↃ.CCCCXIIII.
Vxorem habuit nomine Hermentrudis.
Liberi.
Carolomanus Eccleiaſticæ dignitati ſe deuouerat, ſed
eam abdicans coniurauit in Patrem: ſed captus à Patre & excæcatus,
orbitate luminis pœnas luit delicti.
Carolus alter dum nimium tribuit ſuis viribus, prouocat
ad ſingulare certamen Alboinum quendam fortiſſimum Equitem, à quo
vidus occubuit.
Lodouicus Balbus, tertius natu filius.
Lotharius.
Judith filia poſt primas nuptias Adolphi Anglorum,
rapitur à Baldowino Foreſtiero Flandriæ: qui hiſce nuptijs obtinuit à
Patre Carolo reconciliato nomen & inſignia Comitis Flandriæ.
This roughly translates as:
Charles the
Bald, Emperor, and King of France, Duke of Brabant, and second Duke of
Lorraine, defeats the Normans, and takes back the city of Anjou. He
attacked his nephews, the sons of his brother Louis, King of Germany,
but being defeated by the younger, he returned to Gaul; when he heard
that they were going to make an invasion, he led an army across the Alps
into Italy, to ward off the enemy, and at Mantua he was seized with a
fever, and died after drinking poison, which a Jewish physician had
given as a medicine, in the second year of his Imperial reign, but in
the 38th year of his kingship. His body was brought to St. Dionysius
near Paris. He died in the year of the Lord 914.
He had a wife named Hermentrude.
Children.
Carloman had devoted himself to the ecclesiastical
dignity, but abdicating it, he conspired against his father: but,
captured by his father and blinded, he suffered the punishment of his
crime by being deprived of light.
Charles, while he attributed too much to his own
strength, provoked a certain very brave knight, Alboin, to a single
combat, by whom he died a widower.
Louis the Stammerer, the third-born son.
Lothair.
Judith, daughter of Adolphus of England, after her first
marriage, was carried off by Baldwin Forester of Flanders: who by this
marriage obtained from his father Charles, having been reconciled, the
name and insignia of Count of Flanders.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp897-8 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
CHARLES
II. called THE BALD (823-877), Roman
emperor and king of the West Franks, was the son of the emperor Louis
the Pious and of his second wife Judith and was born in 823. The
attempts made by his father to assign him a kingdom, first Alamannia
(829), then the country between the Meuse and the Pyrenees (839), at the
expense of his half-brothers Lothair and Louis led to a rising on the
part of these two (see LOUIS I., the Pious). The death of
the emperor in 840 was the signal for the outbreak of war between his
sons. Charles allied himself with his brother Louis the German to resist
the pretensions of the emperor Lothair, and the two allies conquered him
in the bloody victory of Fontenoyen-Puisaye (25 June 841). In the
following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the
celebrated oaths of Strassburg, made by Charles in the Teutonic language
spoken by the subjects of Louis, and by Louis in the Romance tongue of
Charles’s subjects. The war was brought to an end by the treaty of
Verdun (August 843), which gave to Charles the Bald the kingdom of the
western Franks, which practically corresponded with what is now France,
as far as the Meuse, the Saône and the Rhone, with the addition of the
Spanish March as far as the Ebro. The first years of his reign up to the
death of Lothair I. (855) were comparatively peaceful, and during them
was continued the system of “confraternal government” of the sons of
Louis the Pious, who had various meetings with one another, at Coblenz
(848), at Meersen (851), and at Attigny (854). In 858 Louis the German,
summoned by the disaffected nobles, invaded the kingdom of Charles, who
fled to Burgundy, and was only saved by the help of the bishops, and by
the fidelity of the family of the Welfs, who were related to Judith. In
860 he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of
Provence, but met with a repulse. On the death of Lothair II. in 869 he
tried to seize his dominions, but by the treaty of Mersen (870) was
compelled to share them with Louis the German. Besides this, Charles had
to struggle against the incessant rebellions in Aquitaine, against the
Bretons, whose revolt was led by their chief Nomenoé and Erispoé, and
who inflicted on the king the defeats of Ballon (845) and Juvardeil
(851), and especially against the Normans, who devastated the country in
the north of Gaul, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, and even up to
the borders of Aquitaine. Charles was several times compelled to
purchase their retreat at a heavy price. He has been accused of being
incapable of resisting them, but we must take into account the
unwillingness of the nobles, who continually refused to join the royal
army; moreover, the Frankish army does not seem to have been
sufficiently accustomed to war to make any headway against the pirates.
At any rate, Charles led various expeditions against the invaders, and
tried to put a barrier in their way by having fortified bridges built
over all the rivers. In 875, after the death of the emperor Louis II.,
Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII., descended into Italy,
receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial crown at Rome (20th
December). But Louis the German, who was also a candidate for the
succession of Louis II., revenged himself for Charles’s success by
invading and devastating his dominions. Charles was recalled to Gaul,
and after the death of Louis the German (28th August 876), in his turn
made an attempt to seize his kingdom, but at Andernach met with a
shameful defeat (8th October 876). In the meantime, John VIII., who was
menaced by the Saracens, was continually urging him to come to Italy,
and Charles, after having taken at Quierzy the necessary measures for
safeguarding the government of his dominions in his absence, again
crossed the Alps, but this expedition had been received with small
enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by Boso, Charles’s brother-in-law,
who had been entrusted by him with the government of Lombardy, and they
refused to come with their men to join the imperial army. At the same
time Carloman, son of Louis the German, entered northern Italy. Charles,
ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, and died
while crossing-the pass of the Mont Cenis on the 5th or 6th of October
877. He was succeeded by his son Louis the Stammerer, the child of
Ermentrude, daughter of a count of Orleans, whom he had married in 842,
and who had died in 869. In 870 he had married Richilde, who was
descended from noble family of Lorraine, but none of the children whom
he had by her played a part of any importance. Charles seems to have
been a prince of education and letters, a friend of the church, and
conscious of the support he could find in the episcopate against his
unruly nobles, for he chose his councillors for preference from among
the higher clergy, as in the case of Guenelon of Sens who betrayed him,
or of Hincmar of Reims. But his character and his reign have been judged
very variously. The genera tendency seems to have been to accept too
easily the accounts of the chroniclers of the east Frankish kingdom,
which are favourable to Louis the German, and to accuse Charles of
cowardice and bad faith. He seems on the contrary not to have lacked
activity or decision.
AUTHORITIES.—The most important authority
for the history of Charles’s reign is represented by the Annales
Bertiniani, which were the work of Prudentius, bishop of Troyes,
up to 861, then up to 882 of the celebrated Hincmar, archbishop of
Reims. This prince’s charters are to be found published in the
collections of the Académie des Inscriptions, by M. M. Prou. The
most complete history of the reign is found in E. Dümmler, Geschichte
des ost-fränkischen Reiches (3 vols., Leipzig, 1887-1888). See
also J. Calmette, La Diplomatie carolingienne du traité de Verdun à
la mort de Charles le Chauve (Paris, 1901), and_F. Lot, “Une Annee
du règne de Charles le Chauve,” in Le Moyen-Age, (1902) pp.
393-438
6 October 877, while crossing-the pass of the Mont Cenis in
Brides-les-Bains,
West Francia, on his return to Gaul from Italy.
Annales
S. Benigni Divionensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 5 p39 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1844)
877
Prid. Non. Octob. obiit Karolus imperator et Hilmentrudis regina.
Iterum Karolus Italiam ingreditur, et eandem terram Karlomannus per
aliam viam intravit. Inde Karolus territus fugit, et in eodem itinere
mortuus est.
This roughly translates as:
877 On the day
before the Nones of October [6 October], Emperor Charles and Queen
Hilmentrude died. Charles again entered Italy, and Carloman entered the
same land by another route. From there Charles fled in terror, and died
on the same journey.
Annales
Vedastini
Anno
Domini DCCCLXXVII. … Contra voluntatem denique suorum cum coniuge
iterum Italiam ingressus est, Papiaeque civitati Iohannes papa ei
occurrit, ibique se mutuo salutaverunt. At hi qui in Francia
remanserant dato tributo Danos e regno abire coegerunt. Et dum domnus
apostolicus et imperator Papiae civitati essent, subito eis nuntiatur
Karlomannum imperatori cum manu valida superveniri. Unde commotus
imperator, videns non habere unde ei resistere, praedicto papae
munera, quae sancto deportabat Petro, dedit, inter quae crucifixum
aureum, quale non fuit ab ullis regibus factum. Ipse vero per Alpes
Provintiae in Franciam repedare voluit, sed, ut dicitur, a quodam
Sedechia Iudaeo potionatus in loco qui dicitur Nantua intra Alpes
posito II. Non. Octobr. indictione XI, anno aetatis suae LIIII, regni
vero XXXVII, imperii autem II. vitam finivit praesentem. Corpus vero
eius in eodem regno in loculo *reposuerunt, donec transferretur in
Franciam, quod postea per diversa loca translatum est.
This roughly translates as:
In the year of
our Lord 877. ... Against the will of his people he entered Italy again
with his wife, and Pope John met him in the city of Pavia, and there
they greeted each other. But those who had remained in France forced the
Danes to leave the kingdom by paying tribute. And while the apostolic
lord and emperor were in the city of Pavia, they were suddenly told that
Carloman was coming to the emperor with a strong force. Whereupon the
emperor, moved, seeing that he had no means of resisting him, gave the
aforementioned pope the gifts that he was carrying to Saint Peter, among
which was a golden crucifix, the like of which had not been made by any
kings. He himself wanted to return to France through the Alps Provinces,
but, as is said, he was given a potion by a certain Zedekiah the Jew in
a place called Nantua, located within the Alps, on the 2nd Nones
October, in the 11th year of his age, the 37th of his reign, and the 2nd
of his empire. His body was placed in a coffin in the same kingdom until
it was transferred to France, which was later transferred to various
places.
Initially in the monastery in Nantua,
and then in the basilica
of saint Eusebius in Vercelli. Seven years later he was finally buried
where he desired, in the Abbey
of Saint-Denis, Paris, West Francia
Annales Bertiniani p877-8 (1883)
Karolus
vero febre correptus, pulverem bibit, quem sibi nimium dilectus ac
credulus medicus suus Iudaeus nomine Sedechias transmisit, ut ea
potione a febre liberaretur; insanabili veneno hausto, inter manus
portantium, transito monte Cinisio, perveniens ad locum qui Brios1
dicitur, misit pro Richilde, quae erat apud Moriennam, ut ad eum
veniret; sicut et fecit. Et 11. die post venenum haustum in vilissimo
tugurio mortuus est 2. Nonas Octobris. Quem aperientes qui cum eo
erant, ablatis interaneis, et infusum vino ac aromatibus quibus
poterant et impositum locello, coeperunt ferre versus monasterium
Sancti Dyonisii, ubi sepeliri se postulaverat. Quem pro foetore non
valentes portare2, miserunt eum in tonna interius
exteriusque picata quam coriis involverunt; quod nihil ad foetorem
toilendum profecit. Unde ad cellam quandam monachorum Lugdunensis
episcopii quae Nantoadiis3 dicitur vix pervenientes, illud
corpus cum ipsa tonna terrae mandaverunt.
1) Vicus inncognitus, fortasse Briançon, non oppidum illud satis
notum, sed viculus ad ripam Isarae paulo infra
Moustiers-en-Tarentaise. P.
2) Aimoini cont.: sepelierunt eum basilica beati Eusebii
martyris in civitate Vercellis, ubi requievit annis septem. Post haec
autem per visionem delatum est corpus eius in Francia et honorifice
sepultum in basilica beati Dyonisii martyris Parisius.
3) Nantua.
This roughly translates as:
Charles,
however, being seized with a fever, drank a powder which his beloved and
trusting physician, a Jew named Zedekiah, had sent to him, that he might
be freed from the fever by that potion; having drunk the incurable
poison, between the hands of bearers, he crossed Mount Cinisius, and
arrived at a place called Brios1, and sent for Richilde, who
was at Morienne, to come to him; as she did. And on the 11th day after
drinking the poison, he died in a very humble hut, on the 2nd of the
Nones of October [6 October]. Opening the body, those who were with him
took away the innards, and infused it with whatever wine and spices they
could, and laid it on a bed, they began to carry it towards the
monastery of Saint Dionysius, where he had asked to be buried. Unable to
carry it because of the stench, they put it in a barrel, pierced inside
and out, which they wrapped in leather; which did nothing to remove the
stench. Whence, scarcely reaching a certain cell of the monks of the
bishopric of Lyons, which is called Nantua, they buried the body in the
same barrel.
1) An unknown village, perhaps Briançon, not that well-known town,
but a hamlet on the bank of the Isère a little below
Moustiers-en-Tarentaise. P.
2) Aimoini cont.: they buried him in the basilica of the blessed
martyr Eusebius in the city of Vercelli, where he rested for seven
years. After this, however, by a vision, his body was brought to France
and honorably buried in the basilica of the blessed martyr Dionysius in
Paris.
- Annales S. Benigni Divionensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 5 p39 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1844); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p897 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Annales S. Benigni Divionensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 5 p39 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1844);
Judith specified as mother in Thegani Vita Hludowici Imperatoris in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p597
(ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p897 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- The year is
given in Nithardi Hist. Lib. IV in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p672 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829) with
the day from Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France
vol 8 p579 (1871); place from Nithard's Histories IV p173 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p898 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p225 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p898 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald); Richilde notes from Medieval
Lands (CHARLES) and The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p898 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France
vol 8 p579 (1871); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p225 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp897-8 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Annales S. Benigni Divionensis in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 5 p39 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1844); Annales
Vedastini; The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p899 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Annales Bertiniani p877-8 (1883);
Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
- Annales Bertiniani p877-8 (1883); Annales Vedastini; Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p225 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Bald)
Charles III "the Simple"
 |
A wax seal of Charles III the Simple, aged
20, dated 24 April 900 (Archives Nationales, Paris K16 no. 2)
|
 |
Another wax seal of Charles III the
Simple, now aged 41, dated 22 April 921 (Archives Nationales,
Paris K16 no. 9/2)
|
17 September 879
Louis II "the Stammerer"
Adelaide of Paris
Frederuna
in 907
Frederuna died on 10 February 917, and was buried in the
abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims.
- Ermentrude
- Frederuna
- Adelaide
- Gisela
- Rotrude
- Hildegarde
Eadgifu
Charles fathered at least four other children outside of his marriages "ex
concubina".
- Arnulf
- Drogo
- Roricone ( ? - 976)
- Alpais
 |
A denier, or penny, from the reign
of Charles III, struck in the city of Bourges.
It is inscribed "+ CARLVS INP AVC." on the obverse and "+
BITVRICES CIVIT" on the reverse.
|
King of West
Francia and king of Lotharingia
When Carloman II,
king of West Francia and Charles's half-brother died in 884, Charles was his
heir but he did not immediately succeed to the throne as he was just five
years old. Carloman II was succeeded by the Carolingian emperor, Charles
the Fat and then Odo
in 888. Charles was crowned in Reims
on 28 January 893 but only became king on Odo's death in 898. Charles also
chosen as king of Lotharingia on the death of Louis
the Child who was king of both East
Francia and Lotharingia. Charles feuded with the Frankish nobles, and
he was deposed on 30 June 922 in favour of Robert
I, Odo's brother, and retreated to Lotharingia. Charles returned with
an army, but was defeated at the
 |
Depiction of (from left to right): the
Battle of Soissons, the imprisonment of Charles III and the
coronation of Rudolph, created between 1332 and 1350.
illustration in the Chroniques de
Saint-Denis manuscript (Royal 16 G VI f. 248) held at the
British Library, posted on wikipedia
|
Battle
of Soissons on 15 June 923, although king Robert was killed in the
battle, to be succeeded as king of West Francia by Rudolph
on 13 July 923. Ex-king Charles was tricked into capture by Herbert
II, comte de Vermandois, and imprisoned at Château-Thierry,
then transferred, in 924, to the château
de Péronne, where he remained captive for the rest of his life.
Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer:
Histoire de son temps pp34-6 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
XIV. — Mores Karoli.
Karolus itaque rex creatus, ad multam benivolentiam intendebat.
Corpore prestanti, ingenio bono simplicique; exercitiis militaribus
non adeo assuefactus, at litteris liberalibus admodum eruditus; in
dando profusus, minime avarus; duplici morbo notabilis: libidinis
intemperans, ac circa exsequenda juditia paulo neglegentior fuit.
Galliarum principes ei animo ac sacramento annexi sunt. Necnon et
Rotbertus Odonis regis defuncti frater, vir industrius atque audatia
plurimus, sese militaturum regi accommodat. Quem etiam rex Celticæ
ducem præficit, ac in ea omnium gerendorum ordinatorem concedit; ejus
fere per quadriennium consiiio utens, eique admodum consuescens. A quo
per Neustriam deductus, urbibus atque oppidis ab eo receptus est.
Urbemque Turonicam petens, plurima auri atque argenti talenta, sancto
Martino liberaliter impertit. A cujus servitoribus pro sese fieri
deprecationes postulans, perpetim cotidianas obtinuit. Inde quoque
omnibus obtentis rediens, Belgicam repetit, ac Sanctum Remigium donis
egregiis honorat. Et sic Rotberto Gallia Celtica collata, in Saxoniam
secedit; cujus urbes sedesque regias lustrans cum oppidis, nullo
renitente obtinuit. Ubi etiam Heinricum regio genere inclitum, ac inde
oriundum, ducem omnibus præficit. Sarmatas absque prælio subditos
habuit. Anglos quoque ac reliquos transmarinorum populos, mira
benivolentia sibi adegit. Vix tamen per
decennium.
This roughly translates as:
XIV. — The Character of Charles.
Charles, therefore, having been created king, was intent on much
benevolence. Of a fine body, of good nature, and simple; not so much
accustomed to military exercises, but very learned in liberal letters;
profuse in giving, not at all avaricious; notable for a double disease:
intemperate in lust, and somewhat careless in the execution of
judgments. The princes of Gaul were attached to him in spirit and oath.
Nor did Robert, the brother of the deceased king Odo, a man of great
industry and daring, accommodate himself to the king to serve. The king
also made him commander of Celtica, and allowed him to organize all
things therein; for about four years he used his counsel, and became
very accustomed to him. By whom he was led through Neustria, and
received by him in cities and towns. And seeking the city of Touraine,
he liberally bestowed many talents of gold and silver upon Saint Martin.
He constantly obtained daily prayers from his servants. From there,
having obtained everything, he returned to Belgium and honored Saint
Remigius with excellent gifts. And thus, having given Celtic Gaul to
Robert, he retired to Saxony; and having searched its cities and royal
seats with its towns, he took it without any resistance. There he also
appointed Henry, famous for his royal lineage and a descendant of the
same, as commander over all. He had the Sarmatians subdued without a
battle. He also won the English and the other peoples of the overseas
territories over to him with wonderful goodwill. However, he did so for
barely ten years.
Richer describes Charles's capture by Herbert, count of Vermandois
Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer:
Histoire de son temps pp90-2 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
XLVII. — Rodulfi regis promorio ac Karoli captio.
Galli a pertinatia nullatenus quiescentes, Rodulfum Richardi
Burgundionis filium accitum, apud urbem Suessonicam, eo licet satis
reclamante, regem sibi præfecerunt, virum strenuum, ac littoris
liberalibus non mediocriter instructum. Quod Heribertus tantorum
malorum incentor sese velle dissimulans, Karolum regem per legatos
accersit, tantis fiagiciis se reniti voluisse mandans, sed
conjuratorum a multitudine vehementissime suppressum; tunc nullum
consilii locum patuisse, nunc vero remedii partem optimam sese
reperisse. Unde et maturius accedat, quo ei ipse obvenire valeat; cum
paucis tamen, ne, si cum multis adveniant, dissidentium animositate in
bellum cogantur. Et pro itineris securitate, si sibi placeat, ab ipsis
legatis jurisjurandi fidem accipiat. Rex horum credulus, ab legatis
jusjurandum pro fide accepit, ac, sine suorum deliberatione, proditori
obvenire non distulit. Et proditor dolos dissimulans y cum paucis æque
obvenit. Datisque osculis excepti, familiaribus colloquiis cousi sunt.
Et inter loquenduni cohortem armatorum ab abditis evocat, regique
incauto indiicit. Qui multitudini reniti non valens, a cohorte captus
est; aliquibus cum eo captis, quibusdam etiam interemptis, reliquis
quoque fugatis. Ductusque Peronam, carcerali custodiæ deputatur.
Germani, rege amisso, in deversa feruntur. Quorum alii de reditu
domini elaborant, alii vero a spe dejecti, Rodulfo regi favent, nec
tamen in ejus fidem penitus concedunt. Quorum priores exspectatione
diutina domini libertatem operientes, Heribertum proditorem de fidei
violatione sepe convenerunt, ac inde plurimum apud male conscios
conquesti sunt. Quibus persuadere non valentes, de perjurii reatu
nihil ruboris incusserunt, cum ira Dei eis
immineret.
This roughly translates as:
XLVII. — King Rudolf's Proclamation and
the Capture of Charles.
The French, not at all resting from their obstinacy, summoned
Rudolf, the son of Richard of Burgundy, and, although he protested
sufficiently, made him their king, a vigorous man, and not
inconsiderably well-informed by the liberals of the coast. That Herbert,
disguising himself as the instigator of so many evils, summoned king
Charles by ambassadors, commanding that he had intended to resist with
such great force, but had been most vehemently suppressed by the
multitude of the conspirators; that then no room for counsel was open,
but now he had found the best part of the remedy. Hence he should also
come sooner, so that he could meet him himself; with a few, however,
lest, if they should come with many, they should be forced into war by
the animosity of the dissenters. And for the safety of the journey, if
he pleased, he should accept the oath of allegiance from the ambassadors
themselves. The king, credulous of these, accepted the oath of
allegiance from the ambassadors, and, without the deliberation of his
own people, did not delay in meeting the traitor. And the traitor,
disguising his deceit, came with a few men. And being greeted with
kisses, they were engaged in familiar conversations. And while they were
talking, he called out a band of armed men from their hiding places, and
denounced the king for his carelessness. Who, unable to resist the
multitude, was captured by the band; some were captured with him, some
were also killed, and the rest were also put to flight. And being led to
Peronne, he was assigned to prison custody. The Germans, having lost
their king, were carried away into exile. Some of whom were anxious
about the return of their lord, while others, cast down from hope,
favored King Rodolfo, but did not yet fully concede his loyalty. The
former of whom, covering their lord's freedom with a long expectation,
often met with the traitor Herbert about his violation of faith, and
from there they complained a great deal to their ill-informed friends.
Unable to persuade them, they did not feel any shame about the guilt of
perjury, since the wrath of God was threatening them.
 |
Charles III "the Simple"
The illustration is titled "CAROLVS SIMPLEX LVD. BALBI. F" i.e.
Charles "the Simple" son of Louis "the Stammerer"
|
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p229 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
CAROLVS
SIMPLEX Francæ Rex. Brabantiæ Dux, & Lotharingiæ
quartus, cùm naſceretur: nam pater moriens vxorem reliquerat grauidam:
quare Carolus Imperator & Germaniæ Rex, patruelis eius, Tutoris
nomine regno præfuit; & eo mortuo, Odo Comes Andegauenſis. At is
non tutorem, ſed Regem per nouem annos ſe geſſit. Carolus verò cùm non
poſſet Galliâ pellere Normannos, pacem cum iis iniit; qua conceſſit
eis Neustriam habitandam; quæ ab aliis Normandia
exinde eſt appellata. At non diu Barbaris pax ſtetit, veniunt obſeſſum
Pariſios. Iam ſecundò in pacem iuratur. Robertus Comes Pariſienſis
deficit à Carolo, ſed prælio victus interficitur. Rex autem paulo pòſt
infidiis Herberti Comitis, qui Roberti frater erat, circumuentus
capitur, & Peronæ in vinculis moritur, poſtquam XV.
ſolus regnaſſet annis, IↃ.CCCCLV.
Vxor.
Oignia conſors thalami, filia Eduwardi Regis Angliæ.
Filium.
Lodouicus Simplex.
This roughly translates as:
CHARLES
THE SIMPLE, king of France. Duke of Brabant,
and fourth of Lorraine, when he was born: for his father dying had left
a pregnant wife: wherefore Charles, emperor and king of Germany, his
cousin, governed the kingdom as regent; and when he died, Odo, count of
Anjou. But he did not act as regent, but as king for nine years. But
Charles, since he could not drive the Normans out of Gaul, made peace
with them; by which he granted them Neustria to inhabit; which was
thenceforth called Normandy by others. But the peace of the Barbarians
did not last long, they came to besiege Paris. Now peace was sworn for
the second time. Robert, count of Paris, surrendered to Charles, but was
defeated in battle and killed. But the king, a little later, was
outwitted by the treachery of count Herbert, who was Robert's brother,
and was captured, and died in chains at Peronne, after reigning for only
fifteen years, 955.
Wife:
Oignia consort of the bedchamber, daughter of Edward, King of
England.
Son.
Louis the Simple.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp916-7 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
CHARLES
III., the Simple (879-929), king of France, was a posthumous son
of Louis the Stammerer and of his second wife Adelaide. On the
deposition of Charles the Fat in 887 he was excluded from the throne by
his youth; but during the reign of Odo, who had succeeded Charles, he
succeeded in gaining the recognition of a certain number of notables and
in securing his coronation at Reims on the 28th of January 893. He now
obtained the alliance of the emperor, and forced Odo to cede part of
Neustria. In 898, by the death of his rival (Jan. 1), he obtained
possession of the whole kingdom. His most important act was the treaty
of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte with the Normans in 911. Some of them were
baptized; the territory which was afterwards known as the duchy of
Normandy was ceded to them; but the story of the marriage of their chief
Rollo with a sister of the king, related by the chronicler Dudo of Saint
Quentin, is very doubtful. The same year Charles, on the invitation of
the barons, took possession of the kingdom of Lotharingia. In 920 the
barons, jealous of the growth of the royal authority and discontented
with the favour shown by the king to his counsellor Hagano, rebelled,
and in 922 elected Robert, brother of King Odo, in place of Charles.
Robert was killed in the battle of Soissons, but the victory remained
with his party, who elected Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, king. In his
extremity Charles trusted himself to Herbert, count of Vcrmandois, who
deceived him, and threw him into confinement at Château-Thierry and
afterwards at Péronne. In the latter town he died on the 7th of October
929. In 907 he had married Fredcrona, sister of Bovo, bishop of Chalons.
After her death he married Eadgyfu (Odgiva), daughter of Edward the
Elder, king of the English, who was the mother of Louis IV.
See A. Eckel, Charles le Simple (Paris, 1899).
7 October 929, in prison, in Péronne,
West Francia
Flodoardi
annales in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 3 p378 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
Anno 929
... Karolus quoque rex apud Perronam obiit.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 929
... King Charles also died at Perron.
Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer:
Histoire de son temps p104 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
LVI. — Karoli obitus.
Karolus post hæc tedio et angore deficiens, in machronosiam
decidit; humoribusque noxiis vexatus, post multum languorem vita
privatus est.
This roughly translates as:
LVI. — Death of Charles.
Charles, after this, failing from weariness and anguish, fell
into a chronic debility; and, troubled by noxious humours, after much
languor, was deprived of his life.
in the abbey of Saint-Fursym near Péronne, West
Francia
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Reginonis Chronicon in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p916 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p917 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple); Frederuna death, burial from Medieval
Lands (FREDERUNA)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple); wikipedia
(Frederuna)
- William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the kings of
England p124 (ed. John Allen Giles, 1847); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p229 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p917 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p229 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Charles's children
outside his marriages are listed in Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer: Histoire de son temps pp34-6, pp90-2
(ed. J. Gaudet, 1845); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p229 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 pp916-7 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p378 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839); Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer: Histoire de son temps p104 (ed.
J. Gaudet, 1845); exact date from The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p917 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910), Medieval
Lands (CHARLES) and wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles the Simple)
Charles de Lorraine
 |
Lothair (left) and Charles of Lorraine
(right) as depicted in the Wolfenbüttel manuscript of the Chronica
sancti Pantaleonis from the second half of the 12th
century
|
953, in Laon,
in the kingdom of the Franks
Flodoardi
annales in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
Anno 953
... Interea Gerberga regina Lauduni geminos est enixa, quorum unus
Karolus, alter vocatus est Heinricus; sed Heinricus mox post baptismum
defunctus est.
This roughly translates as:
In the year
953 … Meanwhile, Queen Gerberga gave birth to twins at Laudun, one of
whom was called Charles, the other Henry, but Henry died soon after
baptism.
Louis IV
d'Outremer
Gerberga
of Saxony
Adelaide
Duke of Lower
Lotharingia
Charles was a younger son of the French king, Louis IV. After his brother,
Lothair, ascended to the throne, Charles remained in the royal household,
initially working with Lothair to capture lands in Hainaut, but he feuded
with his sister-in-law, Emma, who regarded him as a succession threat to her
own sons. In 976 Charles accused Emma of having an affair with the bishop
Adalberon of Laon, and was banished from the court. He found refuge
with his cousin, Otto
II, the Holy Roman Emperor, who made him duke of Lower Lotharingia.
Otto and Lothair were at war in 978, and in a counter attack Charles
captured the city of Laon, the king's seat, and was briefly crowned king of
France. Later in the year, Lothair recaptured Laon, chasing Charles back to
Germany. Lothair died in 986 and a year later his only living son, Louis,
also died childless.
Charles asserted his heriditary claim to the French throne. But bishop
Adalberon convinced the assembly of Frankish nobles that the crown was
elective rather than hereditary and that Charles was unworthy of the
kingship. The assembly then elected Hugh
Capet as the next king. Charles contested the election and went to war
with Hugh retaking Laon, and briefly taking Emma captive, but Charles was
betrayed by bishop Adalberon who entered Laon as a peace mediator but
instead seized Charles in his sleep on 26 March 991, and handed him to Hugh
Capet who imprisoned in Orleans until his death, probably in the following
year.
The official founding of the city
of Brussels is usually said to be around 979, when Charles, duke of
Lower Lorraine, transferred the relics of the martyr Saint Gudula
from Moorsel to Saint Gaugericus' chapel on Saint-Géry
Island, and ordered the construction of the city's first permanent
fortification.
A much more complete account of Charles's life, in French, is in Les derniers Carolingiens (Ferdinand Lot,
1891)
 |
Charles, duke of Brabant and Lower
Lotharingia
The illustration is titled "CAROLVS LVD. SIMPL. F" i.e. Charles
"the Thick" son of Louis "the Simple"
|
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p233 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
CAROLVS
DVX BRABANTIÆ & Lotharingiæ ſextus,
mortuo Lodouico Fratris ſui Lotharij filio, Rege Francorum, ſine
liberis, Franciæ fines ad ius regni, (quod ei iure debebatur)
capeſſendum ingreſſus obuium cum armato milite habuit Hugonem
Capetum regni æmulum. Pugnatur vtrinque ſummis viribus. Bis
vincit Carolus, at tertio victus, aufugit in oppidum Laudunum, quod
Anſelmi Antiſtitis proditione traditur hoſtibus. Cóprehéditur Carolus,
& Aureliis in vincula ittitur, vbi poſtea mœrore cóficitur, Ano
humanæ ſalutis IↃ.CCCC.LXXXVI.
De huius bellis ſacris lege Ioan. Molanum lib. De militia ſacra
Ducum Brabantiæ, cap.XXIII.
Liberi.
Otto ſucceſſit Patri.
Gerberga nupſit fratri Comitis Hannoniæ, accepit in
dotem Comitatum Louanienſem, Bruxellenſem, & Marchionatum S.
Imperij.
Ermgundis habuit maritum Comitem Hannoniæ.
This roughly translates as:
CHARLES, DUKE OF BRABANT and LOTHINGARIA,
the sixth. After the death of Louis, son of his brother Lothair, king of
the Franks, without children, he entered the borders of France to seize
the right of the kingdom (which was rightfully his), and was met with an
armed soldier by Hugh Capet, a rival of the kingdom. Both sides
fought with great strength. Charles was victorious twice, but defeated
the third time, and fled to the town of Laon, which was handed over to
the enemies by the treachery of Anselm the Bishop. Charles was captured
and sent to Aurelius in chains, where he later died of grief, Year of
Human Salutations 986.
On this sacred war according to the law of John Molans, book. On the
sacred military service of the Dukes of Brabant, chapter XXIII.
Children.
Otto succeeded his father.
Gerberga married the brother of the count of Hannonia,
and received as dowry the counties of Louvain, Brussels, and the
Marchioness of the Holy Empire.
Ermgundis had a husband, the count of Hannonia.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p934 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
CHARLES
I. (c. 950-c. 992), duke of Lower Lorraine, was a
younger son of the Frankish king Louis IV., and consequently a member of
the Carolingian family. Unable to obtain the duchy of Burgundy owing to
the opposition of his brother, King Lothair, he went to the court of his
maternal uncle, the emperor Otto the Great, about 965, and in 977
received from the emperor Otto II. the duchy of Lower Lorraine. His
authority in Lorraine was nominal; but he aided Otto in his struggle
with Lothair, and on the death of his nephew, Louis V., made an effort
to secure the Frankish crown. Hugh Capet, however, was the successful
candidate and war broke out. Charles had gained some successes and had
captured Reims, when in 991 he was treacherously seized by Adalberon,
bishop of Laon, and handed over to Hugh. Imprisoned with his wife and
children at Orleans, Charles did not long survive his humiliation. His
eldest son Otto, duke of Lower Lorraine, died in 1005.
Charles died on 22 June, probably in
the year 992, in prison, in Orleans, West Francia
Les derniers Carolingiens pp277-8
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891)
A partir de ce moment, le sort des derniers Carolingiens devient très
obscur. Charles parait avoir été transféré avec sa femme, ses enfants
et Arnoul dans la prison que les Capétiens possédaient à Orléans.
Sigebert de Gembloux fait mourir Charles en 991, c’est-à-dire l’année
même où il fut trahi, mais ce chroniqueur seïuble avoir confondu la
date de sa mort avec celle de sa captivité. Il vivait probablement
encore en janvier 992. L’Art de vérifier les dates le fait
mourir cette même année, le 21 mai, mais la date d’année ne repose sur
aucun fondement solide et la date du mois est fausse; en effet, Ernst,
qui a eu entre îes mains le Nécrologe de Liège, nous apprend que sa
commémoration y est indiquée au 22 juin en ces termes: «X. kl. julii
commemoratio ducis.» Charles était déjà mort probablement en 995.
This roughly translates as:
From this moment on, the fate of the last Carolingians becomes
very obscure. Charles appears to have been transferred with his wife,
his children and Arnoul to the prison that the Capetians possessed at
Orléans. Sigebert of Gembloux has Charles dying in 991, that is to say
the very year in which he was betrayed, but this chronicler seems to
have confused the date of his death with that of his captivity. He was
probably still alive in January 992. L’Art de vérifier les dates
has him dying that same year, on May 21, but the date of the year is not
based on any solid foundation and the date of the month is false;
indeed, Ernst, who had in his hands the Nécrologe de Liège, tells us
that his commemoration is indicated there on June 22 in these terms: "X.
kl. julii commemoratio ducis." Charles was probably already dead in 995.
 |
Charles's sarcophagus in the kleine
crypte ("small crypt") of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in
Maastricht
|
in 1001, in the Basilica
of Saint Servatius in Maastricht,
duchy of Lower Lorraine
Les derniers Carolingiens pp278-9
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891)
En 1606, un antiquaire liégeois trouva dans la crypte de Saint-Servais
de Maastricht un sarcophage en plomb surlequel était gravée
l’inscription suivante eu caractères du XI siècle:
KAROLI COM. CEN.....
SE STIRPIS FILII LOTHUICI
FRATRIS LOTHARII
FRANCOR REG
ANNO DNI. MI
Ce qu’un érudit du nom de Paquot restitua: Karoli comtis generose
stirpis filii Lothvici, fratris Lotharii, Francorum regum. Anno Domini
1001. Le P. Papebroch en avait conclu que Charles, ayant renoncé à ses
droits à la couronne de France, s’était retiré à Maëstricht et y était
mort en 1001. Cette opinion fut généralement adoptée. Mais à la fin du
XVIIIo siècle, le chanoine Ernst fit
observer que cette inscription pourrait simplement indiquer que le
corps de Charles aurait été transporté à Maëstricht en l’an 1001.
Nous devons ajouter que nous ne sommes nullement certain de
l’authenticité de cette épitaphe. Tout ce que nous pouvons dire, c’est
qu’il n’est pas invraisemblable qu’Otton, fils aîné de Charles, et duc
de Basse-Lorraine, ait obtenu le corps de son père après sa mort, et
l’ait enterré à Maëstricht. Cette ville était voisine de ses domaines
et nous allons voir qu’il eut des relations plus ou moins heureuses
avec une abbaye de cette région et mourut lui-même à Maëstricht.
This roughly translates as:
In 1606, an antiquary from Liège found in the crypt of
Saint-Servais in Maastricht a lead sarcophagus on which was engraved the
following inscription in 11th century characters:
KAROLI COM. CEN.....
SE STIRPIS FILII LOTHUICI
FRATRIS LOTHARII
FRANCOR REG
ANNO DNI. MI
What a scholar named Paquot restored: Karoli comtis generose stirpis
filii Lothvici, fratris Lotharii, Francorum regum. Anno Domini 1001.
Father Papebroch concluded that Charles, having renounced his rights to
the crown of France, had retired to Maestricht and died there in 1001.
This opinion was generally adopted. But at the end of the 18th century,
Canon Ernst observed that this inscription could simply indicate that
Charles's body was transported to Maastricht in the year 1001.
We must add that we are by no means certain of the authenticity
of this epitaph. All we can say is that it is not unlikely that Otto,
Charles's eldest son and Duke of Lower Lorraine, obtained his father's
body after his death and buried it in Maastricht. This town was close to
his domains, and we shall see that he had more or less happy relations
with an abbey in this region and himself died in Maastricht.
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839; Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p231 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p934 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine)
- Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); Les derniers Carolingiens p83
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p233 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p934 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p233 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Les derniers Carolingiens (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891; The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p934 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910); Medieval
Lands (CHARLES); wikipedia
(Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine)
- Les derniers Carolingiens pp277-8
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
5 p934 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1910)
- Les derniers Carolingiens pp278-9
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891); wikipedia
(Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine)
Gerberge de Lorraine
 |
Lambertvs et Geerberga
|
Charles de
Lorraine
Adelaide
Lambert
de Louvain
Iacobi de Guisia Annales Hannoniae vol 9 p184
in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica SS 30
(1896)
Cap.
XL. Oppinio abbatis Sancti Trudonis de ducibus Bracbancie et de
terminatione Karlentium.
Ex historia dompni Guillermi abbatis Sancti Trudonis
Hasbaniensis in ducentesimo XXV versu libri 2 cronicarum suarum: Lambertus,
filius Rignerii comitis Montensis, fuit comes Lovaniensis. Hic
Gebergam filiam Karoli ducis Lotharingie, postmodum regis Francie,
desponsavit. Ab hiis enim descenderunt comites Lovanienses et duces
Brabancie. Hec in interlineari glosa versuum. Versus vero
repperi tales, ubi, postquam multa de Hugone dicta sunt, sic dicit:
Sic tua res agitur, dux Karole, sicque ducatum
Lotharicum perdis, dum
tua regna petis.
Filius Otto tamen tibi dux succedit in illo,
Quem sibi confirmat
imperialis apex.
Huic quoque germanam dant cronica scripta sororem
Nomine Gebergam, que
michi visa fuit.
Hanc sibi Lambertus despondit, quem Raginerum
Hanonie comitem
progenuisse ferunt.
Huic quoque Henricus successit filius Otto,
Quem sequitur frustra,
nam sine prole fuit.
Hunc quoque subsequitur Lambertus, patruus eius,
Qui regit has terras
Lovanioque preest,
Nonne vides igitur, quam clari sanguinis istos
Vena venustavit? Troyca
quippe fuit.
This roughly translates as:
Chapter 40. The opinion of Abbot Saint Trudon concerning the dukes of
Brabant and the termination of the Charlemagnes.
From the history of Lord William, Abbot Saint Trudon of Hasbani,
in the 225th verse of Book 2 of his chronicles: Lambert, son of
Rigner, Count of Montagne, was Count of Louvain. He betrothed Geberga,
daughter of Charles, Duke of Lotharingia, afterwards King of France.
For from these descended the counts of Louvain and the dukes of
Brabant. This is in the interlinear gloss of the verses. I have
found such verses, where, after much has been said about Hugh, he says
thus:
Thus goes your business, Duke Charles, and thus
you lose the duchy of Lotharingia, while you seek your kingdom.
However, your son Otto succeeds you as duke in
that, whom the imperial apex confirms to himself.
The chronicles also give him a sister of the same
name, named Geberga, who appeared to me.
Lambert betrothed her to him, whom they say bore
Count Raginer of Hanover.
This too was succeeded by Henry's son Otto, whom he
follows in vain, for he was without issue.
This too is followed by Lambert, his uncle, who
rules these lands and presides over Louvain,
Do you not see then how these men of illustrious
blood have been made beautiful by the blood? For she was a Trojan.
After Lambert's death Gerberga tried to make amends for his soul with gifts
to the church.
Recuiel des chartes de l'Abbaye de Gembloux p33
(ed. C. G. Roland, 1921)
Gerberge,
veuve de Lambert, comte de Louvain, donne à l’abbaye de Gembloux,
avec l’assentiment du comte Henri, son fils, sa propriété dite
Tortouse dans la, paroisse de Baisy, pour le repos de l’âme de son
mari, tué à la bataille de Florennes (12 septembre 1015).
[Vers 1016]
Acte perdu. — La donation est rapportée en ces termes par
Sigebert (SS, t. VIII, p. 537). « Eodem quoque tempore commissa
pugna in Florinis inter Lambertum comitem, filium Ragineri Longicolli,
et Godefridum ducem, cum Lambertus ibidem gladiis cesus accepisset
vitae finem, conjunx ejux Gerberga nobilissima, peccatis viri sui
compuncta, cum animae ejus absolutionem et requiem quaereret per
elemosinarum remedia, voluit ut etiam aecclesia Gemmelacensis, cujus
ipse comes defensor fuerat, ex debito animae ipsius persolveret
jugiter orationum munia. Unde salubri accepto consilio, annitente sibi
filio suo comite Heinrico, fundum proprietatis suae quod Tortosa
vocatur in parochia Basciu tradidit Gemmelacensi loco ».
This roughly translates as:
Gerberge, widow of Lambert, Count of Louvain, donates to the Abbey of
Gembloux, with the consent of her son Count Henri, her property called
Tortouse in the parish of Baisy, for the repose of the soul of her
husband, killed at the Battle of Florennes (September 12, 1015).
[Circa 1016]
Deed lost. — The donation is reported in these terms by Sigebert (SS,
t. VIII, p. 537). "At the same time, a battle was fought in Florina
between Count Lambert, son of Raginer Longicoll, and Duke Godfrey. When
Lambert fell there by the sword and received the end of his life, the
most noble Gerberga, who was conjoined with him, remorseful for her
husband's sins, and seeking absolution and repose for his soul through
the remedies of alms, wanted the church of Gemmelac, of which he himself
had been the defender, to continually pay the duties of prayer out of
the debt owed to his soul. Hence, having received wholesome advice, with
the consent of her son Count Henry, she gave the estate of her property
which is called Tortosa in the parish of Basciu instead of Gemmelac."
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p238 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
LAMBERTVS
ET GERBERGA. Gerberga ſoror & heres Ducis
Ottonis, cum non minus iniuſte quàm impiè à fraterna hereditate
excluderetur, retinuit ſibi Comitatus Louanienſem & Bruxellenſem,
atque Marchionatum S. Imperij, quos à Patre in dotem acceperat, ac
Ducis titulo abſtinuit. At Lambertus coniux parta de Leodienſibus
victoria elatus, amiſſa recuperare conatus bello aggreditur Godefridum
Arduennenſem, vbi prælio victus cecidit anno 1014. relicto filio
Henrico ſeniori Comite, qui è coniuge Gertrude filia Roberti Friſonis
Comitis Flandriæ, liberos ſuſtulit Lambertum Comitem &
ſucceſſorem; & Idam quæ nupſit Baldowino Comiti Flandriæ &
Hannoniæ; & Machtildem quæ ſociata fuit coniugali vinculo
Euſtachio Comiti Bolonienſi, Lamberto in prælio cæſo ſucceſſit
Henricus alter cius filius, ex vxore Oeda filia Comitis Arduennenfis
prognatus. Ceperat hic prælio nobilem quendam Hermannum nomine, qui
dum Louanii in aula Comitis ſub libera cuſtodia ageret, nocte quadam
cubiculum Comitis dormientis clam ingreſſus eum obtruncat, &
aufugit. 1078. Henricus tertius eius filius ſucceſſit: duxerat hic
ſororem Ducis Thuringiæ ex qua ſuſcepit Henricum qui prælio Tornacenſi
ſuccubuit anno 1096. & Godefridus qui Lotharingiam &
Brabantiam recepit.
This roughly translates as:
LAMBERT AND GERBERGA. Gerberga, the sister
and heir of Duke Otto, when she was no less unjustly than impiously
excluded from her brother's inheritance, retained for herself the
counties of Louvain and Brussels, and the Marchioness of the Holy
Empire, which she had received from her father as a dowry, and abstained
from the title of Duke. But Lambert, her husband, elated by the victory
won over the Leidens, attempted to recover the lost property by war and
attacked Godfrey of Arduenne, where he was defeated in battle and fell
in 1014, leaving behind his son Henry the elder count, who by his wife
Gertrude, daughter of Robert the Frisian, Count of Flanders, had
children: Lambert, count and successor; and Ida, who married Baldwin,
count of Flanders and Hanover; and Mathilda, who was united in marriage
to Eustace, count of Boulogne. Lambert was killed in battle and
succeeded by his second son Henry, born of his wife Oeda, daughter of
the count of Arduenne. He had captured in battle a certain nobleman
named Hermann, who, while he was acting under free custody in the
count's court at Louvain, one night secretly entered the count's
sleeping chamber, beheaded him, and fled. 1078. Henry, his third son,
succeeded him: he had married the sister of the Duke of Thuringia, by
whom he had Henry, who succumbed at the battle of Tournai in 1096, and
Godfrey, who recovered Lotharingia and Brabant.
In 991, as a child, Gerberga was imprisoned with her parents at a prison in
Orleans.
Les derniers Carolingiens pp277-82
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891)
A partir de ce moment, le sort des derniers Carolingiens devient très
obscur. Charles parait avoir été transféré avec sa femme, ses enfants
et Arnoul dans la prison que les Capétiens possédaient à Orléans.
Sigebert de Gembloux fait mourir Charles en 991, c’est-à-dire l’année
même où il fut trahi, mais ce chroniqueur seïuble avoir confondu la
date de sa mort avec celle de sa captivité.
… Nous pensons qu’après la mort de Charles, arrivée à Orléans peu
après 992, Hugues Capet relâcha sa femme et ses filles, laissa à
Orléans Arnoul (le fait est certain)
This roughly translates as:
From this point on, the fate of the last Carolingians becomes
very obscure. Charles appears to have been transferred with his wife,
children, and Arnoul to the prison that the Capetians held in Orléans.
Sigebert of Gembloux has Charles dying in 991, that is, the very year he
was betrayed, but this chronicler seems to have confused the date of his
death with that of his captivity.
… We believe that after Charles's death, arriving in Orléans shortly
after 992, Hugh Capet released his wife and daughters, leaving Arnoul in
Orléans (this is a fact).
pp287-9
Le mariage de Gerberge avec Lambert, comte de Hainaut et de Louvain,
nous semble en revanche parfaitement historique. Il nous est d’abord
attesté par la Chronographia de Sigebert de Gembloux:
«Raginerus Hathuidem filiam, Hugonis postea regis, Lantbertus vero
Gerbergam, filiam Karoli ducis, duxere uxores.» Sigebert a seulement
le tort de mettre ces événements en 977. Cette date est celle du
mariage de Charles et non de ses filles. Le mariage de Hathuide, fille
de Hugues Capet, avec Renier, comte de Hainaut, nous est raconté dans
un diplôme de Philippe Ier. Richer nous est garant que
Charles avait bien une fille du nom de Gerberge. Les Gesta abbatum
Gemblacensium, composés par le même Sigebert nous fournissent un
témoignage encore plus sûr que la Chronographia: Lambert,
époux de Gerberge, put se croire des droits au duché de Basse-Lorraine
quand Otton, frère de sa femme, mourut vers l’an 1012. Nous avons vu
que le duché fut alors donné à Godefroi II, comte de Verdun. Trompé
dans son ambition, Lambert s’allia avec sou neveu Renier (fils
d’Hathuide et de Renier IV) et livra bataille à Godefroi et à son
frère Hermann. Il fut vaincu et tué à Florines le 12 septembre 1015.
Sa veuve Gerberge et son fils Henri firent a l’abbaye de Gembloux pour
le repos de son âme, des donations qui furent confirmées par
l’empereur Henri II se trouvant à Liège le 27 janvier 1018. Sigebert,
qui était moine de Gembloux, a eu ces chartes entre les mains, il nous
en a donné le résumé et a même transcrit le diplôme de Henri II. On
comprend maintenant pourquoi nous attachons tant de prix à son
témoignage. D’après la troisième continuation des Gestes des abbés
de Saint-Trond, Gerberge aurait apporté en dot à Lambert, comte
de Hainaut, la partie du Brabant qui comprend Bruxelles et Louvain.
Lambert a-t-il acquis Louvain et Bruxelles par sa femme ou bien ces
villes lai venaient-elles de son grand-oncle Gilbert, duc de
Basse-Lorraine? C’est assez difficile à dire. Remarquons toutefois que
Charles, père de Gerberge, possédait Bruxelles, et il est bien
probable que Louvain, si rapproché de Bruxelles, ne formait avec cette
ville qu’un seul comté.
This roughly translates as:
Gerberga’s marriage to Lambert, Count of Hainaut and Louvain, on
the other hand, seems perfectly historical to us. It is first attested
to by the Chronographia of Sigebert of Gembloux: "Raginer
married Hathuid, the daughter of king Hugh, and Lambert married
Gerberga, the daughter of duke Charles." Sigebert only makes the mistake
of placing these events in 977. This date is that of Charles’s marriage
and not that of his daughters. The marriage of Hathuide, daughter of
Hugh Capet, to Renier, count of Hainaut, is recounted in a diploma from
Philip I. Richer guarantees that Charles did indeed have a daughter
named Gerberga. The Gesta abbatum Gemblacensium, composed by the
same Sigebert, provides us with even more reliable evidence than the Chronographia:
Lambert, husband of Gerberga, could have believed he had the right to
the duchy of Lower Lorraine when Otto, his wife’s brother, died around
the year 1012. We have seen that the duchy was then given to Godfrey II,
count of Verdun. Deceived in his ambition, Lambert allied himself with
his nephew Renier (son of Hathuide and Renier IV) and gave battle to
Godfrey and his brother Hermann. He was defeated and killed at Florines
on September 12, 1015. His widow Gerberga and his son Henry made
donations to the abbey of Gembloux for the repose of his soul, which
were confirmed by Emperor Henry II, who was in Liège on January 27,
1018. Sigebert, who was a monk of Gembloux, had these charters in his
hands, he gave us a summary and even transcribed Henry II’s diploma. We
now understand why we attach so much importance to his testimony.
According to the third continuation of the Gestes des abbés de
Saint-Trond, Gerberga brought as dowry to Lambert, count of
Hainaut, the part of Brabant that includes Brussels and Louvain. Did
Lambert acquire Louvain and Brussels through his wife or did these lay
cities come from his great-uncle Gilbert, duke of Lower Lorraine? It is
rather difficult to say. Let us note, however, that Charles, father of
Gerberga, owned Brussels, and it is very likely that Louvain, so close
to Brussels, formed only one county with this city.
The newer epitaph in Nivelles states
that Gerberga died in 1016, although the original, transcribed in 1318, says
she was laid to rest "a few years later" than her husband who died in 1015.
Gerberga's donation to the abbey was confirmed by the emperor Henry II on 27
January 1018, making it likely that she was still alive at that date.
in the Collegiate
Church of St. Gertrude in Nivelles,
in modern-day Belgium
Annales de la Société archéologique de
l'arrondissement de Nivelles vol 4 p58 (1894)
ÉPITAPHIER
DE NIVELLES
Près du Maitre- Autel dans le pavement
Reposent en cette collégiale les très
hauts et très puissants Princes les ducs
de brabant de Glorieuse mémoire
PEPIN 1er père de Ste Gertrude le
21 février
l’an 646.
OTTHON l’an 1005 GERBERGA sa sœur
aiant épousé LAMBERT Comte de Mons
et de Louvain deceda l’an 1016, et luy
l’an 1015. HENRI 1er fils du Comte LAMBERT
l’an 1038. LAMBERT son frère l’an 1051.
HENRI 2e l’an 1068. HENRI 3e
l’an 1090
HENRI 4e l’an 1095
This roughly translates as:
EPITAPHES OF NIVELLES
Near the High Altar in the pavement
Repose in this collegiate church the very high and very powerful
Princes, the Dukes of Brabant, of glorious memory.
PEPIN I, father of St. Gertrude, on February 21, in the
year 646.
OTTO I, in the year 1005. GERBERGA, his
sister, having married LAMBERT, Count of Mons and
Louvain, died in the year 1016, and he died in the year 1015. HENRY
I, son of Count LAMBERT, in the year 1038. LAMBERT,
his brother, in the year 1051.
HENRY II, in the year 1068. HENRY III, in
the year 1090.
HENRY IV, in the year 1095.
pp424-5
Nous avons mentionné à la page 58 de notre épitaphier la dalle
tumulaire moderne rappelant que certains ducs de Brabant ont été
inhumés à Nivelles. Trois épitaphes de ces princes ont été conservées
dans l’ouvrage de A Thymo et sont reproduites dans le cours d’histoire
nationale de Mgr Namèche.
Le comte Lambert, dit celui-ci, premier comte de Louvain, reçut
la sépulture dans l’église de Nivelles, dont il était avoué.
Quelques années plus tard, sa pieuse épouse Gerberge vint y
reposer à ses côtés. En note au bas de la page on lit: A Thymo nous a
conservé l’épitaphe inscrite sur sa tombe et y a joint quelques
détails sur les derniers jours de la pieuse princesse: “Filiis suis
Grcrberga, post mortem Lamberti sui mariti, comitatus suos et terras
resignans, apud Nivellam inter sanctimoniales viduitatiatis castitatem
servavit, et tandem moriens in ecclesia sanctæ Gertrudis sepulturam
accepit, cujus hoc epithafium fuit:
Inclita Gerberga Bruxellensis comilissa
Ex Karoli stirpe Magni tune sola remansit.
Cui conjunctus erat sacro nexu maritali
Belliger egregius Lambertus Lovanionsis.
Proch dolor! his regno spoliatis atque ducatu
Lovanium tantura necnon Bruxella remansit.”
Jean de Klerk, qui commença sa chronique rimée en 1318, assure
avoir vu à Nivelles la tombe et l’épitaphe de Gerberge.
This roughly translates as:
On page 58 of our epitaph, we mentioned the modern tombstone
recalling that certain Dukes of Brabant were buried in Nivelles. Three
epitaphs of these princes were preserved in A. Thymo's work and are
reproduced in Bishop Namèche's national history course.
Count Lambert, known as the latter, first count of Louvain, was
buried in the church of Nivelles, where he was a lawyer.
A few years later, his pious wife Gerberga came to rest there
beside him. A footnote at the bottom of the page reads: A. Thymo has
preserved for us the epitaph inscribed on her tomb and has included some
details about the pious princess's last days: “Gerberga, after the death
of her husband Lambert, resigned her counties and lands to her sons, and
at Nivelles among the nuns preserved her chastity as a widow, and
finally, dying, she was buried in the church of Saint Gertrude, whose
epitaph was this:
The illustrious Gerberga of Brussels, the wife of Charles
the Great
She was then the only one left of the stock of
Charlemagne.
To whom was joined by a sacred marital bond
The eminent warrior Lambert of Louvain.
Alas! having been stripped of their kingdom and duchy
Louvain remained as a mere city and Brussels.”
Jean de Klerk, who began his rhymed chronicle in 1318, claims to
have seen Gerberga's tomb and epitaph in Nivelles.
- Iacobi de Guisia Annales Hannoniae vol 9
p184 in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 30 (1896); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p233 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (GERBERGA); wikipedia
(Gerberga of Lower Lorraine)
- Iacobi de Guisia Annales Hannoniae vol 9
p184 in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 30 (1896); Recuiel des chartes de l'Abbaye de Gembloux p33 (ed.
C. G. Roland, 1921); Medieval
Lands (LAMBERT [I]); wikipedia
(Lambert I, Count of Louvain)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p238 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (LAMBERT [I]); wikipedia
(Lambert I, Count of Louvain)
- Recuiel des chartes de l'Abbaye de Gembloux
p33 (ed. C. G. Roland, 1921); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p238 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Les derniers Carolingiens pp277-82, pp287-9
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891); Medieval
Lands (GERBERGA); wikipedia
(Gerberga of Lower Lorraine)
- Medieval
Lands (GERBERGA); Annales de la Société archéologique de
l'arrondissement de Nivelles vol 4 p58 (1894) has the
year as 1016, from an inscription at Nivelles; Annales de la Société archéologique de
l'arrondissement de Nivelles vol 4 pp424-5 (1894); Recuiel des chartes de l'Abbaye de Gembloux
pp34-5 (ed. C. G. Roland, 1921)
- Annales de la Société archéologique de
l'arrondissement de Nivelles vol 4 p58, pp424-5
(1894)
Louis I "the Pious"
 |
Contemporary depiction from 826 of Louis
the Pious as a miles Christi (soldier of Christ), with a
poem by Rabanus
Maurus overlaid The illustration is from the Biblioteca
Apostolica, Codex Reg. lat 124, f.4v in the Vatican
Library.
|
 |
A wax seal of Louis the Pious dated 2 May
816 (Marburg Staatsarchiv R1a 816 May 2)
|
16 April 778 at the Carolingian villa
of Cassinogilum; the place is usually identified with Chasseneuil, near
Poitiers.
Charlemagne
Hildegarde
Ermengarde in 794 or 795
Ermengarde was the daughter of Ingram, count of Haspen. She died on 3
October 818 in Angers, three days after falling ill, and was buried in
there.
Judith
of Bavaria in February 819, possibly in Aachen where Louis is known to
have spent the Christmas prior.
Annales
Xantenses in Monumenta Germaniæ
Historica SS 2 p224 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829)
Anno 819. Mense Februario Ludewicus imperator accepit sibi in
coniugium Iudith ad imperatricem.
This roughly translates as:
In the
year 819. In the month of February, Emperor Louis took Judith, the
empress, to be his wife.
Thegani
Vita Hludowici Imperatoris in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p596 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829)
[818]
26. Sequenti vero anno accepit filiam Hwelfi ducis sui, qni erat de
nobilissima progenie Bawariorum, et nomen virginis Judith, quae erat
ex parte matris, cuius nomen Eigilwi, nobilissimi generis Saxonici;
eamque reginam constituit. Erat enim pulchra yalde.
This roughly translates as:
[818] The
following year he took the daughter of his duke Huelfi, who was of the
most noble lineage of the Bavarians, and the maiden name Judith, who was
on the mother's side, whose name was Eigilwi, of the most noble lineage
of the Saxons; and he made her queen. For she was a beautiful maiden.
p624
819
32. … Qua tempestate monitu suorum uxoriam meditabatur inire copulam;
timebatur enim a multis, ne regni vellet relinquere gubernacula.
Tandemque eorum voluntati satisfaciens, et undecumque adductas
procerum filias inspitiens, Iudith, filiam Welponis nobilissimi
comitis in matrimonium iunxit.
This roughly translates as:
819 32. … At
this time, at the advice of his relatives, he was contemplating taking a
wife; for many feared that he would not wish to relinquish the reins of
the kingdom. And finally, satisfying their wishes, and defying the
daughters of the nobles who were brought from everywhere, he married
Judith, the daughter of the most noble count of Welpon.
Royal Frankish annals p105 (trans. Bernhard
Walter Scholz, 1970)
819
… An assembly was held at Aachen after Christmas at which many matters
regarding the condition of the churches and monasteries were brought up
and settled. Some greatly needed chapters, as yet still lacking, were
drawn up and added to the laws. When this was done, the emperor married
Judith, daughter of Count Welf, after looking over many daughters of the
nobility.
 |
A contemporary likeness on a denier,
or penny, from the reign of Louis the Pious, minted at Sens
between 818 and 823.
photo by PHGCOM of a coin
held at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, posted on wikipedia
|
Louis had two other children outside of his marriages.
Emperor and king of the West
Franks
Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine in Rome on 15 April 781. He was crowned
co-emperor of the Carolingian
empire at Aix-la-Chapelle on 11 September 813 and became sole ruler in
January 814. He was crowned emperor in October 816, at Reims, by Pope
Stephen IV.
Royal Frankish annals pp130-40 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970)
Louis
was the heir of all this excellence. He was the youngest of Charles’s
legitimate sons and succeeded to the throne after the death of the
others. As soon as he had certain news of his father’s death, he came
straightway from Aquitaine to Aachen. No one objected when he asserted
his authority over the nobles arriving on the scene but reserved
judgment on those whose loyalty seemed doubtful. At the beginning of his
rule as emperor he ordered the immense treasures left by his father to
be divided into three parts; one part he spent on the funeral; the other
two parts he divided between himself and those of his sisters who were
born in lawful wedlock. He also ordered his sisters to remove themselves
instantly from the palace to their monasteries. His brothers Drogo,
Hugo, and Theodoric, who were still very young, he made companions of
his table and ordered to be brought up in his palace.4 To his
nephew Bernard, Pepin’s son, he [817] granted the kingdom of
Italy. Since Bernard defected from Louis a little later, he was taken
prisoner and deprived of his sight as well as his life by Bertmund,
governor of the province of Lyons. From that time on Louis feared that
his younger brothers might later stir up the people and behave like
Bernard. He therefore had them appear before his general assembly,
tonsured them, and put them under free custody into monasteries.
When this had been taken care of, he made his sons enter legal
marriages and divided the whole empire among them so that Pepin was to
have Aquitaine, Louis Bavaria, and Lothair, after his father’s death,
the whole empire. He also permitted Lothair to hold the title of emperor
with him. In the meantime Queen Irmengardis, their mother, died, and a
short time later Emperor Louis married Judith, [823] who gave
birth to Charles.
After Charles’s birth, Louis did not know what to do for him
since he had already divided the whole empire among his other sons. When
the distressed father begged their help on Charles’s behalf, Lothair
finally gave his assent and swore that his father should give to Charles
whatever part of the kingdom he wished. He assured Louis by oath that in
the future he would be Charles’s protector and defender against all
enemies. But after being incited by Hugo, whose daughter Lothair had
married, Mathfrid, and others, he later regretted what he had done and
tried to undo it. This behavior did not in the least escape his father
and Judith. So from then on Lothair secretly sought to destroy what his
father had arranged. To help him counter Lothair’s plot the father
employed a man named Bernard, who was duke of Septimania. He appointed
Bernard his chamberlain, entrusted Charles to him, and made him the
second man in the empire. Bernard recklessly abused the imperial power
which he was supposed to strengthen and undermined it entirely.
[Aug. 829] At that time Alamannia was handed over to
Charles by decree. Lothair, as if he had at last found a good reason to
complain, called upon his brothers and the whole people to restore
authority and order in the empire. They all suddenly converged on Louis
at Compiègne, [April 830] made the queen take the veil, tonsured
her brothers, Conrad and Rudolf, and sent them to Aquitaine to be held
by Pepin.12 Bernard took to his heels and escaped to
Septimania. His brother Herbert was captured, blinded, and imprisoned in
Italy. When Lothair had taken over the government, he held his father
and Charles in free custody. He ordered monks to keep Charles company;
they were to get him used to the monastic life and urge him to take it
up himself.
But the state of the empire grew worse from day to day, since all
were driven by greed and sought only their own advantage. On account of
this the monks we have mentioned above, as well as other men who
deplored what had happened, began to question Louis to see if he were
willing to reconstruct the government and stand behind it if the kingdom
were restored to him. Above all he was to promote religious worship, by
which all order is protected and preserved. Since he readily accepted
this, his restoration was quickly agreed upon. Louis chose Guntbald, a
monk, and secretly sent him to his sons Pepin and Louis. Guntbald went
ostensibly on religious business, but he promised that Louis would
increase the kingdom of both Pepin and Louis if they would assist the
men who wanted him back on the throne. The [Nijmegen Oct. 830]
promise of more land made them only too eager to comply. An assembly was
convoked, the queen and her brothers were returned to Louis, and the
whole people submitted again to his rule. Then those [Aachen Feb. 831]
who had been on Lothair’s side were taken before the general assembly
and either condemned to death or, if their lives were spared, sent into
exile by Lothair himself. Lothair also had to be content with Italy
alone and was permitted to go there only on the condition that in the
future he would not attempt anything in the kingdom against his father’s
will.
When matters rested at this and there seemed to be a moment’s
respite, the monk Guntbald, whom we mentioned above, immediately wanted
to be second in the empire because he had done so much for Louis’
restoration. But Bernard, who had formerly held this position, as I said
before, tried eagerly to regain it. Also Pepin and Louis, although their
kingdoms had been enlarged as promised, nevertheless both tried hard to
be first in the empire after their father. But those who were in charge
of the government at that time resisted their desires.
[833] At the same time Aquitaine was taken from Pepin and
given to Charles, and the nobility which was on King Louis’ side did
homage to Charles. This event infuriated the malcontents whom I
mentioned. They let it be known that the government was poorly run and
incited the people to demand fair rule. They freed Wala, Helisachar,
Mathfrid, and the others who had been sent into exile and urged Lothair
to seize power. Under the same pretext and by continual petitions, they
also won over to their side Gregory, pontiff of the supreme Roman See,
so that his authority would help them do what they planned.
The emperor with all his forces confronted the three kings, his
sons, with their immense army, and Pope Gregory with his entire Roman
entourage. They all gathered in Alsace and set up camps at Mount
Siegwald. By promising various favors the sons prevailed upon the
people to defect from their father. After most of his men [30 June]
had fled Louis was eventually captured. His wife was taken from him and
sent into exile to Lombardy, and Charles was held with his father under
close guard.
Pope Gregory, filled with regret over his journey, returned to
Rome later than he had planned. Lothair had seized the empire again, but
what he had so unjustly and easily won, he justly lost again even more
easily, the second time around. Pepin and Louis saw that Lothair
intended to seize the whole empire and make them his inferiors, and they
resented his schemes. Hugo, Lambert, and Mathfrid also disagreed as to
which of them should be second in the empire after Lothair. They began
to quarrel, and, since each of them looked out for his own, they
entirely neglected the government. When the people saw that, they were
distressed. Shame and regret filled the sons for having twice deprived
their father of his dignity, and the people [Feb. 834] for having
twice deserted the emperor. Therefore, they all now agreed on his
restoration and headed for St.-Denis, where Lothair was then holding his
father and Charles.
Seeing that this flare-up was more than he could deal with,
Lothair took up arms before the others had assembled, released his
father and Charles, and hurried by forced marches to Vienne. When the
emperor was returned to them, a large number of men present were ready
to use force in support of the father against the son. They flocked with
the bishops and the whole clergy into the basilica of St.-Denis, offered
praise to God in all piety, placed crown and arms upon their king, and
then assembled to deliberate on the remaining matters.
Louis refrained from pursuing Lothair, but sent envoys after him
who were to order him to leave promptly across the Alps. When Pepin came
to him, Louis received him graciously, thanked him for what he had done
toward his restoration, and allowed him to return to Aquitaine as Pepin
requested. There was a gathering of the emperor’s vassals who used to
run the government and had fled. With these men he marched quickly to
Aachen to spend the winter there. Finally, his son Louis came to him.
The emperor received him joyfully and told him to stay with him for his
protection.
When in the meantime those who guarded Judith in Italy heard that
Lothair had fled and Louis ruled the empire, they seized Judith and
escaped. They arrived safely at Aachen and delivered her as a welcome
present to the emperor. But she was not admitted to the royal bed until
she had established her innocence of the offenses with which she had
been charged. In the absence of an accuser she did so by an oath taken
with her kinsmen before the people.23
[834] At this time Mathfrid, Lambert, and the others of Lothair’s
party were in the Breton March. Wido and all the men between the Seine
and Loire were dispatched to drive them out. They assembled in a large
force. The small number of Lothair’s men put them at a great
disadvantage, but at least they moved as one man. Wido’s large army made
him and his men secure but quarrelsome and disorganized. No wonder they
fled when it came to battle. Wido was slain as well as Odo, Vivian,
Fulbert, and an uncounted number of the people. The victors hastily
informed Lothair of this, urging him to come to their assistance with an
army as fast as he could. Lothair gladly complied and came with a large
force to Chalon, laid siege to the city, and [June 834] stormed
it for three days. After he had finally captured the place, he burned
the city and its churches. He ordered Gerberga to be drowned in the
Saône like a witch and Gozhelm and Senila to be beheaded. But he granted
Warin his life, forcing him to swear he would support Lothair in the
future with all his might.
Lothair and his men were in high spirits because of their two
successful battles and hoped for an easy conquest of the whole empire.
They marched to the city of Orléans to deliberate on unsettled business.
Upon hearing this the emperor assembled a strong army in Francia. With
the aid of Louis and all his men on the far side of the Rhine, he set
out to take revenge for the great crime committed by his son against the
empire. Hoping that he might cause the Franks to defect as before,
Lothair decided on a direct confrontation. So the two forces met and
pitched camp by a river near the village of Chouzy. But the Franks were
sorry that they had deserted their emperor twice, and considered it
shameful to commit the same act again. They spurned any attempt to make
them defect. Lothair saw [Aug. 834] that this was no time for
either flight or fight and finally gave up the struggle. First it was
agreed that within a stipulated number of days he would cross the Alps
and in the future not dare to enter the territory of Francia or make a
move without his father’s consent. Lothair and his men swore that they
would keep these promises.
[835/36] When these matters had been settled, the father
ruled the empire with his former advisers. He realized that as long as
he lived the people would not desert him, as had been their habit
before. He [837/38] convoked an assembly at Aachen in winter and
gave Charles a part of the kingdom bounded in the following way: from
the sea along the borders of Saxony as far as the borders of the
Ripuarians, all of Frisia; in the lands of the Ripuarians the counties
of Moilla, Haettra, Hammolant, and Maasgau; the whole land between the
Meuse and Seine as far as Burgundy with the county of Verdun, and in
Burgundy the counties of Toul, Ornois, Blois, Blasois, Perthois, the two
counties of Bar; the counties of Brienne, Troyes, Auxerre, Sens,
Gatinais, Melun, Étampes, Chatres, and Paris; and then along the Seine
as far as the ocean and along the coast as far as Frisia all bishoprics,
abbeys, counties, royal estates, and everything within the above
boundaries and all that went with them, wherever it was located and was
known to belong to the emperor. He gave this to his son Charles with all
divine and paternal authority and implored the mercy of Almighty God
that it remain in his hands.
[838] Hilduin, abbot of the church of St-Denis, and Gerard,
count of the city of Paris, and all others living within this territory
came together and took an oath of fealty to Charles. When Lothair and
Louis heard of this they were very much annoyed and arranged a
conference. During their meeting they saw that there was no adequate
excuse for being angry about anything that had happened. They shrewdly
concealed that they intended to do anything against their father’s will
and broke up. This meeting raised a storm, but it subsided quickly. The
emperor then came to Quierzy about the middle of September and easily
suppressed another revolt. He conferred arms and crown upon Charles as
well as a part of the kingdom between Seine and Loire. He also
reconciled Pepin and Charles, at least to all appearances; then he
graciously permitted Pepin to return to Aquitaine and sent Charles into
the part of the kingdom he had given him. On Charles’s arrival all
inhabitants of those lands came to commend themselves to him and swear
fealty.
[839] It was then announced that Louis had revolted against
his father and intended to seize the entire part of the kingdom on the
far side of the Rhine. When his father heard what he was doing, he came
to Mainz, where he convoked an assembly, crossed the Rhine with his
army, and forced Louis to flee into Bavaria. Then he returned jubilantly
to Aachen, since by God’s will he had the victory wherever he turned.
Louis was getting old and his mind was beginning to falter because of
his many troubles. Queen Judith and those nobles who were working for
Charles, as Louis wished them to, feared that the hatred of the brothers
would pursue them until death if the emperor died without settling his
affairs. For this reason they thought it wise for Louis to secure the
support of one of his sons and that at least this son and Charles could
work together and resist the malcontents if the others were unwilling to
preserve harmony after their father’s death.
Since the matter was urgent, they discussed it day and night
until they came to the unanimous decision that an alliance be made with
Lothair if he proved trustworthy. For Lothair, as I said earlier, had
sworn at one time before father, mother, and Charles that the emperor
should give Charles whichever part of the kingdom he wished. Lothair
promised that he would agree to the decision and protect Charles against
all enemies as long as he lived. This oath encouraged Charles’s
partisans to choose emissaries and send them to Lothair in Italy. They
promised that all his crimes against Louis would be forgiven and the
whole kingdom except Bavaria divided between himself and Charles, if he
would enforce his father’s will regarding Charles from now on. Since
this arrangement seemed acceptable to Lothair and his men, both parties
swore to their good intentions and pledged to carry them out.
Accordingly they all came to Worms where an assembly had [30
May 839] been convoked. At this assembly Lothair humbly fell at
his father’s feet in the presence of all and said: “I know, Lord Father,
that I have sinned before God and you. I don’t ask for your kingdom but
for your forgiveness and that I may be worthy of your grace.” Louis
behaved like a pious and mild father. He forgave the petitioner for what
he had done and granted him his grace, if he would never again injure
Charles or the kingdom against his father’s will. Louis kindly raised
and kissed him and thanked God for the lost son with whom he had been
reconciled. Then they went to dine together, postponing until the next
day talks on the other matters which they had sworn they would discuss.
On the next day they began their conference. As he wished to carry out
what his emissaries had sworn, the father said: “Look, my son, as I
promised, the whole kingdom is lying before you; divide it as you
please. If you divide it, Charles shall have the choice of the parts.
But if we divide it, the choice will be yours.”
For three days Lothair tried to divide the empire but was not at
all able to do so. He then sent Joseph and Richard to his father asking
that Louis and his men should divide the kingdom and he be granted the
choice of the parts. They assured the king’s party by the oath they had
already sworn that the only reason Lothair would not divide the kingdom
was his ignorance of the land. Therefore, the father with his men
divided the whole kingdom, except Bavaria, as equally as possible.
Lothair and his men chose the part east of the Meuse and received it
immediately. He agreed that the western part should be conferred on
Charles and announced with his father before the whole people that they
wished things to be settled in this way. Then the father reconciled the
brothers as best he could, fervently imploring them to love each other.
He also begged them with many exhortations to protect one another,
professing that nothing in the world meant more to him.
[July 839]
When all this was settled, the father graciously and peaceably
sent Lothair to Italy, enriched by the grace of his forbearance and the
gift of the kingdom. He reminded Lothair how often he had broken the
oaths he had so frequently sworn to his father, and how often Louis had
forgiven him his offenses. He warned Lothair, entreating him fervently
not to break those agreements which they had recently made and which he
had confirmed as his will before all the people.
At the same time the father received the news that Pepin had
died. There were some who waited to see what Louis would order to
be done about his grandsons’ share in the kingdom. But others seized
Pepin’s eldest son, also named Pepin, and set up an unlawful regime. On
this account the emperor settled his business with Lothair as reported
and then went with Charles and his mother by way of Chalon to Clermont.
There he graciously received those who waited for him. Since he had once
given Aquitaine to Charles, he advised and even commanded the
Aquitanians to do homage to his son. They all did homage and swore
fealty to him. After this the emperor sought for ways to curb the
usurpers.
At this very time Louis, as usual, came out of Bavaria and
invaded Alamannia, accompanied by a number of Thuringians and Saxons
whom he had stirred up. This event called the emperor from Aquitaine,
and he left Charles with his mother at Poitiers, celebrated holy Easter
at Aachen, and then continued his march to Thuringia. After his son
Louis had been driven back the emperor forced him to buy his way through
the land of the Slavs and to flee to Bavaria. When this conflict was
settled the emperor convoked an assembly at the city of Worms, for July
1, to which he summoned his son Lothair from Italy to talk about Louis
with himself and other trusted men.
[20 June 840] When things had come to this pass, with Lothair in
Italy, Louis on the far side of the Rhine, and Charles in Aquitaine,
Emperor Louis, their father, died on an island near Mainz on June 20.
His brother Drogo, bishop and archchaplain, buried him with due honors
at St. Arnulf’s in his city of Metz in the presence of bishops, abbots,
and counts. Louis lived for sixty-four years, ruled Aquitaine for
thirty-seven years, and held the imperial title for twenty-seven years
and six months.39
4. The sisters were Gisela and Bertha, Nithard’s mother, who took the
veil at St.-Riquier. The three sons mentioned here were illegitimate
sons; Drogo became abbot of Luxeuil in 820 and bishop of Metz in 823
(see RFA, s.a. 823); he died in 855. Hugo became abbot of St.-Quentin
and died in 844. Theodoric was born in 810. All were tonsured in 818.
12. At a general assembly at Compiègne in May 830, which was dominated
by Lothair, Louis the Pious admitted his guilt, consigned his
controversial spouse to the nunnery of Saint-Croix at Poitiers, and
promised to rule in the future with the better counsel of his vassals.
Louis remained emperor in name only; Lothair was again co-emperor and
now the real ruler. Louis was held in honorable captivity, probably in
St.-Midard’s at Soissons, but was able to influence affairs.
23. Judith was brought back to Francia not by her guards but by
supporters of Louis the Pious; Simson, II, 101-2. Judith purged herself
after the general assembly of Aix-la-Chapelle in 831; there had been no
further charges of this kind in 833;
39. Louis actually died in his sixty-third year, ruled Aquitaine for
almost thirty-three years, and was emperor for twenty-six years and nine
months. The island on which he died was Petersaue in the Rhine;
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 pp28-9 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911)
LOUIS
I. (778-840), surnamed the “Pious,” Roman emperor, third son of
the emperor Charlemagne and his wife Hildegarde, was born at Chasseneuil
in central France, and crowned king of Aquitaine in 781. He received a
good education; but as his tastes were ecclesiastical rather than
military, the government of his kingdom was mainly conducted by his
counsellors. Louis, however, gained sound experience in warfare in the
defence of Aquitaine, shared in campaigns against the Saxons and the
Avars, and led an army to Italy in 792. In 794 or 795 he married
Irmengarde, daughter of Ingram, count of Haspen. After the deaths of his
two elder brothers, Louis, at his father’s command, crowned himself
co-emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 11th of September 813, and was
formally associated in the government of the Empire, of which he became
sole ruler, in the following January. He earned the surname of “Pious”
by banishing his sisters and others of immoral life from court; by
attempting to reform and purify monastic life; and by showing great
liberality to the church. In October 816 he was crowned emperor at Reims
by Pope Stephen IV.; and at Aix in July 817, he arranged for a division
of his Empire among his sons. This was followed by a revolt of his
nephew, Bernard, king of Italy; but the rising was easily suppressed,
and Bernard was mutilated and killed. The emperor soon began to repent
of this cruelty, and when his remorse had been accentuated by the death
of his wife in 818, he pardoned the followers of Bernard and restored
their estates, and in 822 did public penance at Attigny. In 819 he
married Judith, daughter of Welf I., count of Bavaria, who in 823 bore
him a son Charles, afterwards called the Bald. Judith made unceasing
efforts to secure a kingdom for her child; and with the support of her
eldest step-son Lothair, a district was carved out for Charles in 829.
Discontent at this arrangement increased to the point of rebellion,
which broke out the following year, provoked by Judith’s intrigues with
Bernard, count of Barcelona, whom she had installed as her favourite at
court. Lothair and his brother Pippin joined the rebels, and after
Judith had been sent into a convent and Bernard had fled to Spain, an
assembly was held at Compiègne, when Louis was practically deposed and
Lothair became the real ruler of the Empire. Sympathy was, however, soon
aroused for the emperor, who was treated as a prisoner, and a second
assembly was held at Nimwegen in October 830 when, with the concurrence
of his sons Pippin and Louis, he was restored to power and Judith
returned to court.
Further trouble between Pippin and his father led to the nominal
transfer of Aquitaine from Pippin to his brother Charles in 831. The
emperor’s plans for a division of his dominions then led to a revolt of
his three sons. Louis met them in June 833 near Kolmar, but owing
possibly to the influence of Pope Gregory IV., who took part in the
negotiations, he found himself deserted by his supporters, and the
treachery and falsehood which marked the proceedings gave to the place
the name of Lügenfeld, or the “field of lies.” Judith, charged
with infidelity, was again banished; Louis was sent into the monastery
of St Medard at Soissons; and the government of the Empire was assumed
by his sons. The emperor was forced to confess his sins, and declare
himself unworthy of the throne, but Lothair did not succeed in his
efforts to make his father a monk. Sympathy was again felt for Louis,
and when the younger Louis had failed to induce Lothair to treat the
emperor in a more becoming fashion, he and Pippin took up arms on behalf
of their father. The result was that in March 834 Louis was restored to
power at St Denis; Judith once more returned to his side and the
kingdoms of Louis and Pippin were increased. The struggle with Lothair
continued until the autumn, when he submitted to the emperor and was
confined to Italy. To make the restoration more complete, a great
assembly at Diedenhofen declared the deposition of Louis to have been
contrary to law, and a few days later he was publicly restored in the
cathedral of Metz. In December 838 Pippin died, and a new arrangement
was made by which the Empire, except Bavaria, the kingdom of Louis, was
divided between Lothair, now reconciled to his father, and Charles. The
emperor was returning from suppressing a revolt on the part of his son
Louis, provoked by this disposition, when he died on the 20th of June
840 on an island in the Rhine near Ingelheim. He was buried in the
church of St Arnulf at Metz. Louis was a man of strong frame, who loved
the chase, and did not shrink from the hardships of war. He was,
however, easily influenced and was unequal to the government of the
Empire bequeathed to him by his father. No sustained effort was made to
ward off the inroads of the Danes and others, who were constantly
attacking the borders of the Empire. Louis, who is also called Le
Débonnaire, counts as Louis I., king of France.
See Annales Fuldenses; Annales Bertiniani;
Thegan, Vita Hludowici; the Vita Hiudowici attributed to
Astronomus; Ermoldus Nigellus, In honorem Hludowici imperatoris;
Nithard, Hisloriarum libri, all in the Monumenta Germaniae
historica. Scriplores, Bände i. and ii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826
fol.); E. Mühlbacher, Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den
Karolingern (Innsbruck, 1881); and Deutsche Geschichte unter
den Karolingern (Stuttgart, 1886); B. Simson, Jahrbücher des
fränkischen Reichs unter Ludwig dem Frommen (Leipzig, 1874-1876);
and E. Dümmler, Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reiches (Leipzig,
1887-1888). (A. W. H.*)
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p69
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
[813]
XXX. Towards the close of his life, when he was broken by ill-health and
old age, he summoned Lewis, King of Aquitania, his only surviving son by
Hildegard, and gathered together all the chief men of the whole kingdom
of the Franks in a solemn assembly. He appointed Lewis, with their
unanimous consent, to rule with himself over the whole kingdom, and
constituted him heir to the imperial name; then, placing the diadem upon
his son’s head, he bade him be proclaimed Emperor and Augustus.
20 June 840 on the island of
Petersaue in the Rhine near Ingelheim.
Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p362 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826)
Anno 840
... Post pascha auten imperator, collecto exercitu, filium per
Thuringiam usque ad terminos barbarorum persequitur, exclusumque a
finibus regni per Sclavorum terram cum magno labore in Baioariam
redire compellit. Ipse vero, rebus in partibus illis ordinatis, ad
Salz villam regiam reversus, dies letaniarum et ascensionis Domini
sollempnia celebravit. In ipsa autem vigilia ascensionis Domini hoc
est 4. Id. Mai. eclipsis solis circa septimam et octavam horam diei
facta est tam valida, ut etiam stellae propter obscuritatem solis
visae sint, rebusque color in terris mutaretur. Imperator vero illis
diebus morbo correptus, aegrotare coepit, et per Moenum fluvium
navigio ad Franconofurt, inde post dies paucos in insulam quandam
Rheni fluvium prope Ingilenheim delatus, morbo invalescente, 12. Kal.
Iulii diem ultimum clausit: corpusque eius Mettis civitatem perlatum,
in basilica sancti Arnulfi confessoris honorifice sepultum est.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 840
... After Easter, however, the emperor, having gathered an army, pursued
his son through Thuringia to the borders of the barbarians, and, being
expelled from the borders of the kingdom through the land of the Slavs,
with great difficulty compelled him to return to Bavaria. But he
himself, having arranged matters in those parts, returned to the royal
villa of Salz, and celebrated the day of the litanies and the solemnity
of the Lord's Ascension. But on the very vigil of the Lord's Ascension,
that is, the 4th day of the Ides of May [12 May], the eclipse of the sun
became so great at about the seventh and eighth hours of the day, that
even the stars were visible because of the darkness of the sun, and the
color of things on earth was changed. But in those days the emperor,
seized with illness, began to fall ill, and was taken by ship by the
river Moen to Franconfurt, from there a few days later to a certain
island in the river Rhine near Ingilenheim. As the illness grew worse,
he closed his last day on the 12th day of the Kalends of July [20 June]:
and his body was carried to the city of Metz, and was honorably buried
in the basilica of St. Arnulf the Confessor.
 |
The tomb of Louis the Pious before its
destruction in the French Revolution
steel engraving dated 1838, posted on
wikipedia
|
in the abbey
of St Arnulf at Metz
Louis's tomb was largely destroyed during the French Revolution, but the
remaining part is conserved in the museum
of Metz.
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p28 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Pauli Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p265
(ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p28 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p28 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious); Ermengarde father, death from The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p28 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911) and Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); Ermengarde burial from Medieval
Lands (LOUIS)
- Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Annales Xantenses in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p224 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829); Thegani Vita Hludowici Imperatoris in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica SS 2 p596
p624
(ed. G. H. Pertz, 1829); Royal Frankish annals p105 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p28 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Children outside of
marriage from Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Royal Frankish annals pp130-40 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 pp28-9 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p69
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p362 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Royal Frankish annals p140 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p29 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
- Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p362 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Royal Frankish annals p140 (trans.
Bernhard Walter Scholz, 1970); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p29 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Pious)
Louis II "the Stammerer"
 |
Depiction of Louis II in the Carolingian
Family Tree in the Chronicon Universale, created in the 12th
century.
|
1 November 846
Charles II "the
Bald"
Ermentrude
of Orléans
Ansgarde
of Burgundy in 862
Ansgarde was the daughter of Hardouin of Burgundy. Louis married Ansgarde
against the will of his father and later repudiated her, seeking an
annulment.
Adelaide
Reginonis
Chronicon in Monumenta Germaniæ
Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826)
[878]
Paucis interiectis diebus, Hludowicus rex, filius Caroli, qui Balbus
appellabatur, eo quod impeditioris et tradioris esset eloquii, ab hac
luce subtractus est. Fuit vero iste princeps vir simplex ac mitis,
pacis, iustitiae et religionis amator. Habuit autem, cum adhuc
iuvenilis aetatis flore polleret, quandam nobilem puellam nomine
Ansgard sibi coniugii foedere copulatam, ex qua duos liberos suscepit
elegantis formae ac ingentis animi virtute praestantes: horum unus
Hludowicus, alter Carlomannus vocabatur. Sed quia hanc sine genitoris
conscientia et voluntatis consensu suis amplexibus sociaverat, ab ipso
patre ei postmodum est interdicta, et interposito iurisiurandi
sacramento, ab eius consortio in perpetuum separata. Tradita est autem
eidem ab eodem patre Adalheidis in matrimonium, quam gravidam ex se
reliquit idem rex cum obiret; quae tempore pariendi expleto, enixa est
puerum, cui nomen avi imposuit, eumque Carolum vocitari fecit.
This roughly translates as:
[878] A few days later, King Louis, the son of Charles, who was called
the Babbler, because he was more difficult and more eloquent, was taken
from this world. This prince was a simple man and a lover of peace,
justice and religion. He had, while still in the prime of his youth, a
certain noble girl named Ansgard, who was united to him by a marriage
contract, by whom he had two children, distinguished by their elegant
form and great strength of mind: one of whom was called Louis, the other
Carloman. But because he had associated her with his embraces without
the knowledge and consent of his parents, she was afterwards forbidden
by her father, and, having sworn an oath, was separated from his company
forever. She was given to him by the same father in marriage to
Adelheid, whom the same king left pregnant by him when he died; and when
the time of childbirth was over, she gave birth to a boy, to whom he
gave the name of his grandfather, and had him called Charles.
 |
A denier, or penny, from the reign
of Louis II, struck in the city of Visé.
It is inscribed "+ HVDOVVICVS PEX" on the obverse and "+ H VICO
VIOSATO" on the reverse.
|
 |
A wax seal of Louis II the Stammerer,
dated 1 January 879 (Archives Nationales, Paris K15 no. 1). His
contemporary likeness on the bust in the seal has sadly not really
survived.
|
King
of Aquitaine from 866 and king of West
Francia from October 877.
Louis became king of Aquitaine after the death of his elder brother Charles
in 866, and in October 877 he succeeded his father as king of West Francia
and king of West Lotharingia, although he did not inherit his father's title
of emperor. He was crowned at Compiègne on 8 December 877 and at Troyes on 7
September 878 by Pope John VIII.
 |
Louis II "the Stammerer"
The illustration is titled "LVDOVICVS BALBVS CAR. CALVI. F" i.e.
Louis "the Stammerer" son of Charles "the Bald"
|
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
LVDOVICVS
BALBVS Imperator, & Franciæ Rex; Brabantiæ, &
Lotharingiæ tertius Dux. Duobus ingentibus prælijs deuicit Normannos,
nec tamen Gallia pellere potuit, neque prohibere quin vaſtarint omnem
Belgiam, Picardiam, Flandriam, Brabátiam, Hollandiam, &
circumiacentes regiones ad Rhenum Coloniam vſque. Obijt ſecundo regni
ſui anno, relicta vxore prægnante: quæ pòſt enixa eſt prolem maſculam,
anno IↃ.CCCCXVI.
Vxores.
Prior vxor dicta fuit Ausgarda, quam tradunt quidam
ſuiſſe Hiſpaniarum Regis filiam.
Richildis altera eius coniux filia Regis Angliæ: alij
volunt hanc ſuiſſe filiam Regis Hiſpaniarum.
Filivs.
Carolus cognomine Simplex, poſtumus.
Ludouicus, & Carlomanus BALBI ex
pellice filij, teſte Paulo Æmilio, qui CAROLI Simplicis
tutores primi fuere: mox Carolus Craſſus, Otto Rex, Arnulphus
Imp. & Ludouicus., IↃ.CCCCLV.
This roughly translates as:
LOUIS
BALBUS, emperor and king of France; third duke of Brabant
and Lotharingia. He defeated the Normans in two great battles, but he
could not drive them out of Gaul, nor prevent them from ravaging all
Belgium, Picardy, Flanders, Brabant, Holland, and the surrounding
regions as far as Cologne on the Rhine. He died in the second year of
his reign, leaving a pregnant wife: who later gave birth to a male
child, in the year 916.
Wives.
His first wife was called Ausgarda, whom some say was the
daughter of the king of the Spanish kingdom.
His second wife was Richilda, daughter of the king of
England: others want her to be the daughter of the king of the Spanish
kingdom.
Sons.
Charles, surnamed Simplex, we have written.
Louis and Carloman BALBI, sons of the
pelican, according to Paul Aemilius, who were the first tutors of CHARLES
Simplex: soon Charles Crassus, Otto the King, Arnulf Imp. &
Ludouicus., 955
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911)
LOUIS
II.2 (846-879), king of France, called “le Bègue” or
“the Stammerer,” was a son of Charles II. the Bald, Roman emperor and
king of the West Franks, and was born on the 1st of November 846. After
the death of his elder brother Charles in 866 he became king of
Aquitaine, and in October 877 he succeeded his father as king of the
West Franks, but not as emperor. Having made extensive concessions to
the nobles both clerical and lay, he was crowned king by Hincmar,
archbishop of Reims, on the 8th of December following, and in September
878 he took advantage of the presence of Pope John VIII. at the council
of Troyes to be consecrated afresh. After a feeble and ineffectual reign
of eighteen months Louis died at Compiègne on the 10th or 11th of April
879. The king is described as “un homme simple et doux, aimant la paix,
la justice et la religion.” By his first wife, Ansgarde, a Burgundian
princess, he had two sons, his successors, Louis III. and Carloman; by
his second wife, Adelaide, he had a posthumous son, Charles the Simple,
who also became king of France. (A. W.
H.*)
2
The emperor Louis I. is counted as Louis I., king of France.
11 April 879, at Compiègne,
West Francia
Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p392 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826)
Anno 879
... Hludowicus, Karoli regis filius, 3 Idus Aprilis apud Compendium
obiit palatium ibique sepultus est.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 929
... Louis, son of King Charles, died on the 3rd day of the Ides of April
at the Compiègne Palace and was buried there.
Saint-Corneille Abbey, Compiègne,
West Francia
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p225 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Reginonis Chronicon in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer); Ansgarde notes from wikipedia
(Ansgarde of Burgundy)
- Reginonis Chronicon in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Reginonis Chronicon in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p590 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p227 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
- Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p392 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS)
- Annales Fuldensium Pars Tertia in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 p392 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis the Stammerer)
Louis IV "d'Outremer"
 |
A depiction of Louis IV on a coin from his
reign, struck in Chinon
photo by PHGCOM of a coin
held at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, posted on wikipedia
|
918-9
Louis was aged 35 at his death in September 954 putting his birth in 918 or
919.
Charles III "the
Simple"
Eadgifu
Gerberga
of Saxony in 939
Flodoardi
annales in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 3 p386 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
Anno 939
... Gislebertus dux Lothariensium, trans Rhenum profectus praedatum,
Saxonibus se dum revertitur insequentibus, in Rhenum fertur desiluisse
cum equo; ibique vi enecatus undarum, postea repperiri non potuit, ut
fertur. Quidam tamen ferunt, quod a piscatoribus sit repertus et
humatus, atque propter spoliorum ipsius ornamenta celatus.
Ludowicus rex in regnum Lothariense regressus, relictam
Gisleberti Gerbergam duxit uxorem, Othonis scilicet regis sororem.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 939
... Gislebert, duke of Lotharingia, having set out across the Rhine to
plunder, is said to have jumped into the Rhine with his horse, while the
Saxons were pursuing him on his return; and there he was drowned by the
force of the waves, and could not be found afterwards, as is said. Some,
however, say that he was found and buried by fishermen, and hidden
because of the ornaments of his spoils.
King Louis, returning to the kingdom of Lotharingia, married
Gislebert's abandoned wife, Gerberg, who was the sister of King Otto.
King of West Francia
After the capture and dethronement of Charles the Simple in 923,
following his defeat at the Battle of Soissons, queen Eadgifu and
her infant son took refuge in England (for this he received the nickname of
d'Outremer) at the court of her father king Edward, and after
Edward's death, of her brother king Æthelstan. Charles died in prison in 929, making
Louis the heir, but the French throne was still held by a rival royal line.
When king Rudolph
died in 936, Louis, still a teenager, was called back to France, a country
he had never known, and crowned king.
Flodoardi
annales in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 3 p383 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
Anno 936
... Brittones a transmarinis regionibus Alstani regis praesidio
revertentes, terram suam repetunt. Hugo comes trans mare mittit pro
accersiendo ad apicem regni suscipiendum Ludowico Karoli filio, quem
rex Alstanus, avunculus ipsius accepto prius iureiurando a Francorum
legatis, in Franciam cum quibusdam episcopis et aliis fidelibus suis
dirigit. Cui Hugo et ceteri Francorum proceret obviam profecti, mox
navim egresso in ipsis littoreis harenis apud Bononiam sese
committunt, ut erat utrimque depactum. Indeque ab ipsis Laudunum
deductus, ac regali benedictione ditatus, unguitur atque coronatur a
domno Artoldo archiepiscopo, praesentibus regni principibus, cum
episcopis viginti et amplius.
This roughly translates as:
In the year 936
... The Britons, returning from overseas regions under the protection of
king Athelstan, reclaim their land. Count Hugh sends across the sea to
summon Louis, Charles' son, to assume the throne of the kingdom, whom
king Athelstan, his uncle, having first taken an oath from the French
ambassadors, directs to France with some bishops and other faithful.
Hugh and the rest of the French court set out to meet him, and soon
disembarking on a ship on the sands of the coast near Boulogne, as had
been agreed on by both parties. From there, he is taken by them to
Laudun, and endowed with a royal blessing, is anointed and crowned by
Lord Artold, Archbishop, in the presence of the princes of the kingdom,
with more than twenty bishops.
Louis ruled from 936 to 954. He was initially under the regency of Hugh
the Great and he struggled to assert his independence against the man
who became a powerful rival. In 942 William
I Longsword the ruler of Normandy was assassinated, leaving a 10 year
old heir, Richard
I. Louis took advantage of the situation, "protecting" or imprisoning
young Richard at Laun and putting Normandy under the regency of his ally,
Herluin, count of Montreuil. Richard escaped and in 945 Louis went to
Normandy where Herluin's rule was being resisted. The two were ambushed at
the mouth of the river
Dives on 13 July. Herluin was killed; Louis managed to escape to Rouen
but the citizens there handed him over to the Normans who imprisoned him.
Negotiations resulted in his released to Hugh the Great and in exchange his
second son, Charles, and Guy, bishop of Soissons, were given in his place as
a hostage. Charles likely died in his captivity as Louis named another son
Charles in 953. Hugh placed Louis under the custody of Theobald
I, count of Blois for several months after which he was released under
pressure of the Frankish nobles and kings Otto I and Edmund I of England,
for the generation of which Gerberga is given much credit. In return for the
release of the king, Hugh demanded the surrender of Laon, leaving Louis as
king, but not really in control of anything.
Les derniers Carolingiens pp4-6 (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891)
La
paix se fit à la fin de l’année 942 et fut tout à l’honneur de Louis
d’Outremer. Son influence et son pouvoir pouvaient devenir très grands
grâce à deux événements qui se produisirent au commencement de l’année
suivante. Un de ses dangereux adversaires, Herbert II, mourut; et
Guillaume de Normandie fut assassiné traîtreusement à Picquigny, dans
une entrevue avec son ennemi Arnoul le Grand, comte de Flandre. La
tutelle de son jeune fils, Richard, et l’administration de son duché
revenaient au roi.
Tout réussit d’abord à Louis IV. Il s’installa à Rouen et écrasa la
révolte des Normands païens Setrik et Turmod; puis il ramena à Laon le
jeune Richard pour l’élever à sa cour. Tout changea bientôt. Louis
d’Outremer, à tort ou à raison, fut soupçonné de maltraiter l’enfant
et de convoiter la possession de la Normandie. Le normand Osmond,
gouverneur de Richard, l’enleva secrètement de Laon, et, avec l’aide
du Danois Bernard, souleva la Normandie (944). Ils appelèrent même à
leur secours un puissant chef normand du nom de Harold. Celui-ci
attira Louis d’Outremer à une entrevue à l’embouchure de la Dive (13
juillet 945): c’était un guetapens. Erluin, comte de Montreuil, un des
plus fidèles vassaux de Louis, y fut tué avec dix-sept autres, et le
roi lui-même put à grand’peine s’échapper et se réfugier à Rouen. Il
n’y gagna rien; les habitants de cette ville le livrèrent à ses
ennemis. Louis subissait donc le même sort que son père vingt-deux ans
auparavant. Mais Charles le Simple n’avait rencontré aucun appui dans
sa captivité; Louis au contraire dut beaucoup à l’activité de sa femme
Gerberge qui intéressa au sort de son mari le roi de Germanie,
l’Anglo-Saxon Edmond et le duc de France lui-même. Ce dernier avait
une arrière-pensée; durant toute la guerre Normande, il n’avait cessé
de passer du parti du roi à celui de Richard, selon ses intérêts. Il
trouva le moment favorable pour recommencer le rôle d’Herbert de
Vermandois vis-à-vis de Charles le Simple. Il obtint des Normands
qu’ils relâchassent le roi à condition que celui-ci leur remît comme
otages son second fils et l’évêque de Soissons, Guy d'Anjou. Mais le
malheureux Louis IV ne sortit des mains des Normands que pour tomber
entre celles de Hugues le Grand. Celui-ci, en effet, loin de lui
rendre la liberté, le retint prisonnier et confia sa garde à son
vassal Thibaud, comte de Chartres.
Louis d’Outremer resta près d'un an en prison. Hugues ne
consentit à le relâcher que moyennant la cession de la ville de Laon,
la capitale du royaume, seule place forte qui restât au roi
Carolingien. A peine délivré de captivité (1er
juillet 946), Louis d’Outremer courut demander vengeance auprès
d'Otton 1er son beau-frère. Réunis à Conrad, roi de
Provence, ils étaient résolus à écraser les rebelles. Les trois rois,
auxquels s’était joint Arnoul de Flandre, envahirent la France avec
trente mille hommes, armée considérable pour l’époque, et pendant
plusieurs mois (août-novembre 946), ils dévastèrent les domaines de
Hugues le Grand et de Richard de Normandie. Ils prirent Reims, mais
échouèrent devant Laon et Rouen.
This roughly translates as:
Peace was made at the end of 942 and was entirely to the credit of Louis
d'Outremer. His influence and power could have become very great thanks
to two events that occurred at the beginning of the following year. One
of his dangerous adversaries, Herbert II, died; and William of Normandy
was treacherously assassinated at Picquigny, during an interview with
his enemy Arnoul the Great, count of Flanders. The guardianship of his
young son, Richard, and the administration of his duchy reverted to the
king.
At first, everything was successful for Louis IV. He settled in
Rouen and crushed the revolt of the pagan Normans Setrik and Turmod;
then he brought the young Richard back to Laon to raise him at his
court. Everything soon changed. Louis d'Outremer, rightly or wrongly,
was suspected of mistreating the child and coveting possession of
Normandy. The Norman Osmond, Richard's governor, secretly abducted him
from Laon, and, with the help of the Dane Bernard, raised Normandy
(944). They even called for their help a powerful Norman leader named
Harold. He lured Louis d'Outremer to an interview at the mouth of the
Dive (July 13, 945): it was an ambush. Erluin, count of Montreuil, one
of Louis's most faithful vassals, was killed there with seventeen
others, and the king himself was barely able to escape and take refuge
in Rouen. He gained nothing by it; the inhabitants of this city
delivered him to his enemies. Louis thus suffered the same fate as his
father twenty-two years before. But Charles the Simple had found no
support in his captivity; Louis, on the other hand, owed much to the
activity of his wife Gerberge, who interested the king of Germany, the
Anglo-Saxon Edmund, and the duke of France himself in her husband's
fate. The latter had an ulterior motive; throughout the Norman War, he
had continually switched sides between the king and Richard, according
to his interests. He found the moment favorable to resume the role of
Herbert of Vermandois vis-à-vis Charles the Simple. He obtained from the
Normans the release of the king on the condition that he hand over his
second son and the Bishop of Soissons, Guy of Anjou, as hostages. The
unfortunate Louis IV escaped the Normans only to fall into the hands of
Hugh the Great. The latter, in fact, far from granting him his freedom,
held him prisoner and entrusted his custody to his vassal, Theobald,
Count of Chartres.
Louis d'Outremer remained in prison for nearly a year. Hugh only
agreed to release him on condition that he surrender the city of Laon,
the capital of the kingdom, the only stronghold remaining to the
Carolingian king. Barely freed from captivity (July 1, 946), Louis
d’Outremer ran to seek revenge from Otto I, his brother-in-law. Gathered
with Conrad, King of Provence, they were determined to crush the rebels.
The three kings, joined by Arnoul of Flanders, invaded France with
thirty thousand men, a considerable army for the time, and for several
months (August-November 946), they devastated the domains of Hugh the
Great and Richard of Normandy. They took Reims, but failed before Laon
and Rouen.
Louis regained much of his power in 948 when the Synod
of Ingelheim excommunicated Hugh and Louis recovered Laon from
Theobald I in 949. Hugh and Louis were eventually reconciled, with Hugh
exercising his power in the south and Louis in the north.
 |
Louis IV
The illustration is titled "LVDOVICVS SIMPLEX CAR. SIMPL. F" i.e.
Louis "the Simple" son of Charles "the Simple"
|
Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p231 (Adrian van
Baarland, 1600)
LVDOVICVS
SIMPLEX Franciæ Rex, Brabantiæ Dux, & quintus inter
Lotharingos: Ex Anglia, quo ſe ſub recentem patris in cuſtodiam
traditi caſu contulerat, decimo tertio iam reuocatus anno, venit in
Franciam, ac ſalutatur à cunctis Ordinibus Rex. Tum quinquennio à
domeſticis externiſque bellis quieuit Francia. Tandem, deficiente ab
eo Hugone Capeto Comite Pariſienſi, capitur; ſed opera Ottonis
Imperatoris priſtinæ reſtituitur libertati: duxerat namque ſororem
Ottonis in coniugem. Moriens vndecimo regni ſui anno liberos reliquit
Lotharium & Carolum. Lotharius Franciæ, Carolus Lotharingiæ &
Brabantiæ poſſeſſionem accepit anno IↃ.CCCCLXVI.
Vxor.
Geerberga filia Henrici Regis Saxoniæ, Ottonis
Imperatoris ſoror.
Filii.
Lotharius Franciæ Rex, ex quo genitus eſt Lodouicus
vltimus Rex è ſtirpe Caroli Magni.
Carolus, Lotharingiæ & Brabantiæ Dux.
This roughly translates as:
LOUIS
THE SIMPLE, king of France, duke of Brabant,
and fifth among the Lotharingians: From England, where he had recently
been placed under the custody of his father, and in the thirteenth year,
having been recalled, he came to France, and was hailed as king by all
the Orders. Then France was at peace for five years from domestic and
foreign wars. Finally, when Hugh Capet, count of Paris, failed
to appear before him, he was captured; but by the work of Emperor Otto
he was restored to his former freedom: for he had married Otto's sister.
Dying in the eleventh year of his reign, he left children, Lothar and
Charles. Lothar of France, Charles received possession of Lotharingia
and Brabant in the year 966.
Wife.
Gerberga, daughter of Henry,
king of Saxony, sister of Emperor Otto.
Sons.
Lothar, king of France, from
whom was born Louis, the last king of the line of Charlemagne.
Charles, Duke of Lotharingia and
Brabant.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 pp34-5 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911)
LOUIS
IV. (921-954), king of France, surnamed “d’Outremer” (Transmarinus),
was the son of Charles III. the Simple. In consequence of the
imprisonment of his father in 922, his mother Odgiva (Eadgyfu), sister
of the English king Æthelstan, fled to England with the young Louis—a
circumstance to which he owes his surname. On the death of the usurper
Rudolph (Raoul), Ralph of Burgundy, Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and
the other nobles between whom France was divided, chose Louis for their
king, and the lad was brought over from England and consecrated at Laon
on the 19th of June 936. Although his de facto sovereignty was
confined to the town of Laon and to some places in the north of France,
Louis displayed a zeal beyond his years in procuring the recognition of
his authority by his turbulent vassals. The beginning of his reign was
marked by a disastrous irruption of the Hungarians into Burgundy and
Aquitaine (937). In 939 Louis became involved in a struggle with the
emperor Otto the Great on the question of Lorraine, the nobles of which
district had sworn an oath of fidelity to the king of France. When Louis
married Gerberga, sister of Otto, and widow of Giselbert, duke of
Lorraine, there seemed to be a fair prospect of peace; but the war was
resumed, Otto supporting the rebel lords of the kingdom of France, and
peace was not declared until 942, at the treaty of Visé-sur-Meuse. On
the death of William Longsword, duke of Normandy, who had been
assassinated by Arnulf, count of Flanders, in December 942, Louis
endeavoured to obtain possession of the person of Richard, the young son
and heir of the late duke. After an unsuccessful expedition into
Normandy, Louis fell into the hands of his adversaries, and was for some
time kept prisoner at Rouen (945), and subsequently handed over to Hugh
the Great, who only consented to release him on condition that he should
surrender Laon. Menaced, however, by Louis’ brother-in-law, Otto the
Great, and excommunicated by the council of Ingelheim (948), the
powerful vassal was forced to make submission and to restore Laon to his
sovereign. The last years of the reign were troubled by fresh
difficulties with Hugh the Great and also by an irruption of the
Hungarians into the south of France. Louis died on the 10th of September
954, and was succeeded by his son Lothair.
The chief authority for the reign is the chronicler Flodoard. See
also Ph. Lauer, La Règne de Louis IV d’Outre-Mer (Paris, 1900);
and A. Heil, Die politischen Beziehungen zwischen Otto dem Grossen
und Ludwig IV. von Frankreich (Berlin,
1904). (R. Po.)
10 September 954, in Reims, West
Francia, from complications after falling from his horse.
Flodoardi
annales in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica
SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839)
Anno 954
... Ludowicus rex egressus Lauduno, Remensem, velut ibi moraturus,
repetit urbem. Antequam vero ad Axonam fluvium perveniret, apparuit ei
quasi lupus praecedens; quem admisso insecutus equo, prolabitur,
graviterque attritus Remos defertur, et protracto langore decubans,
elefantiasi peste perfunditur. Quo morbo confectus, diem clausit
extremum, sepultusque est apud sanctum Remigium.
This roughly translates as:
In the year
954... King Louis, having left Laudun, returned to the city of Reims, as
if intending to stay there. But before he reached the river Axon, a wolf
appeared to him as if going ahead of him; he pursued him on horseback,
fell, and, severely bruised, was carried to Reims, and lying down with
prolonged languor, was stricken with the plague of elephantiasis.
Consumed by this disease, he closed his last days and was buried at the
house of Saint Remy.
Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer:
Histoire de son temps pp274-6 (ed. J. Gaudet, 1845)
Ludovicus
vero rex Remos rediens, cum fluvio Axonæ propinquaret, per campestria
lupum præire conspicit. Quem equo emisso insecutus, per devia
exagitat. Ad omnes feræ declinationes equum impatiens obvertebat, nec
quiescere paciebatur, donec equestri certamine fugientem evinceret.
Equus ergo per invia coactus, cespite offendit atque prolabitur. Rex
vero gravissime attritus casu, et a suis exceptas, cum raulto omnium
merore, Remos deportatur. Infestis itaque doloribus toto corpore
vexabatur. Et post diutinam valetudinem corruptis interius visceribus
ob humorum superfluitatem, elefanciasi peste, toto miserabiliter
corpore perfunditur. Qua diutius confectus, anno regni sui 18, a natu
autem 36 diem vitæ clausit extremum, sepultusque est in cœnobio
monachorum sancti Remigii, quod distat fere miliario uno ab urbe, cum
multis omnium lamentis.
This roughly translates as:
But King Louis, returning to Remus, when he was approaching the
river Axona, saw a wolf running through the plains. He sent out his
horse and chased it through the defiles. He impatiently turned the horse
at every turn of the beast, and would not let it rest until he had
overpowered the fleeing one, by horse combat. The horse, therefore,
being forced through the impassable roads, stumbled upon the turf and
fell. The king, however, was very seriously injured by the fall, and was
carried to Remus by his companions, with the great sorrow of all. From
this he was tormented by incessant pains throughout his body. And after
a long illness, his internal organs having been corrupted by the excess
of humors, he was miserably stricken with the plague of elephantiasis.
Worn out by this longer, in the 18th year of his reign, but in the 36th
year of his age, he closed the last day of his life, and was buried in
the monastery of the monks of St. Remigius, which is about one mile from
the city, with much lamentation from all.
Les derniers Carolingiens p8 (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891)
Au commencement du mois de septembre 954, Louis d'Outremer se rendait
à cheval de Laon à Reims; il était déjà arrivé non loin de l’Aisne
quand il crut apercevoir un loup devant lui. Il pressa son cheval;
l’animal surmené s’abattit, et dans sa chute le roi se blessa
grièvement. On le transporta à Reims où il ne tarda pas à expirer,
entouré de sa femme, de ses enfants et d’Hincmar, abbé de Saint-Rémy
de Reims (10 septembre 954). — Sa mort avait été si imprévue qu’il ne
semble pas qu’aucun grand ait assisté à ses funérailles. Sur son désir
il fut enterré à Saint-Rémy de Reims, à droite du maître-autel.
This roughly translates as:
At the beginning of September 954, Louis d'Outremer was riding
from Laon to Reims; he was not far from Aisne when he thought he saw a
wolf in front of him. He urged his horse on; the overworked animal fell,
and in its fall the king was seriously injured. He was transported to
Reims where he soon expired, surrounded by his wife, his children and
Hincmar, the abbot of Saint-Rémy de Reims (September 10, 954). — His
death was so unexpected that it does not appear that any nobleman
attended his funeral. At his request, he was buried at Saint-Rémy de
Reims, to the right of the high altar.
Saint-Rémy
de Reims, to the right of the high altar.
Louis's tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution.
- Louis was aged 35 at his
death in September 954 (from Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer: Histoire de son temps p276 (ed.
J. Gaudet, 1845) putting his birth in 918 or 919
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p229 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p34 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis IV of France)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p386 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p231 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis IV of France)
- Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p231 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis IV of France)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p383 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839); Les derniers Carolingiens pp4-6
(Ferdinand Lot, 1891); Dvcvm Brabantiae chronica p231 (Adrian
van Baarland, 1600); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 pp34-5 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (LOUIS); wikipedia
(Louis IV of France)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839); Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer: Histoire de son temps pp274-6
(ed. J. Gaudet, 1845); Les derniers Carolingiens p8 (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
17 p35 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911)
- Flodoardi annales in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 3 p402 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1839); Richeri Historiarum Liber Primus in Richer: Histoire de son temps pp274-6
(ed. J. Gaudet, 1845); Les derniers Carolingiens p8 (Ferdinand
Lot, 1891); wikipedia
(Louis IV of France)
Pepin the Short
 |
photograph © Jean-Christophe Ballot -
Centre des monuments nationaux, posted in "Pépin the Short
(751-758) and Bertrada (726-783)" on seine-saint-denis
tourisme
|
 |
A miniature of Pepin he Short, by an
unknown artist, in the manuscript Imperial Chronicle (Anonymi
chronica imperatorum), Corpus Christi College MS 373, fol.
14 dated circa 1113
|
Charles Martel
Rotrude
Bertrada
Annales
Laurissenses in Monumenta Germaniæ
Historica SS 1 pp136-7 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826)
749.
… Pippinus coniugem duxit Bertradam cognomine Bertam, Cariberti
Laudunensis comitis filiam
…11) Pippinus uxorem ante a. 742 duxerat, quo Carolum M. natum fuisse
comperimus
This roughly translates as:
749.
… Pippin married Bertrada, also called Berta, daughter of Charibert,
count of Laon
…11) Pippin had married before 742, when we learn that Charles M. was
born
 |
A denier, or penny, from the reign
of Pepin the Short, minted at Lyon.
Obverse inscription: RP. [Pepin roi]. Reverse inscription: LVG.
[Lyon].
|
king of the Franks
Pepin was majores palatii, or mayor of the palace, a powerful
position behind the throne of the figurehead Frankish king Childeric, from
741 to 751, and then king
of the Franks from 751 to 768
The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its
continuations p102 (trans. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, 1960)
It now happened
that with the consent and advice of all the Franks the most excellent
Pippin submitted a proposition to the Apostolic See, and having first
obtained its sanction, was made king, and Bertrada queen. In accordance
with that order anciently required, he was chosen king by all the
Franks, consecrated by the bishops and received the homage of the great
men.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911)
PIPPIN
III. (d. 768), the Short,1 was son of Charles Martel. Before
his death in 741 Charles Martel had divided the Frankish kingdom between
his two sons, Carloman and Pippin, giving Carloman the eastern part and
Pippin the western. Since 737 there had been no king in the Frankish
realm; in the diplomas the two brothers bear the title of majores
palatii, while the chroniclers call them simply principes.
In 743, however, the mayors decided to appoint a king in the person of
Childeric III., who was apparently connected with the Merovingian
family. But Childeric was a mere figure-head, and had no power. The two
brothers presided over the tribunals, convoked the councils at which the
Frankish Church was reformed, assembled the host and made war, jointly
defeating and subduing Duke Hunald of Aquitaine. In 747 Carloman
unexpectedly abdicated, became a monk, and retired to a monastery near
Rome, subsequently founding on Mt Soracte the monastery of St Silvester.
From the time of the abdication Pippin was sole master; and in 751,
after consulting Pope Zacharias, he took the title of king and removed
the feeble Childeric to a monastery. He then got himself crowned by St
Boniface, a ceremony which was new to France and which gave the
sovereign immense prestige; henceforth the king of the Franks called
himself Gratia Dei rex Francorum. Pippin’s reign is marked by
many important events. He received in France a personal visit from Pope
Stephen II., who conferred on him the title of Patrician of the Romans
and recrowned him. In return for these honours Pippin, at the appeal of
the pope, made two expeditions into Italy, in 754 and 756; and he became
the veritable creator of the papal state by conferring on the pope the
exarchate of Ravenna, which he had wrested from Aistulf, the king of the
Lombards. Pippin took Septimania from the Arabs, and after a stubborn
war of nearly eight years’ duration (760-68) succeeded in taking
Aquitaine from its duke, Waifer. He also intervened in Germany, where he
forced the duke of Bavaria, Tassilo, to become his vassal. In 763,
however, Tassilo abandoned Pippin during an expedition against
Aquitaine. Pippin made several expeditions against the Saxons, but
failed to subdue them. He entered into relations with the Eastern
Empire, exchanging ambassadors with the emperor Constantine Copronymus.
During Pippin’s reign Frankish institutions underwent some modification.
The Frankish assemblies, previously held in the month of March (champs
de mars), but under Pippin deferred to May (champs de mai),
came to be more numerous, and served the king of the Franks as a means
of receiving the gifts of his subjects and of promulgating his
capitularies. At the head of the administration was placed the
archchaplain, and an ecclesiastical chancellor was substituted for the
ancient referendarius. Ecclesiastical reform was continued under
Pippin, Bishop Chrodegans of Metz uniting the clergy of Metz in a common
life and creating canons (see CANON). Pippin died on the
24th of September 768 at St Denis, leaving two sons, Charles
(Charlemagne) and Carloman.
See H. Bonnell, Die Anfänge des karolingischen Hauses
(Berlin, 1866); H. Hahn, Jahrbücher des frankischen Reiches 741-752
(Berlin, 1863); L. Oelsner, Jahrbücher des frankischen Reiches unter
König Pippin (Leipzig, 1871); J. F. Böhmer and E. Mühlbacher, Regesten
des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (2nd ed., 1899); and E.
Mühlbacher, Deutsche Geschichte unter den Karolingern
(Stuttgart, 1896) (C. PF.)
1 A surname given to Pippin III. on the strength of a
legendary anecdote related by the monk of St Gall.
Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp17-20
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880)
The Mayor of
the Palace took charge of the government, and of everything that had to
be planned or executed at home or abroad.
II. At the time of Childeric’s deposition, Pepin, the father of
King Charles, held this office of Mayor of the Palace, one might almost
say, by hereditary right; for Pepin’s father, Charles, had received it
at the hands of his father, Pepin, and filled it with distinction. It
was this Charles that crushed the tyrants who claimed to rule the whole
Frank land as their own, and that utterly routed the Saracens, when they
attempted the conquest of Gaul, in two great battles—one in Aquitania,
near the town of Poitiers, and the other on the River Berre, near
Narbonne—and compelled them to return to Spain. This honour was usually
conferred by the people only upon men eminent from their illustrious
birth and ample wealth. For some years, ostensibly under King Childeric,
Pepin, the father of King Charles, shared the duties inherited from his
father and grandfather most amicably with his brother, Carloman. The
latter, then, for reasons unknown, renounced the heavy cares of an
earthly crown and retired to Rome. Here he exchanged his worldly garb
for a cowl, and built a monastery on Mt. Oreste, near the Church of St.
Sylvester, where he enjoyed for several years the seclusion that he
desired, in company with certain others who had the same object in view.
But so many distinguished Franks made the pilgrimage to Rome to fulfil
their vows, and insisted upon paying their respects to him, as their
former lord, on the way, that the repose which he so much loved was
broken by these frequent visits, and he was driven to change his abode.
Accordingly, when he found that his plans were frustrated by his many
visitors, he abandoned the mountain, and withdrew to the Monastery of St
Benedict, on Monte Casino, in the province of Samnium, and passed the
rest of his days there in the exercises of religion.
III. Pepin, however, was raised, by decree of the Roman Pontiff,
from the rank of Mayor of the Palace to that of King, and ruled alone
over the Franks for fifteen years or more. He died of dropsy, in Paris,
at Sept. 24. the close of the Aquitanian war, which he had waged with
William, Duke of Aquitania, for nine successive years, and left two
sons, Charles and Carlomau, upon whom, by the grace of God, the
succession devolved.
24 September 768 in St Denis, Paris,
from dropsy
The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its
continuations pp120-1 (trans. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, 1960)
While the king
was at Saintes, busying himself with affairs of national Frankish
importance, he was troubled with a kind of fever and fell ill. He there
appointed his counts and judges. Thence he travelled through Poitiers to
the monastery of the blessed confessor Martin at the city of Tours,
where he made many gifts to churches and monasteries as well as to the
poor; and he sought the help of the blessed Martin as intercessor with
the Lord, that He should deign to have mercy on his sins. He went on,
with Queen Bertrada and his sons Charles and Carloman, to the monastery
of the holy martyr Denis at Paris, and remained there some time.
However, when he realised that recovery was impossible, he summoned to
him all his great men, the Frankish dukes and counts, bishops and
priests. Then, with the approval of the Frankish nobility and the
bishops, he divided the kingdom that he himself had inherited, and while
he was yet living, equally between his sons Charles and Carloman. He
made Charles, the elder, king over the Austrasians,1 while
the younger, Carloman, was given the kingdom of Burgundy, Provence,
Septimania, Alsace and Alamannia. Aquitaine, the province which he had
himself conquered, he divided between them. A few days later, I grieve
to say, King Pippin breathed his last.2 His sons, King
Charles and King Carloman, buried him, as he had wished, with great
honour in the monastery of the holy martyr Denis. He had reigned
twenty-five years.3
1 Charles also received Neustria.
2 24 September 768
3 more accurately, twenty-seven years
 |
image from "Pepin the Short" by Igor
Radulovic dated 3 September 2023 posted on CultrureFrontier
|
in the basilica
of Saint-Denis, Paris
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p17
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); wikipedia
(Pepin the Short)
- Annales Laurissenses in Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica SS 1 pp136-7 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1826);
Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); wikipedia
(Pepin the Short)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp17-8
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); wikipedia
(Pepin the Short)
- The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with
its continuations p102 (trans. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill,
1960); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp17-20
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); wikipedia
(Pepin the Short)
- Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard pp17-20
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); wikipedia
(Pepin the Short); Pepin
the Short: The First Carolingian King (Igor Radulovic, 3 September
2023)
- The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with
its continuations p121 (trans. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill,
1960); Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard p19
(trans. Samuel Eppes Turner, 1880); The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition vol
21 p636 (ed. Hugh Chisholm, 1911); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN)
- The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with
its continuations p121 (trans. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill,
1960); Medieval
Lands (PEPIN); Pepin
the Short: The First Carolingian King (Igor Radulovic, 3 September
2023)
Rotrude
Charles Martel
725
Annales
Mosellani in Monumenta Germaniæ
Historica SS 16 p494 (ed. G. H. Pertz, 1859)
725 Chrothrud18 mortua.
…18) Quam fuisse uxorem Karoli atque matrem Karlomanni et Karoli
discimus ex L'Art de vérifier les dates.
This roughly translates as:
725
Chrothrud18 died.
…18) We learn from L'Art de vérifier les dates that she was the wife of
Charles and the mother of Carloman and Charles.
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