Charles and Succession

Although Charles the Fat seemed to have solved the problem of Viking attacks by converting Godfrid and bribing Sigfred to leave, the problem with "Danegeld" is that they always come back for more. Sigfred sailed a fleet up the Seine in 885 and besieged Paris while Charles was in Italy (he was King of Italy after all).

Sigfred wanted another bribe. The Count of Paris, Odo, managed to sneak some men past the siege and get word to Charles, but Charles refused to authorize payment. In 886, disease started sweeping through Paris, and Odo himself snuck out to beg Charles for help.

Charles finally brought an army and surrounded the besiegers, but not to attack them: to try to get them to give up. When they finally left the following spring, it was with 700 pounds (in weight, not the unit of currency) of silver.

Charles had got married in 862 to the very devout Richardis of Swabia, who had been crowned empress with him in 881. Unfortunately for the succession, they had no children. Charles had one known illegitimate son, Bernard (c.870 - 891), whom he tried to name his successor. His bishops opposed this, but Charles got the support of Pope Adrian III, who intended to travel to an assembly in October 885 to eliminate the opposing bishops. Unfortunately, the pope died along the way. Charles tried again with Pope Stephen V, but the pope would not travel to meet with Charles, which was a sufficient warning to give up on Bernard. (Bernard would later become the focus of unsuccessful attempts to take over Alemannia.) Defeated, Charles ultimately adopted Louis the Blind as his heir when Louis' mother, Ermengard of Italy, brought her very young son to Charles for protection.

Over the next two years, Charles' support among his people wavered and collapsed. Many more qualified adults were upset that they were not chosen as his successor, and his wife abandoned him after he accused her of an affair. In November of 887 Arnulf of Carinthia started a rebellion in West Francia. One week later East Francia turned against Charles. He quickly fell out of power and requested merely some estates in Swabia to live out his days. He died on 13 January 888 at Donaueschingen at the southwest border of Germany. The empire that had come together under him would never be restored. He was the last Carolingian emperor.

As for his wife, Richardis, his accusation turned into a trial by fire for her, and ultimately she achieved a title he would never receive. I'll tell you that story tomorrow.

Louis the Blind

When King Boso of Provence died on 11 January 887, the only heir of his was the seven-year-old Louis III. Boso had ruled Provence, Upper Burgundy, and French Burgundy, but the last two had been taken over by Rudolph I of Burgundy and Richard the Justiciar, respectively, leaving Louis with a much smaller territory. Louis' mother, Ermengard, was appointed his regent, with help from Richard the Justiciar.

Needing more support, Ermengard took Louis to the court of Charles the Fat, her first cousin once-removed, a great-grandson of Charlemagne, and emperor of the Carolingian Empire at the time. Charles recognized Louis as the rightful ruler after his father, adopted him as his own son, and promised Louis and Ermengard his protection. 

Less than a year later, Charles was dead. Ermengard brought Louis to his successor, Arnulf of Carinthia, who had succeeded his uncle Charles. She wanted to make sure the child Louis would be protected in his birthright. She also requested help from Pope Stephen V.

In August 890, a council of bishops and noble vassals proclaimed Louis the rightful king of Arles, Provence, and Lower Burgundy (below the Rhine Valley). They were inspired to do so by the recommendation of the pope and by Charles the Fat's long-ago support.

In 896, now 16 years old, Louis waged war on Saracen pirates who had been raiding the coast of Provence since 889. In 900, hje was asked to come with military support to Italy where he overthrew King Berengar I of Italy. Louis went to Pavia and was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. He then descended to Rome where Pope Benedict IV crowned him Emperor of Italy. (He was, after all, the grandson of Louis II, former emperor, through Ermengard.) Unfortunately, Berengar returned and defeated Louis' armies, forcing him out of Italy, making him promise that he would never return to Italy.

In 899, a plan to unite with the Byzantine empire to fight Saracens led to Louis being betrothed to Anna of Constantinople, daughter of Emperor Leo the Wise and his second wife, Zoe. A letter of the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos mentions Leo's daughter being allied with a Frankish prince. There is no evidence that the two ever met, and certainly no wedding took place. Louis did father a son, Charles-Constantine, but no mother is named in any documents. The second half of the name does suggest, however, that the son (who later became Count of Vienne) was a uniting of the two empires. On the other hand, no contemporary Byzantine chroniclers make any mention of a marriage of an emperor's daughter.

In 905 he made another attempt (with local Italian support) to oust Berengar. He succeeded, again, but only temporarily. Going to Verona, he was ambushed by Berengar loyalists and captured. For breaking his oath and returning to Italy, Berengar had Louis blinded.

I have left out a part of Louis III's younger days, because I'm saving it for tomorrow, when I'm going to tell you about Richard the Justiciar, who was mentioned above and who was terrible to Louis.