Richard the Justiciar

Long before a unified France, there were minor nobles always looking to expand into their neighbors' territories.  In 9th century Western Europe, the first time the majority of land we think of as Burgundy was brought together was under one man, Richard the Justiciar (858 - 921).

Born to Bivin of Gorze, he was the brother of Boso, who married Ermengard and was the father of Louis the Blind. Richard and Boso had a sister, Richilde of Provence, who married Charles the Bald, King of West Francia.

In 875, Richard and his brother went with Charles the Bald when he was to be crowned by Pope John VIII on Christmas Day as Emperor of the Carolingian Empire. Richard was 17; Boso was about 34. Boso was named by the pope Duke and Viceroy of Italy and Duke of Provence.

When Charles died two years later, Boso asked Richard and Hugh the Abbot to manage Italy and Provence while Boso went to France. Two years after that, however, on the death of Charles the Bald's son Louis the Stammerer (King of West Francia), Boso promoted himself King (not Duke) of Provence. Richard did not support his claim, and instead decided to take over Boso's territory of Autun (and then styled himself Count of Autun). Carloman II, son and successor of Louis the Stammerer, confirmed Richard in that position, snubbing Boso.

Richard continued expanding, besieging Boso's capital of Vienne with the support of Carloman and others, including the new emperor Charles the Fat. Richard ultimately drove Boso into exile in 882 and captured Ermengard and his children. Richard called himself Duke of Burgundy (virtually creating the title). Boso never regained power, but his son Louis the Blind did succeed him (with Richard's support).

In 888, Charles the Fat died and Richard supported Duke Rudolph I as King of Upper Burgundy and married Rudolph's sister Adelaide. Of their children, Rudolph became king of Francia, Hugh the Black became Duke of Burgundy; their daughters married counts and dukes.

On his deathbed, supposedly Richard was asked by a bishop if he wanted to ask for absolution for all the bloodshed he had caused, and his response was that he saved good men by eliminating bad men, and felt no remorse whatsoever.

There have been several Charles's mentioned in this blog, with various epithets (Bald, Fat, Good, Simple, Younger), but we haven't given Charles the Fat his own entry yet. Allow me to rectify that 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.