Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald (numbered
Charles II of
France and the
Holy Roman Emperor) (French:
Charles le Chauve) (
June 13,
823 –
October 5 or
6,
877),
Holy Roman Emperor (
875-
877) and king of
West Francia (
840-
877), was the youngest son of Emperor
Louis the Pious, by his second wife
Judith.
He was born on
13 June 823 in
Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own
regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first
Alemannia and then the country between the
Meuse and the
Pyrenees (in 832, after the rising of
Pepin I of Aquitaine) were unsuccessful. The numerous reconciliations with the rebellious Lothair and Pepin, as well as their brother
Louis the German,
King of Bavaria, made Charles' share in
Aquitaine and Italy only temporary, but his father did not give up and made Charles the heir of the entire land which was once Gaul and would someday be France. At a diet near
Crémieux in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. This led to the final rising of his sons against him and Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles received that kingdom, finally once and for all. Pepin's son
Pepin II would be a perpetual thorn in his side.
The death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. Charles allied himself with his brother Louis the German to resist the pretensions of the new emperor Lothair I, and the two allies defeated Lothair at the
Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye on
June 25 841. In the following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated
Oaths of Strasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the
Treaty of Verdun in August 843. The settlement gave Charles the Bald the kingdom of the West Franks, which he had been up till then governing and 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. Louis received the eastern part of the
Carolingian Empire, known as the
East Francia and later
Germany. Lothair retained the imperial title and the
Iron Crown of Lombardy. He also received the central regions from
Flanders through the
Rhineland and
Burgundy as king of
Middle Francia.
The first years of Charles' reign, up to the death of Lothair I in
855, were comparatively peaceful. During these years the three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting repeatedly with one another, at
Koblenz (
848), at
Meerssen (
851), and at
Attigny (
854). In
858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, invaded the West Frankish kingdom. Charles' was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to
Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis king, and by the fidelity of the
Welfs, who were related to his mother, Judith. In
860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew,
Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew
Lothair II in
869, Charles tried to seize Lothair's dominions, but by the
Treaty of Mersen (
870) was compelled to share them with Louis the German.
Besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the
Bretons. Led by their chiefs
Nomenoë and
Erispoë, who defeated the king at
Ballon (
845) and
Juvardeil (
851), the Bretons were successful in obtaining a
de facto independence. Charles also fought against the
Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the
Seine and
Loire, and even up to the borders of Aquitaine. Several times Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. Charles led various expeditions against the invaders and, by the
Edict of Pistres of
864, made the army more mobile by providing for a
cavalry element, the predecessor of the French
chivalry so famous during the next 600 years. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions. Two of these bridges at
Paris saved the city during its
siege of 885-886.
In
875, after the death of the Emperor
Louis II (son of his half-brother Lothair), Charles the Bald, supported by
Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the royal crown at
Pavia and the imperial insignia in
Rome on
December 29. Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles' dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to
Francia. After the death of Louis the German (
28 August 876), Charles in his turn attempted to seize Louis' kingdom, but was decisively beaten at
Andernach on
October 8, 876. In the meantime, John VIII, menaced by the
Saracens, was urging Charles to come to his defence in Italy. Charles again crossed the
Alps, but this expedition was received with little enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by his regent in
Lombardy,
Boso, and they refused to join his 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, but died while crossing the pass of
Mont Cenis at
Brides-les-Bain, on the 5th or 6th of October
877.
Charles was succeeded by his son,
Louis, the child of
Ermentrude, daughter of Odo, Count of
Orléans, whom Charles had married in
842 and who had died in 869. In 870, Charles had married Richilde, who was descended from a noble family of
Lorraine, but none of the children he had with 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 from among the higher clergy, as in the case of
Guenelon of Sens, who betrayed him, and of
Hincmar of Reims.
Finally, it is unlikely that Charles was actually bald. Rather, the epithet
the Bald is thought to be early medieval humour and historians generally agree that he was probably quite hirsute, with a full head of hair and a beard.
With
Ermentrude:
*Judith (
844-
870)
*
Louis the Stammerer (
846-
879)
*
Charles the Child (
847-
866)
*
Carloman (died
876)
*Lothair (died
865)
*Ermentrude (died
877)
*Hildegard
*Gisela
*Rotrude (born
850)
With Richilde of Metz:
*Rothild (
871-
921)
*Drogo (
872-
873)
*Pippin (
873-
874)
*Charles (
876-
877)
