General Notes

Notes for Charles II King of FRANCE, "THE BALD"


Michael Raffin: Charles II, King De France (Andre Roux: Scrolls,191.) (Stuart, Royalty for Commoners, Page 130, Line 171-39.)(Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish kingdom under the Carolingians:751-987 (Singapore: Longman Singapore Publishers Pte Ltd, (c) 1983),Page 180.) (Paul Auge, Nouveau Larousse Universel (13 a 21 RueMontparnasse et Boulevard Raspail 114: Librairie Larousse, 1948).)(Alain Decaux Andre Castelot, Marcel Jullian et J. Levron, Histoire deLa France et des Francais au Jour Le Jour (Librairie AcademiquePerrin, 1976), Tome 1, Pages 369, 387.). AKA: Charles II, Emperor of the West. AKA: Charles II, King De Bourgogne. AKA: Charles II, King of Italy. Also Known As: Charles "Le Chauve". Born: on 13 Jun 823 in Francfort-sur-Le-Main, Germany, son of Louis I, King De France and Judith De Baviere, Some sources assert King Charles II was born in the year 829. Note -between 824 and 875 in France: The birth of Charles II in 823 did not at first excite jealousy or rivalry among his brothers. In 829, Charles was granted the region of Alemannia, Rhaetia and part of Burgundy. In 837, his Father Louis I "Le Debonnaire", by arrange-ment with Louis the German and Pepin gave Charles the land West of the Meuse, Burgundy, Chartres and Paris together with all the bishops, abbots and counts who held benefices in these territories. A portion of Neustria was added in 838, and upon Pepin's death, Louis Le
Pieux made Charles King of Aquitaine. On 24 July 840, the new Emperor, Lothar, in Strasburg, refuses to support the land claims of Charles (from the agreement of Worms on 30 May 839). The two brothers, Louis and Charles, unite against Lothar and the War of the Three Brothers begins. Meanwhile, on 12 May 841, the Normands ravage Rouen and all the localities along the Seine, increasing their wealth considerably.

At Fontenoy-en-Puisaye (24 June 841), Charles defeats his brothers Lothar (in spite of the arrival of the Army of Aquitaine in the Imperial ranks -- and at a total loss of 40,000 lives at the battle) and Louis Le Germanique. Charles and Louis signed an alliance on 14 February 842 at Strasbourg. Leaving Strasbourg, the two brothers defeat the imperial army of Lothar just West of Comblence. Lothar
leaves Aix-Le-Chapelle precipitously, pursued by the two brothers. In Mellecey, not far from Chalon-sur-Saone, Lothar proposes a plan to establish perpetual peace which is acceptable to both Louis and Charles. On 15 June, they sign the preliminary peace document. On 1 October 842, each of them sends 40 commissioners to Metz to forge the official document. Prudence, the Bishop of Troyes, notes that Louis regained Germania in the East, Lothar gets the middle part of the Franc Kingdom, including Italy, and Charles obtains the Western lands (West of the Rhone, including Soissons). After that Charles goes to the Palace in Quierzy, where he marries Ermentrude. Charles signed the Treaty of Verdun (843) which split the Kingdom of Charlemagne. By the Treaty, the destiny of Occidental Europe would be heavily influenced to this day. Louis obtains all lands East of the Rhine, including the cities of Spire, Worms, Mayence. Lothar gets all the lands extending between the Rhine and the Escaut, the Cambresis, the Hainaut, the country of Mezieres, and all the countships neighboring the Meuse, through the Saone and the Rhone, the Artois and Italy. Charles got all the lands East all the way to Spain. The
Kingdom of Charlemagne thus was split  forever, with the most serious rift between the germanic lands of Louis, and the French lands of Charles. The intervening lands extending from Frisia to Rome, from the
North Sea to the Mediter-ranean including what would become Holland, Belgium, Lorraine and Switzerland would become a sore point of contention between these two peoples. The only thing that mattered to Lothar was the fact that both capitals (Aix and Rome) were located within his territory, thus legitimizing the title of Emperor. Meanwhile, the Normands pillage Nantes and lower Aquitaine.
Charles laid siege to Toulouse in vain (May to July 844). The Normands led by Ragnar Lodbrog arrive in Paris and must be heavily bribed to leave. Other Normand armies ravage Toulouse and Bordeaux (burned to the ground in 848). On 6 May 848, Duke Nomenoe proclaims the indepence of the Church of Bretagne and the following year proclaims himself King of Bretagne. Charles fought Brittany (Bretagne) in 845-851 and was victorious.
Not liking Pepin II, the people of Aquitaine request Charles' help, and he obliges by accepting the Crown, and on 6 June 848 is consecrated King of Aquitaine, though he could not defend his kingdom against the Normands. He had Charles of Aquitaine jailed (849 in Corbie). In 850 Charles attacks Bretagne and leaves a garrison in Rennes. No sooner does he leave, that Nomenoe takes the city and then takes Nantes as well. The next year, Nomenoe ravages Maine, but, fortunately for Charles, the King of Bretagne dies suddenly on 7 March in Vendome. Charles has Pepin II locked in the Monastery of
Saint-Medard De Soissons in 852. The Normands under Godfrid pillage Tours and Angers and penetrate via the Valley of Escaut all the way to the Seine. The loyalty of Aquitaine shifts in 853, and Louis the
German is called upon to help against Charles Le Chauve. He in turn defeats Louis and offers Aquitaine his son by Ermentrude, Charles, who would be crowned sovereign in Limoges in October 855. Both Pepin II and Charles d'Aquitaine escape raise armies against Charles Le Chauve.
Charles fought against Louis for Lorraine (859, 870 [Treaty of Mersen] and 875). When Louis Le Germanique becomes ill in 869 near Rastisbonne. shortly after his nephew Lothar II died, Charles see the opportunityto claim his heritage as Uncle of the deceased. He has himself annointed King of Lorraine in Metz on 9 September, by the Bishop Hincmar. In March, 867, Charles d'Aquitaine dies, and his father
Charles Le Chauve is recognized as King by the Assembly in Pouilly-sur-Loire. Upon the death of his nephew, Lothar II on 8 August 869, Charles sped to Lotharingia and had himself crowned King of Lotharingia annointed on 9 September in the cathedral at Metz by Bishop Adventius of Metz and Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims. In 9 August 870, through the Treaty of Meerseen, Louis "Le Germanique" and Charles "Le Chauve" reach an agreeable compromise whereby they divide the lands of Lothar II between themselves, leaving Louis II no part of the inheritance. As soon as Louis II died on 12 August 875, Charles rushed to Italy and received the imperial crown and is annointed by Pope John VIII on 25 December 875. In Pavia on 5 January 876, by acclamation of the counts and nobles of Italy, Charles becomes King of Italy. On 31 January 876, the Archbishop of Milan proclaims Charles as Emperor. The French ecclesiasticals and nobles, having some misgivings about Charles' ability to take care of his Kingdom meet in Ponthion. Charles joins them dressed in the attire of the Frankish King. As soon
as they declare him elected and recognize his imperial authority, Charles donned the Byzantine crown, and purple vestment of emperor. When Louis Le Germanique dies on 28 August 876, Charles claims
Lorraine as his own. While on an expedition in Italy against the Sarrasins, through the specific request of Pope Jean VIII, Charles Le Chauve dies at the foot of Mount Cenis. Married on 13 Dec 842 in Quierzy-sur-Oise, Aisne, Ile-De-France, France: Ermentrude d'Orleans, daughter of Odon=Eudes, Count d'Orleans and Ingeltrude De Paris; Ermentrude was crowned Queen of France in 866, having already produced a number of children including 6 sons but none of them was satisfactory as far as Charles Le Chauve was concerned. By September 866, four of them were dead. Married on 25 Nov 869 in Aix-La-Chapelle, France: Richilde De Bourgogne, daughter of Beuve=Bouin, Comte De Bourgogne and Richilde d'Arles; The honeymoon is short-lived, as Louis Le Germanique demands, as part of his heritage from the death of his nephew Lothar II, a part of Lorraine. Died: on 6 Oct 877 in Avrieux, Dauphine, France, at age 54 Charles II is buried at Saint Denis although originally he was
buried in Nantua. Before expiring, he named his son, Louis Le Begue as his successor, and the Empress Richilde, crowned by Pope Jean VIII earlier that year, is charged with taking the royal garbs and sword to her step-son Charles II the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor, King of France was born in 823 in Frankfurt- am-Main, Germany. Died on 6 Oct 877 in Avrieux, Dauphine, France. Charles II (Holy Roman Empire), called The Bald (823-77), Holy Roman emperor (875-77), and, as Charles I, king of France (843-77), born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. He was the fourth son of Holy Roman Emperor Louis I; his mother, Louis's second wife, was Judith of Bavaria. Judith's determination to secure a kingdom for her only son led to civil war with Louis's other two surviving sons, Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I and King Louis II of Germany. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Charles received the western portion of the empire, which from this time may be called the kingdom of France, or the West Frankish Kingdom. Charles was a weak ruler; the great nobles were rapidly becoming independent, and the Vikings pillaged the country without meeting much resistance from Charles, who preferred to buy them off. Nevertheless, when Holy Roman Emperor Louis II died in 875, Charles received the imperial crown through the favor of Pope John VIII. Charles was succeeded as king of France by his son,
Louis II (846-79), but the Imperial throne was vacant until 881. Charles II, Frankish emperor (Charles the Bald) b. June 13, 823, d. Oct. 6, 877, was the son of Emperor LOUIS I by his second wife. Resented by three older half brothers, Charles became a pawn in the court politics of the Frankish empire, but by the Treaty of Verdun (843) he was recognized as king of the West Franks, the first true king of France. Toward the end of his life he was acknowledged (875) as emperor with the pope's support.
Throughout his reign, Charles had to struggle against Viking raiders and disloyal magnates as well as with his own relatives. The French bishops helped him repel his brother LOUIS THE GERMassachusettsN in 859, but ten years later Louis prevented Charles from regaining his family's ancient homeland in LOTHARingIA. The Treaty of Mersen (870), which established the ultimate boundaries of medieval France, deprived him
of most of this disputed territory, and by his death the French monarchy was in serious decline.
John B. Henneman "CHARLES II, "the Bald", b. Frankfort-am-Main, 13 June 828 [WRONG --
b. 823], d. near Mt. Cenis in the Alps, 6 Oct. 877, King of the Franks 840-877, Emperor 25 Dec. 875-877; m. (1) 14 Dec. 842, Ermedtrude, d. 6 Oct. 869, dau. of Odo, Count of Orleans, and Engeltrude."
Weis & Sheppard, Ancestral Roots ... , 7th Edition, 1992, p 129
"CHARLES THE BALD (823 - 877, kin 840-877, Emperor 875-877) m. 1. Ermentrude, dau. of Odo, count of Orleans (d. 8699) 2. Richild, dau. of Count Buwin (d. 910/14)"
Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987, London & New York (Longman), 1983, p 354-5. From same, p 180: "He [Charles the Bald] died on the way home [to Francia]
on 6 October 877. It was rumoured that he had been poisoned, but it seems that he died from a severe form of dysentery, for his corpse stank so much that his retinue was obliged to bury it long before they
reached St. Denis."
From the same, p 181: "Nithard's history of the quarrels between the sons of Louis the Pious make two things absolutely clear. The first is how essential the church and the nobility were to each contestant, and the second is the price Lothar, Louis the German and Charles the Bald had to pay to secure their position. Followers were bought with land, benefices, treasure and honours. Even Charles the Bald's marriages were dictated by such considerations. He married Ermentrude, daughter of Odo, count of Orleans (d. 834) and niece of Adalhard, a powerful noble whose support Charles needed, on 14 December 842 because 'he believed that with Adalhard's help he could win over a large part of
the people to him.' He subsequently married Richild after Ermentrude's death in 869 in the hope of winning support from their Lotharingian family, though other Lotharingian nobles were alienated by the
promotion of Richild's family." From the same, p 184: "Charles the Bald's relations with particular
nobles are often difficult to unravel from the laconic references to them in the sources, but it seems clear that from very few did he have complete and unswerving loyalty for the whole of his reign, and for
many others among the nobility rapid realignments according to circumstances ... were common. The most prominent of the magnates were often related by marriage to the Carolingians, either through the
ruler marrying a woman of noble family or through the ruler's daughters and sons marrying into the nobility. There were also a number of direct descendants of the Carolingians of which the most
notable examples are the counts of Vermandois, descended from Bernard, king of Italy. Charlemagne had married daughters of Frankish counts, as had Louis the Pious, and the Welf family of Louis' second wife Judith played an increasingly important role in the politics of the later ninth century. The Welfs were one of the aristocratic factions supporting Charles the Bald, and received many favours at his hands.
Similarly Charles received valuable assistance from the family of his first wife Ermentrude and of his second wife Richild at crucial stages in his career, though in neither case was the family support
long-lasting. Charles, in his turn promoted his second wife's relatives. His brother-in-law Boso, fro example, became lay abbout of St Maurice of Agaune in 869, count of Vienne in 871, and was appointed
dux in Italy by Charles the Bald in 876."[