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Birth:          17 Sep  879 France
Death:          7 Oct  929 Paeronne, Austrasia
Burial:         St. Fursi, Paeronne, Austrasia

Notes
posthumous child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Simple
Charles III (17 September 879 – 7 October 929), called the Simple or the 
Straightforward (from the Latin Carolus Simplex),[a] was the King of West Francia from 
898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–23. He was a member of 
the Carolingian dynasty.
Early life[edit]

Charles was the third and posthumous son of king Louis the Stammerer by his second 
wife Adelaide of Paris.[3] As a child, Charles was prevented from succeeding to the 
throne at the time of the death in 884 of his half-brother, king Carloman II.[4] Instead, 
Frankish nobles of the realm asked his cousin, Emperor Charles the Fat to assume the 
crown.[5] He was also prevented from succeeding the unpopular Charles the Fat, who 
was deposed in November 887 and died in January 888, although it is unknown if his 
overthrow was accepted or even made known in West Francia before his death. The 
nobility then elected Odo, the hero of the Siege of Paris (885–886) as the new king, 
although there was a faction that supported claims of Guy III of Spoleto. The young 
Charles was put under the protection of Ranulf II, the Duke of Aquitaine, who may 
have tried to claim the throne for him and in the end used the royal title himself until 
making peace with Odo.

King of West Francia[edit]

In 893 Charles was crowned by a faction opposed to the rule of Odo at the Reims 
Cathedral, becoming monarch of West Francia only after the death of Odo in 898.[6]
In 911 a group of Vikings led by Rollo besieged Paris and Chartres. After a victory 
near Chartres on 26 August, Charles decided to negotiate with Rollo, resulting in the 
Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte which created the Duchy of Normandy. In return for the 
Vikings' loyalty, they were granted all the land between the river Epte and the sea, as 
well as Duchy of Brittany, which at the time was an independent country which West 
Francia had unsuccessfully tried to conquer. Rollo also agreed to be baptised and to 
marry Charles' daughter Gisela.

King of Lotharingia[edit]

Also in 911, Louis the Child, the last Carolingian king of East Francia died, and nobles 
of Lotharingia, who had been loyal to him, under the leadership of Reginar, Duke of 
Lorraine declared Charles their new king, breaking from East Francia which had 
elected non-Carolingian Conrad I as the new king.[6] Charles had tried to win 
Lotharingian support for years, for instance, by marrying in April 907 a Lotharingian 
woman named Frederuna, and in 909 his niece Cunigunda married Wigeric of 
Lotharingia. Charles defended Lotharingia against two attacks by Conrad I.[7] In 925 
Lotharingia was once again seized by East Francia.

Revolt of the nobles[edit]

Queen Frederuna died on 10 February 917 leaving six daughters and no sons,[8] 
leaving the succession uncertain. On 7 October 919 Charles married Eadgifu, the 
daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England, who bore him a son, the future King 
Louis IV of France.

By this time Charles' excessive favouritism towards a certain Hagano had turned the 
aristocracy against him. He endowed Hagano with monasteries that were already the 
benefices of other barons, alienating them. In Lotharingia he earned the enmity of the 
new duke Gilbert, who in 919 declared loyalty to the new king of East Francia Henry 
the Fowler.[6] Opposition to Charles in Lotharingia was not universal, however; he 
retained support of Wigeric.

The nobles, completely exasperated with Charles' policies and especially his favoritism 
of count Hagano, seized Charles in 920.[9] After negotiations by Archbishop Herveus 
of Reims the king was released.[9]

In 922 the Frankish nobles revolted again led by Robert of Neustria.[9] Robert, who 
was Odo's brother, was elected king by the rebels and crowned, while Charles had to 
flee to Lotharingia. On 2 July 922, Charles lost his most faithful supporter, Herveus of 
Reims, who had succeeded Fulk in 900. Charles returned with a Norman army in 923 
but was defeated on 15 June near Soissons by Robert, who died in the battle.[6] 
Charles was captured and imprisoned in a castle at Péronne under the guard of 
Herbert II of Vermandois.[10] Robert's son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy was then 
elected to succeed him as king.[11]

Charles died in prison on 7 October 929 and was buried at the nearby abbey of Saint-
Fursy. His son by Eadgifu would eventually be crowned in 936 as Louis IV of France.
[12] In the initial aftermath of Charles's defeat, Queen Eadgifu and children had fled to 
England.[12]

Deposition of Charles the Simple[edit]

On 6 December 884 King Carloman II of West Francia died without a male heir and his 
half-brother, the future Charles the Simple, was just a five-year-old boy. Because of 
this, their cousin Charles the Fat, already Holy Roman Emperor and King of East 
Francia, was invited by the nobles of the Kingdom to assume the throne. Since the 
beginning, the new monarch was forced to deal with constant Viking raids, with little 
success. After three years of incompetent government, Charles the Fat was finally 
deposed by the Diet of Tribur in 887.[13]

Faced with the growing threat of northern invaders, the local nobles again rejected 
the succession of Charles the Simple because he was too young, and Odo, Count of 
Paris (member of the Robertian dynasty) was chosen as the new King of West Francia, 
after successfully defending Paris against the Vikings, led by Rollo. In 893, aided by 
Archbishop Fulk of Reims, Charles the Simple attempted to reclaim the throne, but in 
vain. By 897 the young prince ruled only the city of Laon before Odo on his deathbed 
designated him as his successor.

Following the death of Odo in January 898, Charles the Simple finally assumed the title 
of king of West Francia. Soon the new monarch showed his ambition to conquer 
Lotharingia, the main objective of all the monarchs of West Francia since Charles the 
Bald. Lotharingia was the cradle of the Carolingian dynasty. Charlemagne's ancestors, 
the Pippinids were from Lotharingia (Herstal, Jupille...). After the Treaty of Verdun in 
843, the Lotharingia was part of Middle Francia for a short time and both West and 
East Francia tried to gain control over it. Arnulf of Carinthia, King of East Francia 
prevented this by entrusting the land to his son Zwentibold in 895. Zwentibold was 
hated by his subjects, so Charles the Simple decided to invade in 898 after being 
called by Count Reginar of Hainaut. After seizing Aachen and capturing 
Charlemagne's Palace at Nijmegen, he returned to France at the request of the 
German bishops. A few years later, in September 911, the Lotharingian aristocracy 
again called on Charles the Simple after the death of Louis the Child, the last 
Carolingian ruler in East Francia.

Charles the Simple was crowned King of Lotharingia in early November 911. However, 
the constant absences of the new monarch (who preferred to stay in Aachen or 
Thionville), quickly irritated the Lotharingian nobility (who feared for their own 
independence) and nobles of France, who saw this inclination as an affront.[14] The 
situation was even more complicated because, according to Flodoard, Charles the 
Simple refused to march against the Hungarians who threatened Lotharingia (only 
Archbishop Hervé de Reims was present there) and finally caused an open rebellion 
when he attempt to dispossess his own aunt, Abbess Rothilde (also mother-in-law of 
Hugh the Great), from Chelles Abbey in order to give it to his favourite, Hagano (a 
relative of his first wife Frederuna).[15]

From 920 to 922, Charles the Simple was in trouble. Although he pacified his relations 
with king Henry the Fowler of East Francia, he had to fight on two fronts: one against 
Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia and the other against Hugh the Great, irritated by the 
treatment of his mother-in-law. Defeated, in June 922 Charles the Simple took refuge 
in Lotharingia, and the nobles of the West Francia declared him deposed from the 
throne, choosing as the new King Robert, Count of Paris, brother of the late King Odo 
and father of Hugh the Great.[16]

Charles the Simple returned to France to regain the throne. His army, supported by a 
Lotharingian army and a group of soldiers, faced King Robert's army at Soissons in 
June 923. According to Richerus, Robert was killed in battle by Count Fulbert[17] or 
according to other historians, by Charles the Simple. Despite the death of Robert, his 
army won the battle and Charles the Simple had to escape from the battlefield. The 
French nobles elected Raoul of Burgundy (Robert's son-in-law) as their new King, with 
his coronation taking place on 13 July 923 at St Médard, Soissons.

During the summer Charles the Simple was captured by Herbert II, Count of 
Vermandois (another son-in-law of King Robert) at Château-Thierry; meanwhile, King 
Henry I of Germany took advantage of the situation to seize and add Lotharingia to his 
domains, after giving his daughter Gerberga of Saxony in marriage to Duke Giselbert.
[18]

After some time at Château-Thierry, the humiliated Charles the Simple was transferred 
in 924 to Péronne, where he died on 7 October 929 and was immediately buried in the 
local Monastery of Saint-Fursy. The legitimate Carolingian heir was now the eight-
year-old Louis, but King Rudolph retained the throne and ruled until his death from 
illness on 15 January 936 at Auxerre, being buried in the Abbey of Sainte-Colombe of 
Sens.[19] The nobility then discussed who could be the next King, because Rudolph 
had died without surviving male heirs. Finally the nobles unanimously summoned back 
Louis, thanks to the decisive support of Hugh the Great to France to become their 
new King.

Family[edit]

Charles first married in May 907 to Frederuna, daughter of Dietrich, Count in the 
Hamaland.[3] Together they had six daughters:
Ermentrude[3]
Frederuna[3]
Adelaide[3]
Gisela, wife of Rollo[20] (existence doubtful)
Rotrude[3]
Hildegarde[3]

Charles married for the second time in 919 to Eadgifu of Wessex.[3] Together they had 
one son:
Louis IV of France (10 September 920–10 September 954), who eventually succeeded 
to the throne of West Francia in 936[3]

Charles also had several bastard offspring:
Arnulf[3]
Drogo[3]
Rorice († 976), Bishop of Laon[3]
Alpais, who married Erlebold, count of Lommegau[3]

Parents
____ Louis II "the Stammerer" (1 Nov  846 - 10 Apr  879)
OF PARIS Adelaide (ABT  855 - ABT 18 Oct  900)

Siblings
____ Ermentrude (ABT  875 - )
____ Charles III "the Simple" (17 Sep  879 - 7 Oct  929)

Marriage To OF FRANCE Edgiva (Ogive) (Eadgifu) (ABT  904 - AFT  951)
    m.  918 

Notes
his third

Parents
____ Edward I "the Elder" ( 875 - Jul  924)
____ Aelflaed (Elfleda) (Ethelfleda) (ABT  878 - ABT  919)

Children by OF FRANCE Edgiva (Ogive) (Eadgifu) ABT  904 - AFT  951
____ Louis IV "d'Outremere" (10 Sep  920 - 10 Sep  954)
DE COURCY Charles (ABT  925 - )

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