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Birth:          13 Jun  823 Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany
Death:          6 Oct  877 Brides-les-Baines, nr Mt. Cenis in the Alps
Burial:         St. Denis

Notes
also King of Burgundy, King of Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Bald
Charles the Bald (13 June 823 – 6 October 877) was the King of West Francia (843–
77), King of Italy (875–77) and Holy Roman Emperor (875–77, as Charles II). After a 
series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded 
by the Treaty of Verdun (843) in acquiring the western third of the Carolingian Empire. 
He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his 
second wife, Judith.
Struggle against his brothers[edit]


 


 Kingdoms of Charles the Bald and other Carolingians in 876
He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt,[1] 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's 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 eventually be France. At a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the 
nobles do homage to Charles as his heir.[2] Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon 
Charles at last received that kingdom,[2] which angered Pepin's heirs and the 
Aquitainian nobles.[3]

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 Fontenoy-en-
Puisaye on 25 June 841.[4] 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 until then governing and which practically 
corresponded with what is now France, as far as the Meuse, the Saône, and the 
Rhône, with the addition of the Spanish March as far as the Ebro. Louis received the 
eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known then as East Francia and later as 
Germany. Lothair retained the imperial title and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received 
the central regions from Flanders through the Rhineland and Burgundy as king of 
Middle Francia.
The first years of Charles's 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 the German 
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 the Battle of Ballon (845) and the Battle of Jengland (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. At the Vikings' successful siege 
and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter 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.
as emperor[edit]


 


 Apparition of Charles the Bald after his death and burial in Saint Denis
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 29 December. 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 West Francia. 
After the death of Louis the German (28 August 876), Charles in his turn attempted to 
seize Louis's kingdom, but was decisively beaten at the Battle of Andernach on 8 
October 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-Bains, on 6 October 
877.[5]

According to the Annals of St-Bertin, Charles was hastily buried at the abbey of 
Nantua, Burgundy because the bearers were unable to withstand the stench of his 
decaying body. He was to have been buried in the Basilique Saint-Denis and may 
have been transferred there later. It was recorded that there was a memorial brass 
there that was melted down at the Revolution.

Charles was succeeded by his son, Louis. Charles was 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.

Baldness[edit]

It has been suggested that Charles' nickname was used ironically and not 
descriptively; i.e. that he was not in fact bald, but rather that he was extremely hairy.
[6] An alternative or additional interpretation is based on Charles' initial lack of a 
regnum. "Bald" would in this case be a tongue-in-cheek reference to his landlessness, 
at an age where his brothers already had been sub-kings for some years.[7]

Contemporary depictions of his person, e.g. in his Bible of 845, on his seal of 847 (as 
king) as well as on his seal of 875 (as emperor) show him with a full head of hair, as 
does the equestrian statuette (c. 870) thought to depict him.

The Genealogy of Frankish Kings, a text from Fontanelle dating from possibly as early 
as 869, and a text without a trace of irony, names him as Karolus Calvus ("Charles the 
Bald"). Certainly, by the end of the 10th century, Richier of Reims and Adhemar of 
Chabannes refer to him in all seriousness as "Charles the Bald".[8]

Marriages and children[edit]

Charles married Ermentrude, daughter of Odo I, Count of Orléans, in 842. She died in 
869. In 870, Charles married Richilde of Provence, who was descended from a noble 
family of Lorraine.

With Ermentrude:
Judith (844–870), married firstly with Ethelwulf of Wessex, secondly with Ethelbald of 
Wessex (her stepson), and thirdly with Baldwin I of Flanders
Louis the Stammerer (846–879)
Charles the Child (847–866)
Lothar the Lame (848–866), monk in 861, became Abbot of Saint-Germain
Carloman (849–876)
Rotrude (852–912), a nun, Abbess of Saint-Radegunde
Ermentrud (854–877), a nun, Abbess of Hasnon
Hildegarde (born 856, died young)
Gisela (857–874)
Godehilde (864–907)

With Richilde:
Rothilde (871–929), married firstly to Hugues, Count of Bourges and secondly to 
Reginald of Neustria.[9]
Drogo (872–873)
Pippin (873–874)
a son (born and died 875)
Charles (876–877)

Parents
____ Louis I "the Pious" "the Fair" (Aug  778 - 20 Jun  840)
OF BAVARIA Judith (ABT  800 - 19 Apr  843)

Siblings
____ Gisela (ABT  820 - 1 Jul  874)
____ Charles II "the Bald" (13 Jun  823 - 6 Oct  877)

Marriage To D'ORLEANS Ermentrude (27 Sep  823 - 6 Oct  869)
    m. 13 Dec  842 

Notes

Parents
____ Odo (Eudes) (Voson) ( 798 -  834)
____ Engeltrude (ABT  805 - )

Children by D'ORLEANS Ermentrude 27 Sep  823 - 6 Oct  869
____ Judith (ABT  844 - ABT  870)
____ Louis II "the Stammerer" (1 Nov  846 - 10 Apr  879)
____ Hersende (ABT  865 - )

Marriage To OF PROVENCE Richilde (ABT  850 - 2 Jun  910)
    m.  870 

Notes

Parents
OF GORZE [OF METZ] Bivin (Budwine) (Bouin) (ABT  820 -  863)
OF ARLES Richilde (ABT  822 - ABT  883)

Children by OF PROVENCE Richilde ABT  850 - 2 Jun  910
OF NEUSTRIA Rothilde (Roheut) (Rothaut) (ABT  871 - ABT 22 Mar  928)

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