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Louis I (Holy Roman Empire), called The Pious (778-840), Holy Roman emperor (814-840), king of France (814-840), king of Germany (814-840), and king of Aquitaine (781-840). He was the son and sole successor of Charlemagne. In 817 Louis made plans for an orderly succession among his sons: Lothair I, Louis II (Louis the German), and Pepin of Aquitaine. Later he wanted to include in the succession Charles II (Charles the Bald), his son by a second marriage. Dissatisfied, his older sons rebelled (830, 833) against him and fought among themselves for supremacy as well. Pepin died in 838, and in 843 the empire was divided among the three surviving brothers (see Verdun, Treaty of). - [1]
Charlemagne's Successors
Even before 800, Viking raiders from Scandinavia had begun to attack the coastal areas of the Carolingian realm. The full impact of these raids, however, was not felt until the reign of Charlemagne's successor, Louis I the Pious, whom Charlemagne himself crowned emperor in 813. The Viking attacks and succession problems after Louis the Pious made a shambles of the Carolingian Empire.
Louis sought to provide for an orderly succession by decreeing in 817 that his eldest son, Lothair, would inherit the empire and that his two younger sons, Pepin of Aquitaine and Louis II (Louis the German), would hold subordinate kingdoms within the empire. The emperor then had a fourth son, Charles, by his second wife, who was determined that her son would not be excluded from the royal inheritance.
The sons fought bitterly among themselves and sometimes against their father as well. One temporary settlement among three of the brothers is of particular historical interest. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), Lothair was to get the imperial title plus a long strip of territory stretching from the North Sea at the mouth of the Rhine all the way down to and including Rome. Louis the German received the lands east of the Rhine, and Charles the Bald those west of the Rhône, the Saône, the Meuse, and the Schelde (Escaut). Louis's territory was a forerunner of modern Germany, Charles's a forerunner of modern France, and Lothair's a forerunner of the lands in between that have been so often fought over by France and Germany in modern times. Although this particular division did not prove lasting, the separation of Francia Occidentalis (the West Frankish Kingdom, or France) from Francia Orientalis (the East Frankish Kingdom, or Germany) became permanent at this time. - [2]
[1] - "Louis I (Holy Roman Empire)," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclop edia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.
[2] - "France," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-199 8 Microsoft Corporation. |
