Charles II "the Bald", Holy Roman Emperor and King of France

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 840 to 877; King of France (Carolingian dynasty)
• Land/House: 843; By the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Carolingian Empire was divided into three kingdoms, with Charles the Bald receiving the West Frankish Kingdom, Lothar receiving the Kingdom of Lothar, and Louis the German receiving the East Frankish Kingdom.
• Crowned: 869; In 869, he was crowned the King of Burgundy.
• Crowned: 875; He was crowned the King of Italy in 875.
• Reign: From 875 to 877; Holy Roman Emperor
• Crowned: 25 December 875.; He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on 25 December 875.

Notes:

Birth: Sewell gives his birth date as 13 June 823.

Birth: von Redlich (1941) gives his birth date as 23 June 823.

Name:

Charles married Ermentrude of Orléans on 14 Dec 842. Ermentrude (daughter of Eudes, Count of Orléans and Engeltrude) was born on 27 Sep 830; died on 6 Oct 869 in Basilica of Saint-Denis, St. Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Louis II "the Stammerer", Holy Roman Emperor was born on 1 Sep 846; died on 10 Apr 879 in Compiègne, Oise, Hauts-de-France, France.
2. Charles
3. Carolman, Abbott of St Médard Soiss was born about 849.
4. Judith of France, Princess of France was born about 846 in France; died after 870.
5. Lothar
6. Ermentrude, Abbess of Hasnon
7. Hildegarde
8. Gisele
9. Rotrude of Poitiers, Abbess of St. Radegund
10. Drogo
11. Pippin
12. Hersent of France

Charles married Richardis of Metz on 25 Nov 870. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Roheut was born about 870.
2. Rothilde of Neustria was born about 871; died about 22 Mar 928.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 814 to 840; Holy Roman Emperor

Notes:

Death: Sewell gives his death date as 30 April 840.

Name:


He was also known as Lois the Fair.

Louis married Judith of Bavaria in Feb 819. Judith (daughter of Welf I, Duke of Bavaria, Count in the Entgau and Egilwich, Abbess of Challes) was born about 800 in Bavaria, Germany; died on 19 Apr 843 in Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reign: From 767 to 814; King of the Franks (Carolingian dynasty)
• Land/House: 768
• Reign: From 800 to 814; Holy Roman Emperor

Notes:

Death: Weis (1982) gives his death place as Aix la Chapelle.

Name:


More is known about Charlemagne than most medieval rulers because of a biography written by Einhard, a friend of his son Louis the Pious. This biography describes Charlemagne as more than six feet tall, with piercing eyes, fair hair, a thick neck, and a potbelly. He was strong, fond of exercise, and had an alert mind and a forceful personality. Charlemagne could read and speak Latin, the language of educated people of the time. However, he never learned to write it.

Land/House:
When Pépin the Short died in 768, the Frankish lands were divided according to ancient Frankinsh law and tradition between Pépin's sons Carloman and Charles. During the next three years until Carloman's death in 771, relations between the two brothers were sometimes strained. In 774, Charles "the Great" or Karolus Magnus, more widely known as Charlemagne, conquered Lombardy and confirmed his father's donation of the Papal States. Charlemagne added Bavaria to his realm, and eventually defeated the Saxons and forced them to convert to Christianity. Charlemagne also waged war in Spain. He was returning from an expedition there in 778 when a mountain people called the Basques ambushed and wiped out his rear guard. This incident became the subject of the famous epic poem The Song of Roland, however, the ambushers were the Moors.

Reign:
On 25 December 800, he was crowed Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome.

Charlemagne married Hildegarde, Countess in Linzgau in 771 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hildegarde (daughter of Gerold, Count in the Vinzgau and Emma of Allemania) was born in 758; died on 30 Apr 783. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
She was also known as Hildegarde of Vinzgau.

Notes:

Name:
He was also known as Guelph I.

Welf married Egilwich, Abbess of Challes. Egilwich died after 833. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: lifespan

Notes:

History:
Egilwich's name was also spelt Heilwig. She was a Saxon.

In later life she became the Abbess of Challes near Paris.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Title(s): 741
• Crowned: 751
• Reign: From 751 to 768; King of the Franks (Carolingian dynasty)
• Military: 753

Notes:

Name:


Pépin served as Mayor of the Palace.

Title(s):
Following the death of their father Charles Martel in 741, Pépin the Short along with his older brother Carloman imprisoned their half brother Grifo and took control of the Frankish Empire as joint Mayors of the Palace. Pépin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy and Provence and Carloman ruled in Austrasia. In order to legitimize their rule, the brothers revived the kingship by raising Childeric III to the throne in 743. Pépin and Carloman continued to hold the real power. That same year, Pépin and Carloman conquered their brother-in-law Duke Odilo of Bavaria. However, discord in Bavaria continued; and it was not until 757 that Odilo's son (Pépin's nephew) Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and the magnates of Bavaria were finally forced to acknowledge themselves as vassals of Pépin the Short.

Crowned:
In 747, Carloman withdrew from politics. With the support of the church and the Pope, Pépin had himself declared King of the Franks in 751. The former king, Childeric III, retired to a monastery.

Military:
In the winter of 753-754 after the Lombards forced Pope Stephen to leave Rome, the Pope visited Pépin the Short. The next summer, Pope Stephen anointed Pépin and his two sons Charlemagne and Carloman, and declared that the Franks were never to elect a king who was not of the sacred lineage of Pépin the Short. In return for Pope Stephen's support, Pépin the Short took his army to Italy and defeated the Lombards. Pépin's gift of a wide strip of land in central Italy to the Pope became known as the "Donation of Pépin". This land, called the Papal States, remained under the control of the popes until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.

Pépin married Bertha "Broadfoot" about 740. Bertha (daughter of Caribert, Count of Laon and Bertrada) was born about 720 in Laon, Hauts-de-France, France; died on 12 Jul 783. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Bertha was known as Queen Goose-Foot or Goose-Footed Bertha, and is the original Mother Goose.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Living: 779

Notes:

Name:
He was also known as Geroud of Swabia Count in the Anglachau.

Gerold married Emma of Allemania. Emma (daughter of Hnabi "Dux", Duke of Allemania, Count in the Linzgau) died in 798. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]