Charles II the Bald of France

  General Notes:

Born: 13 Jun 823
Marriage: Irmentrud of Orleans on 19 Dec 842
Died: 6 Oct 877, Brides-les-Bain, France at age 54
General Notes:
CHARLES THE BALD, French CHARLES LE CHAUVE, German KARL DER KAHLE, king of France (i.e., Francis Occidentalis, the West Frankish kingdom) from 843 to 877 and Western emperor from 875 to 877. (He is reckoned as Charles II both of the Holy Roman Empire and of France.)Son of the emperor Louis I the Pious and his second wife, Judith, Charles was the unwitting cause of violent discord when, in 829, he was granted lands by his father; Louis's action precipitated a series of civil wars, lasting until 838, in which the three sons of his first marriage, Lothair I, Louis (the German), and Pepin, strove to maintain or to increase the rights that they had been guaranteed by the succession settlement of 817, the Ordinatio imperii. Pepin died in 838, but after the death of Louis I in 840 the civil war resumed and continued until Louis the German joined with Charles to force Lothair to accept the Treaty of Verdun in 843, by which Charles received all the lands west of a line roughly following the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Saône, the eastern mountains of the Massif Central, and the lower reaches of the Rhône, and Louis the German and Lothair received respectively the lands of the East Franks (Germany) and the middle kingdom, lying between the other two.Until 864 Charles's political situation was precarious because few vassals were loyal to him. His lands suffered from raids by Northmen, who left only after receiving bribes; he was defeated by the Bretons and, in 858, faced an invasion by Louis the German. Yet he succeeded in gaining control of Aquitaine after the capture of Pepin's son in 864; and, by the Treaty of Meersen (870) with Louis the German, he received western Lorraine.When Lothair's son, the emperor Louis II, died in 875, Charles went to Italy and was crowned emperor on December 25 by Pope John VIII. In 876, after the death of Louis the German, Charles invaded Louis's possessions but was defeated at Andernach by Louis's son, Louis the Younger. Charles's death in the next year occurred when another son of Louis the German, Carloman, was marching against him and when his own major vassals were in revolt.During Charles's reign some of the splendours of the Carolingian renaissance were revived, and his close collaboration with the church enhanced his prestige and authority.Charles II was married a second time on 22.11.870 to Richardis, daughter of count Burvinus who died after 877.
Noted events in his life were:
• He was a King of France from 843 to 875.
• Acceded: Holy Roman Emperor, 25 Dec 875.
Charles married Irmentrud of Orleans on 19 Dec 842. (Irmentrud of Orleans was born before 830 and died on 6 Oct 869.)

Charles married Irmentrud of Orleans on 19 Dec 842. (Irmentrud of Orleans was born before 830 and died on 6 Oct 869.)