CHAPTER 1: The Death of a King
After lurking for so long in these forums, I've decided to make my own timeline. The style is obviously heavily inspired by Planet of Hats' amazing and awesome Al-Andalus timeline, and I thank him here for his contributions.
Excerpt: The Genesis of the Holy Roman Empire – Hervé-Dario Etchegaray, INH Press (AD 1986)
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"Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right."
- Charlemagne (✝ 28 January 814 AD)
"Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right."
- Charlemagne (✝ 28 January 814 AD)
Excerpt: The Genesis of the Holy Roman Empire – Hervé-Dario Etchegaray, INH Press (AD 1986)
Chapter 2
Charles the Bald and the destruction of his kingdom
Charles the Bald, youngest son of Louis the Pious, the penultimate ruler of a united Frankish realm, was in many ways a very important character in history. By a cruel twist of events, he was born when his older half-brothers had already been given regna, sub-kingdoms, by his father. Louis, fearing an untimely death after narrowly avoiding it by saving himself from a collapsing roof in the palace in Aachen six years prior, created the Ordinatio Imperii, an imperial decree that should secure an orderly succession of his throne to his sons Lothair, Pepin, and Louis. As the pious protector of the universal church, he intended to create an indivisible empire to guard the indivisible church. Lothair, the oldest son, was promised the imperial crown while his two younger brothers, Pepin and Louis were given Aquitania and Bavaria as subordinate kingdoms respectively. Thus the proper course, Louis has decided, should be the survival of the empire under a single emperor, Lothair, protector of the whole church; empire and church coincide here, as the empire is one because the church is one. Under the Ordinatio Imperii, the contemporary Bernard of Italy was left with no added possessions and instead was presumed to remain a vassal to the future illustrious rule of Lothair I. Feeling his only recently acquired power threatened, Bernard subsequently plotted against his uncle to declare the independence of the Iron Crown of Lombardy from the machinations of the wider Frankish Empire. The uprising of Bernard was brutally crushed, however, and Bernard, who was initially condemned to death by the princes of the empire, was pardoned by emperor Louis the Pious. Instead, Bernard of Italy was blinded and succumbed to an agonizing death only two days after the initial process as a result of the procedure – for Louis, as a deeply religious man, this meant "a tangible moral burden" that he carried throughout the remainder of his reign.
The death of Louis’ most important adviser St. Benedict of Aniane in 821 AD, the loss of prestige due to the Penance of Attigny a year later, and the consequences of the birth of Charles in 823 AD led to a deep personal and political crisis of this figure. New problems arose from Louis' second marriage with Judith, the daughter of the Swabian Count Welf I. His strong-minded and influential wife Judith pressured Louis to change the succession plans written down in the Ordinatio Imperii of 817 AD to include the newborn Charles, perhaps not only pushing for some generational justice for the upcoming set of rulers of the Frankish empire but also to preserve her newly acquired power at the court of the most powerful person of Western Europe. At the same time, there was discontent at the court over Judith's strong influence on the Emperor. So Louis sent, on the insistence of his oldest son Lothair who was by all accounts not fond of his stepmother, his unpopular wife to Italy and expelled Judith's ally Abbot Wala of Corbie from the court in 829 AD, only to bring his wife back to Aachen in 834 AD after two unsuccessful attempts at changing the status quo by his first three sons descending from the previous marriage of the emperor. Young Charles was therefore temporarily forced to give up his claims on Alemannia and was sent to a monastery in Prüm during the age of unrest his father has caused, only partly on behalf of his youngest child Charles, other causes including previously existing faultlines between the brothers and their father over the terms set up by the Ordinatio Imperii.
During the last years of Louis’ reign, he created a new division plan for his sons in 837 AD which promised Charles rule over a new sub-kingdom in an area covering the vast lands between the Maas and the Seine which sparked a new set of revolts instigated by the other sons who didn’t agree on splitting up their promised territories for their half-brother. The sudden death of Louis the Pious’ son Pepin in 838 AD, however, paved the way for a reasonably well-balanced tripartite division of the Reich under the three remaining sons Lothair I, Louis II "the German" or "the Pious" in contemporary chronicles, and Charles "the Bald". This delicate balance was confirmed in the Treaty of Verdun of 843 AD. Before this, however, emperor Louis the Pious angered his son Louis the German by intending to only grant him Bavaria as his dominion. The resistance of the son made a punitive expedition necessary, on whose return Louis the Pious died. On 20 June 840 AD, his last words were spoken on an island on the Rhine near Ingelheim: “Huz, huz!” - “Out, out!”. Each of the three new kings had scandalous and inconsistent reigns over their respective parts of the Empire and would fight over the survival of their given territories against their own kin. By the time the empire passed to Lothair III, the Carolingian rule over western Europe had ultimately collapsed.
With the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 AD and the first Treaty of Verdun two years later, the unity of the Frankish Empire disintegrated into several localized areas of power. Although the actual text of the treaty is lost to history, one can reconstruct the territorial provisions quite accurately. Louis’ youngest son Charles the Bald received the kingdom of the Western Franks consisting of the ancient kingdoms of Aquitania and Neustria, limited by the Meuse, the Saône, the Rhône, and the Ebro River in Iberia. Charles was faced with many problems during his reign in West Francia, especially since the ruling aristocracy proved to be not as cooperative as he thought: Charles the Bald was retreating from an unsuccessful campaign against the Bretons when he was compelled by his clerical and secular followers to sign a written contract in Coulaines near Le Mans at an imperial assembly. They aimed to protect their interests, but overall, a balance between the parties was be achieved. The Treaty of Coulaines limited the capabilities of Charles, for now, he can be held responsible by not only God but also those who honor him ("ut a quibus honorem suscipimus, eos iuxta dictum dominicum honoremus"). This means that the king, who was previously able to obey or refuse the advice of the fideles at his discretion, was now obliged to do so. The secular fideles, on the other hand, are now at least nominally secured against the will of the king and his influence, something very unknown in the other parts of the former Carolingian Empire. The contract also began to establish the hereditary nature of the fiefs the king was distributing among the noblemen of his kingdom, revoking certain decisions or removing some of his pesky vassals could now only be done due to a breach of law. It was a decisive step towards a more strengthened realm in an otherwise chaotic Europe, a move that would help him in his attempted acquisition of Aquitania from Pepin II, son of the aforementioned Pepin, even though his affection for alcohol and lose living eroded the popularity of this figure among the Aquitanian nobility for some years now, made evident with the occupation of Bordeaux by the disgruntled citizens of his sub-kingdom.
Nominoë was the duke of Brittany since May 831 AD when he was appointed as such by Charles’ father during a general assembly of the Carolingian Empire at Ingelheim. He was henceforth a strong advocate and ally for Louis the Pious and even after the emperor's death and the subsequent destruction of the empire nine years later, he did initially stay loyal to Charles, to the point that it appears very unlikely that Nominoë’s forces didn’t attend the Strasbourg Oaths. Only in 843 AD did Nominoë betray Charles after he was persuaded to attack West Francia likely by Count Lambert II of Nantes who held life-long grief after Charles appointed his rival Renaud of Herbauges as the new Count of Nantes, breaking his ambitions apart. Nominoë, still regarded as Tad ar Vro (“Father of the Nation”) of Brittany to this day, will from there on continue to fight against Charles’ authority in various skirmishes like the Battle of Messax of the same year, supported by Emperor Lothair and other enemies of Charles.
Charles the Bald was, however, able to exchange oaths with Nominoë in the Summer of 846 AD, possibly after giving him the title of Duke, as pointed out by Prudentius of Troyes. Lambert II was removed from the Breton political scene for a year after this meeting, it was agreed upon to put him in power in Sens to ease the tensions. But even this wouldn’t hinder him from letting his Bretons raid Neustrian territory, probably instigated too by the new emperor Lothair who in exchange for monetary gifts asked him to continue the war efforts even after the Treaty of Meerssen of February 847 AD. He and his troops terrorized Northern West Francia, attacking important trade hubs such as Angers. The Breton Duke only died in March 851 AD after ravaging the countryside and successfully eliminating the majority of Charles’ authority over Rennes and Nantes by capturing Almaric, the new count of Nantes installed by the West Frankish king himself. Nominoë's son, Erispoë, was quickly proclaimed the new leader of the Bretons, although his claim was almost immediately challenged by his nominal suzerain, Charles, who crossed the Vilaine with his forces. Fearing the threat he saw in Erispoë, he asked for the support of his half-brother Louis the German who was willing to lend him a small contingent of Saxon mercenaries. Both Erispoë and Charles led a small army of only around 1000 and 4000 respectively, and while Charles does enjoy a numerical superiority, Erispoë’s forces were known for their mobility and tenacity, which did have a huge impact on the battle that was about to occur between the two.
The Bretons surprised the Saxon mercenaries with a javelin assault, forcing them to retreat behind the better armored Franks. The Franks suspected a melée to occur, but they were taken by surprise after the Breton forces attacked them from a distance with javelins which proved to be very effective against the slow Frankish line. This battle would drag on for hours and would cause many Frankish casualties, one of which would become one of the most important events of the 9th century and the life of Charles himself: It is not known whether or not Charles wore a chain coif, but he was likely grazed by a thrown javelin, leaving an open wound near his Adam’s apple as described by Lupus Servatus in one of his letters to Frankish secretary Felix of the English King Æthelwulf in 852 AD. He was forced to leave the battlefield of Jengland-Beslé, practically giving up his army to the Bretons who raided the camp after the departure of the king. While he probably survived the initial attempt on his life, modern historians like Eythór Jóhannesson (in “Disease and Death during Medieval Times”, University of Rebensburg Printing, AD 1979) or Joaquín Yñigo (in “Carolingian Influence on Hispania”, Bayonne Publishing Company, AD 1981) argue that his death only a few days later can be traced back to organ failure that in turn resulted from a bacterial infection of his esophagus or larynx caused by the wound the javelin has created based on the description of a bloated throat during his last days on Earth. The fact remains that Charles was still able to invite the victor Erispoë to Angers several days after the battle to discuss the terms of a truce, possibly in secret to quarantine himself from the public.
The Treaty of Angers was one of the last political acts of dying Charles and was intended to bring lasting peace between the Bretons and West Francia. Erispoë was granted not only Rennes and Nantes but also the Pays de Retz to the South of Brittany, previously known as the Breton March which divided the two nations. He was possibly gifted the title of rex britanniae and royal regalia such as robes as well, although this is controversial as the only evidence for this matter may be the misinterpretation of the usage of a royal seal that was granted to Erispoë. In return, according to the treaty, Charles will stand as the godfather of the baptism of Erispoë’s infant son Conan and Erispoë’s daughter Argantel will be married to Charles’ son Louis the Stammerer. Nonetheless, Erispoë would leave Angers before the banquet given in his honor was held, according to the Annals of Saint Bertin.
Charles would succumb to the wound and died on 29 August 851 AD in Angers. His decomposing body created a bad stench, forcing his bearers to hastily bury his corpse in the Abbey of Saint-Aubin of Angers, although his body was later on excavated and moved to the Basilica of St. Denis. It is thought that he attempted to create a division plan that prevented a total collapse of his young kingdom and hinder his elder half-brothers from taking too much influence on his infant sons Louis and Charles, but in the end, these efforts were done in vain.
Charles the Bald and the destruction of his kingdom
Charles the Bald, youngest son of Louis the Pious, the penultimate ruler of a united Frankish realm, was in many ways a very important character in history. By a cruel twist of events, he was born when his older half-brothers had already been given regna, sub-kingdoms, by his father. Louis, fearing an untimely death after narrowly avoiding it by saving himself from a collapsing roof in the palace in Aachen six years prior, created the Ordinatio Imperii, an imperial decree that should secure an orderly succession of his throne to his sons Lothair, Pepin, and Louis. As the pious protector of the universal church, he intended to create an indivisible empire to guard the indivisible church. Lothair, the oldest son, was promised the imperial crown while his two younger brothers, Pepin and Louis were given Aquitania and Bavaria as subordinate kingdoms respectively. Thus the proper course, Louis has decided, should be the survival of the empire under a single emperor, Lothair, protector of the whole church; empire and church coincide here, as the empire is one because the church is one. Under the Ordinatio Imperii, the contemporary Bernard of Italy was left with no added possessions and instead was presumed to remain a vassal to the future illustrious rule of Lothair I. Feeling his only recently acquired power threatened, Bernard subsequently plotted against his uncle to declare the independence of the Iron Crown of Lombardy from the machinations of the wider Frankish Empire. The uprising of Bernard was brutally crushed, however, and Bernard, who was initially condemned to death by the princes of the empire, was pardoned by emperor Louis the Pious. Instead, Bernard of Italy was blinded and succumbed to an agonizing death only two days after the initial process as a result of the procedure – for Louis, as a deeply religious man, this meant "a tangible moral burden" that he carried throughout the remainder of his reign.
The death of Louis’ most important adviser St. Benedict of Aniane in 821 AD, the loss of prestige due to the Penance of Attigny a year later, and the consequences of the birth of Charles in 823 AD led to a deep personal and political crisis of this figure. New problems arose from Louis' second marriage with Judith, the daughter of the Swabian Count Welf I. His strong-minded and influential wife Judith pressured Louis to change the succession plans written down in the Ordinatio Imperii of 817 AD to include the newborn Charles, perhaps not only pushing for some generational justice for the upcoming set of rulers of the Frankish empire but also to preserve her newly acquired power at the court of the most powerful person of Western Europe. At the same time, there was discontent at the court over Judith's strong influence on the Emperor. So Louis sent, on the insistence of his oldest son Lothair who was by all accounts not fond of his stepmother, his unpopular wife to Italy and expelled Judith's ally Abbot Wala of Corbie from the court in 829 AD, only to bring his wife back to Aachen in 834 AD after two unsuccessful attempts at changing the status quo by his first three sons descending from the previous marriage of the emperor. Young Charles was therefore temporarily forced to give up his claims on Alemannia and was sent to a monastery in Prüm during the age of unrest his father has caused, only partly on behalf of his youngest child Charles, other causes including previously existing faultlines between the brothers and their father over the terms set up by the Ordinatio Imperii.
During the last years of Louis’ reign, he created a new division plan for his sons in 837 AD which promised Charles rule over a new sub-kingdom in an area covering the vast lands between the Maas and the Seine which sparked a new set of revolts instigated by the other sons who didn’t agree on splitting up their promised territories for their half-brother. The sudden death of Louis the Pious’ son Pepin in 838 AD, however, paved the way for a reasonably well-balanced tripartite division of the Reich under the three remaining sons Lothair I, Louis II "the German" or "the Pious" in contemporary chronicles, and Charles "the Bald". This delicate balance was confirmed in the Treaty of Verdun of 843 AD. Before this, however, emperor Louis the Pious angered his son Louis the German by intending to only grant him Bavaria as his dominion. The resistance of the son made a punitive expedition necessary, on whose return Louis the Pious died. On 20 June 840 AD, his last words were spoken on an island on the Rhine near Ingelheim: “Huz, huz!” - “Out, out!”. Each of the three new kings had scandalous and inconsistent reigns over their respective parts of the Empire and would fight over the survival of their given territories against their own kin. By the time the empire passed to Lothair III, the Carolingian rule over western Europe had ultimately collapsed.
With the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 AD and the first Treaty of Verdun two years later, the unity of the Frankish Empire disintegrated into several localized areas of power. Although the actual text of the treaty is lost to history, one can reconstruct the territorial provisions quite accurately. Louis’ youngest son Charles the Bald received the kingdom of the Western Franks consisting of the ancient kingdoms of Aquitania and Neustria, limited by the Meuse, the Saône, the Rhône, and the Ebro River in Iberia. Charles was faced with many problems during his reign in West Francia, especially since the ruling aristocracy proved to be not as cooperative as he thought: Charles the Bald was retreating from an unsuccessful campaign against the Bretons when he was compelled by his clerical and secular followers to sign a written contract in Coulaines near Le Mans at an imperial assembly. They aimed to protect their interests, but overall, a balance between the parties was be achieved. The Treaty of Coulaines limited the capabilities of Charles, for now, he can be held responsible by not only God but also those who honor him ("ut a quibus honorem suscipimus, eos iuxta dictum dominicum honoremus"). This means that the king, who was previously able to obey or refuse the advice of the fideles at his discretion, was now obliged to do so. The secular fideles, on the other hand, are now at least nominally secured against the will of the king and his influence, something very unknown in the other parts of the former Carolingian Empire. The contract also began to establish the hereditary nature of the fiefs the king was distributing among the noblemen of his kingdom, revoking certain decisions or removing some of his pesky vassals could now only be done due to a breach of law. It was a decisive step towards a more strengthened realm in an otherwise chaotic Europe, a move that would help him in his attempted acquisition of Aquitania from Pepin II, son of the aforementioned Pepin, even though his affection for alcohol and lose living eroded the popularity of this figure among the Aquitanian nobility for some years now, made evident with the occupation of Bordeaux by the disgruntled citizens of his sub-kingdom.
Nominoë was the duke of Brittany since May 831 AD when he was appointed as such by Charles’ father during a general assembly of the Carolingian Empire at Ingelheim. He was henceforth a strong advocate and ally for Louis the Pious and even after the emperor's death and the subsequent destruction of the empire nine years later, he did initially stay loyal to Charles, to the point that it appears very unlikely that Nominoë’s forces didn’t attend the Strasbourg Oaths. Only in 843 AD did Nominoë betray Charles after he was persuaded to attack West Francia likely by Count Lambert II of Nantes who held life-long grief after Charles appointed his rival Renaud of Herbauges as the new Count of Nantes, breaking his ambitions apart. Nominoë, still regarded as Tad ar Vro (“Father of the Nation”) of Brittany to this day, will from there on continue to fight against Charles’ authority in various skirmishes like the Battle of Messax of the same year, supported by Emperor Lothair and other enemies of Charles.
Charles the Bald was, however, able to exchange oaths with Nominoë in the Summer of 846 AD, possibly after giving him the title of Duke, as pointed out by Prudentius of Troyes. Lambert II was removed from the Breton political scene for a year after this meeting, it was agreed upon to put him in power in Sens to ease the tensions. But even this wouldn’t hinder him from letting his Bretons raid Neustrian territory, probably instigated too by the new emperor Lothair who in exchange for monetary gifts asked him to continue the war efforts even after the Treaty of Meerssen of February 847 AD. He and his troops terrorized Northern West Francia, attacking important trade hubs such as Angers. The Breton Duke only died in March 851 AD after ravaging the countryside and successfully eliminating the majority of Charles’ authority over Rennes and Nantes by capturing Almaric, the new count of Nantes installed by the West Frankish king himself. Nominoë's son, Erispoë, was quickly proclaimed the new leader of the Bretons, although his claim was almost immediately challenged by his nominal suzerain, Charles, who crossed the Vilaine with his forces. Fearing the threat he saw in Erispoë, he asked for the support of his half-brother Louis the German who was willing to lend him a small contingent of Saxon mercenaries. Both Erispoë and Charles led a small army of only around 1000 and 4000 respectively, and while Charles does enjoy a numerical superiority, Erispoë’s forces were known for their mobility and tenacity, which did have a huge impact on the battle that was about to occur between the two.
The Bretons surprised the Saxon mercenaries with a javelin assault, forcing them to retreat behind the better armored Franks. The Franks suspected a melée to occur, but they were taken by surprise after the Breton forces attacked them from a distance with javelins which proved to be very effective against the slow Frankish line. This battle would drag on for hours and would cause many Frankish casualties, one of which would become one of the most important events of the 9th century and the life of Charles himself: It is not known whether or not Charles wore a chain coif, but he was likely grazed by a thrown javelin, leaving an open wound near his Adam’s apple as described by Lupus Servatus in one of his letters to Frankish secretary Felix of the English King Æthelwulf in 852 AD. He was forced to leave the battlefield of Jengland-Beslé, practically giving up his army to the Bretons who raided the camp after the departure of the king. While he probably survived the initial attempt on his life, modern historians like Eythór Jóhannesson (in “Disease and Death during Medieval Times”, University of Rebensburg Printing, AD 1979) or Joaquín Yñigo (in “Carolingian Influence on Hispania”, Bayonne Publishing Company, AD 1981) argue that his death only a few days later can be traced back to organ failure that in turn resulted from a bacterial infection of his esophagus or larynx caused by the wound the javelin has created based on the description of a bloated throat during his last days on Earth. The fact remains that Charles was still able to invite the victor Erispoë to Angers several days after the battle to discuss the terms of a truce, possibly in secret to quarantine himself from the public.
The Treaty of Angers was one of the last political acts of dying Charles and was intended to bring lasting peace between the Bretons and West Francia. Erispoë was granted not only Rennes and Nantes but also the Pays de Retz to the South of Brittany, previously known as the Breton March which divided the two nations. He was possibly gifted the title of rex britanniae and royal regalia such as robes as well, although this is controversial as the only evidence for this matter may be the misinterpretation of the usage of a royal seal that was granted to Erispoë. In return, according to the treaty, Charles will stand as the godfather of the baptism of Erispoë’s infant son Conan and Erispoë’s daughter Argantel will be married to Charles’ son Louis the Stammerer. Nonetheless, Erispoë would leave Angers before the banquet given in his honor was held, according to the Annals of Saint Bertin.
Charles would succumb to the wound and died on 29 August 851 AD in Angers. His decomposing body created a bad stench, forcing his bearers to hastily bury his corpse in the Abbey of Saint-Aubin of Angers, although his body was later on excavated and moved to the Basilica of St. Denis. It is thought that he attempted to create a division plan that prevented a total collapse of his young kingdom and hinder his elder half-brothers from taking too much influence on his infant sons Louis and Charles, but in the end, these efforts were done in vain.
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