Louis the Child

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For the king of Sicily called "Louis the Child", see Louis of Sicily.

The last true Carolingian ruler of East Francia, Louis the Child (893–20 or 24 September 911) was the only legitimate son of the Emperor Arnulf. He was born in September or October 893, in Altoetting, Bavaria. He succeeded his father as king upon the latter's death in 899, when he was only six. During his reign, the country was practically destroyed by Magyar raids.

Louis was crowned in Forchheim on 4 February 900. This is the oldest German royal coronation of which we have any record. Louis was of a weak personal constitution, often sick, and with his young age, the reins of government were entirely in the hands of others, the nobles and bishops. Indeed, the coronation was probably a result of the fact that there was little Louis could gain at the expense of the nobles. Louis also inherited Lotharingia with the death of his elder illegitimate half-brother, Zwentibold, in 900.

The most influential of Louis's councillors were Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz, and Solomon III, Bishop of Constance. It was these two who assured that the royal court decided in favour of the Conradines against the Babenbergers in the matter of the Duchy of Franconia. They appointed Louis's nephew, Conrad, as duke. In 903 Louis promulgated the first customs regulations in the German part of Europe.

Louis himself tried to take some military control as he grew older, but he had little success against the Magyars. He was destroyed at the Lechfeld and it was in this state of defeat that Louis died, at Frankfurt am Main, on 20 or 24 September 911, only eighteen years of age. Louis was buried in the monastery of Saint Emmeram in Regensburg, where his father lay. His death brought an end to the eastern branch of the Carolingian dynasty. The vacuum left in the Carolingian east was eventually filled by the family of Henry the Fowler, a cousin, and heralded the beginning of the Ottonian dynasty. Firstly, however, the dukes of East Francia assembled to elect Conrad of Franconia king, as opposed to the reigning king of West Francia, Charles the Simple. The magnates of Lotharingia elected Charles.

Louis is variously numbered as Louis IV or Louis III, for he was the fourth Louis to reign over Germany, though Louis the Pious was king of all the Franks and Louis III was only a ruler of a part (Saxony and Bavaria).

Preceded by Arnulf of Carinthia	King of East Francia (Germany) 899–911	Succeeded by Conrad I
Preceded by Zwentibold	King of Lotharingia 900–911	Succeeded by Charles the Simple