Charles the Younger

Charles the Younger (ca. 772 – 4 December 811) was the second son of Charlemagne and the first by his second wife, Hildegard of Swabia.[1] When Charlemagne divided his empire among his sons, his son Charles was designated King of the Franks.

His elder brother, Pippin the Hunchback, was disinherited, and his younger brothers Carloman (renamed Pippin) and Louis the Pious received Italy and Aquitaine, respectively.

Charles was mostly preoccupied with the Bretons, whose border he shared and who insurrected on at least two occasions and were easily put down, but he was also sent against the Saxons on multiple occasions. Charles' father outlived him, however, and the entire kingdom thus went to his younger brother Louis the Pious, Pippin also having died.

Around 789 it was suggested by Charlemagne that Charles the Younger should be married to Offa's daughter Ælfflæd. Offa insisted that the marriage could only go ahead if Charlemagne's daughter Bertha was married to Offa's son Ecgfrith. Charlemagne took offence, broke off contact, and closed his ports to English traders.[2] Eventually, normal relations were reestablished and the ports were reopened. Just a few years later, in 796, Charlemagne and Offa concluded the first commercial treaty known in English history.

His father associated Charles in the government of Francia and Saxony in 790, and installed him as ruler of the ducatus Cenomannicus (corresponding to the later Duchy of Maine).[2][3] Charles was crowned King of the Franks at Rome December 25, 800, the same day his father was crowned Emperor.[2]

He killed Sorbian duke Miliduch and Slavic Knez, Nussito (Nessyta) near modern-day Weißenfels in a Frankish campaign in 806.[4][5]

On 4 December 811, in Bavaria, Charles had a stroke and died. He left no children.[2]

In the Matter of France, Charles is fictionalized as Charlot.

Contents

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Himiltrude, by whom Charlemagne had a son, Pepin the Hunchback, was a concubine or common law wife. See Riche, Pierre, The Carolingians, p.86 ("Although he already had a son by his concubine, Himiltrude..."); Chamberlin, Russell, The Emperor Charlemagne, p.61: "he made the first of those confusing sexual relationships which was something more than concubinage, less than marriage...the Franks called it friedelehe, and it could perhaps be compared with the English system of common-law wife or husband..."
  2. ^ a b c d "Foundation for Medieval Genealogy". http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CAROLINGIANS.htm#_Toc144009954. Retrieved 2007-06-21. 
  3. ^ "Counts of Maine". http://home.eckerd.edu/~oberhot/feud-maine.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-04. 
  4. ^ Vukcevich, Ivo (2001) (in English, Latin). Rex germanorum, populos sclavorum:. University City Press. p. 366. http://books.google.com/books?id=EttoAAAAMAAJ. 
  5. ^ Bulgarin, Thaddäus (1839) (in German). Russland in historischer, statistischer, geographischer und und literarischer Beziehung. Leipzig: Eduard Franken. p. 330. http://books.google.com/books?id=ahg3AAAAYAAJ. 

Sources

External links

Charles the Younger, King of the Franks
Died: 4 December 811
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Charlemagne as sole king		 King of the Franks
800–811
with Charlemagne (800–811)		 Succeeded by
Charlemagne as sole King