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View Tree for Louis Louis "The Pious" (b. August 778, d. June 20, 840)

Louis "The Pious" (son of Charlemagne and Hildegarde De Vinzgau) was born August 778 in Chasseneuil, near Poitiers, Aquitaine, France, and died June 20, 840 in Petersaue, an island in the Rhine near Ingelheim, Germany. He married Judith.

 Includes NotesNotes for Louis "The Pious":
From Encyclopedia Britannica Online, article titled Louis I:

"byname LOUIS THE PIOUS, OR THE DEBONAIR, French LOUIS LE PIEUX, OR LEDâEBONNAIRE, German LUDWIG DER FROMME son of the Frankish rulerCharlemagne; he was crowned as co-emperor in 813 and became emperor in814 on his father's death. Twice deprived of his authority by his sons(Lothair, Pepin, Louis, and Charles), he recovered it each time (830and 834), but at his death the Carolingian empire was in disarray.

"Louis was the fifth child of Charlemagne's second wife, Hildegard theSwabian. From 781 until 814 Louis ruled Aquitaine with some success,though largely through counsellors. When Charlemagne died at Aachen in814 and was succeeded by Louis, by then his only surviving legitimateson, Louis was well experienced in warfare; he was 36, married toIrmengard of Hesbaye, and was the father of three young sons, Lothair,Pepin, and Louis (Louis the German); he had inherited vast lands,which seemed to be under reasonable control; there was no otherclaimant to the throne; and on Sept. 11, 813, shortly before hisfather's death, Louis had been crowned in Aachen as heir andco-emperor.

"Louis' first task was to carry out the terms of Charlemagne's will.According to the Frankish chronicler Einhard, Louis did this withgreat scrupulousness, although other contemporary sources tell adifferent story.

"Louis next began to allocate parts of the empire to the variousmembers of his family, and here began the difficulties and disastersthat were to beset him for the remainder of his life. In August 814 hemade Lothair and Pepin nominal kings of Bavaria and Aquitaine. He alsoconfirmed Bernard, the son of his dead brother Pepin, as king ofItaly, which position Charlemagne had allowed him to inherit in 813.But when Bernard revolted in 817, Louis had him blinded, and he diedas a result of it. Louis sent his sisters and half sisters tonunneries and later put his three illegitimate half brothers--Drogo,Hugo, and Theodoric--into monasteries.

"At the assembly of Aachen in July 817, he confirmed Pepin in thepossession of Aquitaine and gave Bavaria to Louis the German; Lothairhe made his co-emperor and heir. Charlemagne had been in his 70s andwithin a few months of death before naming his heir, and for Louis togive such premature expectations to a youth of 22 was to ask fortrouble. Moreover, Louis did not anticipate that he would becomefather of another child: the empress Irmengard died in 818; and fourmonths later Louis married Judith of Bavaria, who, in June 823, borehim a son, Charles (Charles the Bald), to whom the Emperor gaveAlemannia in 829.


"Backed by his two brothers, Lothair rose in revolt and deposed hisfather. The assembly of Nijmegen in October 830, however, restoredLouis to the throne; and, the following February, at the assembly ofAachen, in a second partition, Lothair was given Italy. In 832 Louistook Aquitaine away from Pepin and gave it to Charles. The threebrothers revolted a second time, with the support of Pope Gregory IV,and at a meeting near Sigolsheim, in Alsace, once more deposed theirfather. In March 834 Louis was again restored to the throne and madepeace with Pepin and with Louis the German. Later in 834, Lothair roseagain, but alone, and had to retreat into Italy. Encouraged by hissuccess, Louis made over more territories to his son Charles at theassemblies of Aachen and Nijmegen (837-838)--a move the three brothersaccepted but with bad grace. In 839 Louis the German revolted but wasdriven back into Bavaria.

"Meanwhile, Pepin had died (December 838), and, at the assembly ofWorms (May 30, 839), a fourth partition was made, the empire beingdivided between Lothair and Charles, with Bavaria left in the hands ofLouis the German. Toward the end of 839 Louis the German marched histroops for the last time against his father, who once more drove himback. The Emperor called an assembly at Worms on July 1, 840. Beforeit could meet, however, Louis the Pious died at Petersaue, an islandin the Rhine near
Ingelheim. He was 62 and had ruled for nearly 27 years. He was buriedin the Church of St. Arnulf in Metz by Bishop Drogo, his half brother.

"The empire he had inherited in peace, Louis left in disarray. He hadengaged in no serious external conflict, although the Danes and othershad continued to make inroads into the empire. From 829 his four sonshad been a constant source of disruption; the quarrels among Lothair,Louis the German, and Charles the Bald were to continue for decadesafter his death. In many ways Louis seems to have been an estimableperson. He was presumably given the epithet the Pious because of hisdevoutness, his liberality to the church, his interest inecclesiastical affairs, and the good education he had received.Contemporary historians vary little in their judgment: the Astronomerof Limousin stresses his continued courage in the face of adversity;Thegan, bishop of Trier, gives a long and admiring description of hisperson, his talents, his Christian charity, his devoutness, and hisskill as a hunter; and the poem of Ermoldus Nigellus is full ofadulation.He was the Emperor of the West.


Children of Louis "The Pious" and Judith are:
  1. +Charles "The Bald", b. June 13, 823, Frankfurt-am-, Main, Germany, d. October 06, 877, Brides-les-Baines.
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