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43-1887: (Redirected from King Charles II ) Charles II may refer to : Charles II of France or Charles the Bald (823–877), king of the West Franks and Holy Roman Emperor Charles II of Naples (1254–1309) Charles II, Count of Alençon (1297–1346) Charles II of Navarre (1332–1387) Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (1364–1431) Charles II of Sweden or Charles VIII of Sweden (1409–1470) Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (1434–1488) Charles II, Duke of Guelders (1467–1538) Charles II, Duke of Savoy (1489–1496) Charles II, Count of Nevers (died 1521) Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans (1522-1545) Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1529–1577) Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria (1540–1590) Charles II, Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1547–1606) Charles II, Lord of Monaco (1555–1589) Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf (1596–1657) Charles II, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (1629–1665) Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (1630–1685) Charles II, Elector Palatine (1651–1685) Charles II of Spain (1661–1700) Charles II of Bohemia or Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685–1740) Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1741–1816) Charles II of Norway or Charles XIII of Sweden (1748–1818) Charles II, Duke of Parma (1799–1883) Charles II, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal (1803–1868) Charles II, Duke of Brunswick (1804–1873) Charles II of Romania or Carol II (1893–1953) Charles Albert II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (1742–1796) Charles Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg (1796–1854) Charles Frederick II, Duke of Württemberg-Oels (1690–1761) Fancy (ship) ,

86-566: A compensation. The 13-year old Lothair of France inherited all the lands of his father in 954. By this time they were so small that the Carolingian practice of dividing lands among the sons was not followed and his brother Charles received nothing. In 966 Lothair married Emma , stepdaughter of his maternal uncle Otto I. Despite this, in August 978 Lothair attacked the old imperial capital Aachen . Otto II retaliated by attacking Paris, but

129-565: A defence of royal sovereignty in the face of intrusive actions by the papacy into state affairs. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis   II (son of his half-brother Lothair), Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John   VIII , traveled to Italy, receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial insignia in Rome on 25 December. As emperor, Charles combined the mottoes that had been used by his grandfather and father into

172-580: A privateer frigate originally christened Charles II See also [ edit ] Charles King Charles (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_II&oldid=1248569865 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

215-737: A separate kingdom, it was largely outside the control of the West Frankish kings. Odo, Count of Paris was then elected by nobles as the new king of West Francia, and was crowned the next month. At this point, West Francia was composed of Neustria in the west and in the east by Francia proper, the region between the Meuse and the Seine . After the 860s, Lotharingian noble Robert the Strong became increasingly powerful as count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine. Robert's brother Hugh, abbot of Saint-Denis,

258-561: A single formula: renovatio imperii Romani et Francorum , "renewal of the empire of the Romans and Franks". These words appeared on his seal . Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis   II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles's domains, and Charles had to return hastily to West Francia . After the death of Louis the German (28 August 876), Charles in his turn attempted to seize Louis's kingdom, but

301-433: Is based on Charles's initial lack of a regnum . "Bald" would in this case be a tongue-in-cheek reference to his landlessness at an age at which his brothers already had been sub-kings for some years. Contemporary depictions of his person, such as in his Bible of 845 , on his seal of 847 (as king) and on his seal of 875 (as emperor), show him with a full head of hair, as does the equestrian statuette (c. 870), which

344-481: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Charles II of France Charles the Bald (French: Charles le Chauve ; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles   II , was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a series of civil wars during

387-841: Is now France, as far as the Meuse , the Saône , and the Rhône , with the addition of the Spanish March as far as the Ebro . Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire , known then as East Francia and later as Germany. Lothair retained the imperial title and the Kingdom of Italy . He also received the central regions from Flanders through the Rhineland and Burgundy as king of Middle Francia . Shortly after Verdun, Charles went on to an unsuccessful campaign against Brittany, on

430-432: Is thought to depict him. The Genealogy of Frankish Kings , a text from Fontanelle dating from possibly as early as 869, names him as Karolus Calvus ("Charles the Bald"), and he is given the same name in the late tenth century by Richier of Reims and Adhemar of Chabannes . Charles married Ermentrude , daughter of Odo I, Count of Orléans , in 842. She died in 869. In 870, Charles married Richilde of Provence , who

473-574: The Abbey of Saint-Denis where he had long wished to be buried, in a porphyry tub which may be the same one known as " Dagobert 's tub" ( cuve de Dagobert ), now in the Louvre . It was recorded that there was a memorial brass there that was melted down at the Revolution. Charles was succeeded by his son, Louis . Charles was a prince of education and letters, a friend of the church, and conscious of

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516-749: The Bretons . Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë , who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon (845) and the Battle of Jengland (851), the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings , who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire , and even up to the borders of Aquitaine. At the Vikings' successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles

559-584: The Capetian dynasty after 987. Historians generally define this as the gradual transition toward the Kingdom of France. By the 13th century, the term Regnum francorum had evolved into Regnum Francia ("kingdom of France"), although the demonym of "Franks" continued to be attested as late as the 18th century. In August 843, after three years of civil war following the death of Louis the Pious on 20 June 840,

602-634: The Treaty of Verdun was signed by his three sons and heirs. The youngest, Charles the Bald , received western Francia. The contemporary West Frankish Annales Bertiniani describes Charles arriving at Verdun, "where the distribution of portions" took place. After describing the portions of his brothers, Lothair the Emperor ( Middle Francia ) and Louis the German ( East Francia ), he notes that "the rest as far as Spain they ceded to Charles". The Annales Fuldenses of East Francia describe Charles as holding

645-473: The Île-de-France . Outside the old Frankish territories and in the south local nobles were semi-independent after 887 as duchies were created: Burgundy , Aquitaine , Brittany , Gascony , Normandy , Champagne and the County of Flanders . The power of the kings continued to decline, together with their inability to resist the Vikings and to oppose the rise of regional nobles who were no longer appointed by

688-496: The German to resist the pretensions of the new Emperor Lothair   I, and the two allies defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye on 25 June 841. In the following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg . The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843. The settlement gave Charles the Bald the kingdom of the West Franks, which he had been governing until then, and which practically corresponded with what

731-484: The German, entered northern Italy. Charles, ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, but died while crossing the pass of Mont Cenis at Brides-les-Bains , on 6 October 877. According to the Annals of St-Bertin, Charles was hastily buried at the abbey of Nantua , Burgundy , because the bearers were unable to withstand the stench of his decaying body. A few years later, his remains were transferred to

774-501: The German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, invaded the West Frankish kingdom. Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy . He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs , who were related to his mother, Judith. In 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence , but

817-551: The Great , archbishop of Cologne, as regent. After further victories by Herbert II, Louis was rescued only with the help of the large nobles and Otto I. In 942 Louis gave up Lotharingia to Otto I. Succession conflict in Normandy led to a new war in which Louis was betrayed by Hugh the Great and captured by Danish prince Harald who eventually released him to the custody of Hugh, who freed the king only after receiving town of Laon as

860-554: The Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia and then the country between the Meuse and the Pyrenees (in 832, after the rising of Pepin   I of Aquitaine ) were unsuccessful. The numerous reconciliations with the rebellious Lothair and Pepin, as well as their brother Louis the German , King of Bavaria , made Charles's share in Aquitaine and Italy only temporary, but his father did not give up and made Charles

903-642: The Treaty of Benoît-sur-Loire and recognised his nephew's rule. This agreement lasted until 25 March 848, when the Aquitainian barons recognised Charles as their king. Thereafter Charles's armies had the upper hand, and by 849 had secured most of Aquitaine. In May, Charles had himself crowned "King of the Franks and Aquitainians" in Orléans . Archbishop Wenilo of Sens officiated at the coronation, which included

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946-616: The West Frankish nobles elected his uncle, Charles the Fat, already king in East Francia and the Kingdom of Italy , as their king. He was probably crowned "King in Gaul" ( rex in Gallia ) on 20 May 885 at Grand . His reign was the only time after the death of Louis the Pious that all of Francia would be re-united under one ruler. In his capacity as king of West Francia, he seems to have granted

989-512: The absence of strong royal power, invaders were engaged and defeated by local nobles, like Richard of Burgundy and Robert of Neustria, who defeated Viking leader Rollo in 911 at Chartres . The Norman threat was eventually ended, with the last Danegeld paid in 924 and 926. Both nobles became increasingly opposed to Charles, and in 922 deposed him and elected Robert I as the new king. After Robert's death in 923 nobles elected Rudolf as king, and kept Charles imprisoned until his death in 929. After

1032-524: The city during its siege of 885–886 . Charles engaged in diplomacy with the Emirate of Cordoba , receiving camels from Emir Muhammad   I in 865. From the 860s, the palace of Compiègne became an increasingly important centre for Charles and he founded a monastery there in 876. In the tenth century Compiègne was known as ‘Carlopolis’ because of its association with Charles. In 871–872, Charles sent two letters to Pope Hadrian   II where he made

1075-695: The east and southeast for example. It also did not include the Brittany peninsula in the west. West Frankish kings were elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, and for the half-century between 888 and 936 candidates from the Carolingian and Robertian houses were alternately chosen as monarchs. By this time the power of the king became weaker and more nominal, as the regional dukes and nobles became more powerful in their semi-independent regions. The Robertians , after becoming counts of Paris and dukes of France, became kings themselves and established

1118-541: The first instance of royal unction in West Francia. The idea of anointing Charles may be owed to Archbishop Hincmar of Reims , who composed no less than four ordines describing appropriate liturgies for a royal consecration. By the time of the Synod of Quierzy (858), Hincmar was claiming that Charles was anointed to the entire West Frankish kingdom. With the Treaty of Mersen in 870 the western part of Lotharingia

1161-465: The heir of the entire land which was once Gaul . At a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepin's heirs and the Aquitainian nobles. The death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. Charles allied himself with his brother Louis

1204-540: The king but became hereditary local dukes. In 877 Boso of Provence , brother-in-law of Charles the Bald, crowned himself as the king of Burgundy and Provence. His son Louis the Blind was king of Provence from 890 and Emperor between 901 and 905. Rudolph II of Burgundy established the Kingdom of Burgundy in 933. After the death of East Francia's last Carolingian king Louis the Child , Lotharingia switched allegiance to

1247-845: The king of West Francia, Charles the Simple. After 911 the Duchy of Swabia extended westwards and added lands of Alsace . Baldwin II of Flanders became increasingly powerful after the Odo's death in 898, gaining Boulogne and Ternois from Charles. The territory over which the king exercised actual control shrank considerably, and was reduced to lands between Normandy and river Loire. The royal court usually stayed in Rheims or Laon . Norsemen began settling in Normandy , and from 919 Magyars invaded repeatedly. In

1290-495: The reign of his father, Louis the Pious , Charles succeeded, by the Treaty of Verdun (843), in acquiring the western third of the empire. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith . He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt , when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna , or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis

1333-408: The return from which he signed the Treaty of Coulaines with his nobility and clergy. After that, the first years of his reign, up to the death of Lothair   I in 855, were comparatively peaceful. During these years the three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz (848), at Meerssen (851), and at Attigny (854). In 858, Louis

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1376-589: The royal title and perhaps regalia to the semi-independent ruler of Brittany, Alan I . His handling of the Viking siege of Paris in 885–86 greatly reduced his prestige. In November 887 his nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia revolted and assumed the title as King of the East Franks. Charles retired and soon died on 13 January 888. In Aquitaine, Duke Ranulf II may have had himself recognised as king, but he only lived another two years. Although Aquitaine did not become

1419-482: The rule of king Charles the Simple, local dukes began issuing their own currency. King Rudolf was supported by his brother Hugh the Black and son of Robert I, Hugh the Great . Dukes of Normandy refused to recognise Rudolf until 933. The King also had to move with his army against the southern nobles to receive their homage and loyalty, however, the count of Barcelona managed to avoid this completely. After 925 Rudolf

1462-405: The support he could find in the episcopate against his unruly nobles, for he chose his councillors from among the higher clergy, as in the case of Guenelon of Sens , who betrayed him, and of Hincmar of Reims . It has been suggested that Charles's nickname was used ironically and not descriptively; he was not in fact bald but rather was extremely hairy. An alternative or additional interpretation

1505-623: The western part after the kingdom was "divided in three". Since the death of King Pippin I of Aquitaine in December 838, his son had been recognised by the Aquitainian nobility as King Pippin II of Aquitaine , although the succession had not been recognised by the emperor. Charles the Bald was at war with Pippin II from the start of his reign in 840, and the Treaty of Verdun ignored the claimant and assigned Aquitaine to Charles. Accordingly, in June 845, after several military defeats, Charles signed

1548-599: Was added to West Francia. In 875 Charles the Bald was crowned Emperor of Rome. The last record in the Annales Bertiniani dates to 882, and so the only contemporary narrative source for the next eighteen years in West Francia is the Annales Vedastini . The next set of original annals from the West Frankish kingdom are those of Flodoard , who began his account with the year 919. After the death of Charles's grandson, Carloman II , on 12 December 884,

1591-626: Was decisively beaten at the Battle of Andernach on 8 October 876. In the meantime, John   VIII, menaced by the Saracens , was urging Charles to come to his defence in Italy. Charles again crossed the Alps , but this expedition was received with little enthusiasm by the nobles, and even by his regent in Lombardy , Boso , and they refused to join his army. At the same time Carloman , son of Louis

1634-423: Was defeated by the combined forces of king Lothar and nobles and peace was signed in 980, ending the brief Franco-German war . Lothar managed to increase his power, but this was reversed with the coming of age of Hugh Capet , who began forming new alliances of nobles and eventually was elected as king in 987 after Lothair and his son and successor Louis V of France had both died prematurely, traditionally marking

1677-406: Was descended from a noble family of Lorraine . With Ermentrude : With Richilde : West Francia West Francia extended further north and south than modern metropolitan France , but it did not extend as far east. It did not include such future French holdings as Lorraine , the County and Kingdom of Burgundy (the duchy was already a part of West Francia), Alsace and Provence in

1720-589: Was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. Charles led various expeditions against the invaders and, by the Edict of Pistres of 864, made the army more mobile by providing for a cavalry element, the predecessor of the French chivalry so famous during the next 600 years. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions. Two of these bridges at Paris saved

1763-429: Was given control over Austrasia by Charles the Bald. Robert's son Odo was elected king in 888. Odo's brother Robert I ruled between 922 and 923 and was followed by Rudolph from 923 until 936. Hugh the Great , son of Robert I, was elevated to the title "duke of the Franks" by king Louis IV. In 987 his son Hugh Capet was elected king and the Capetian dynasty began. At this point they controlled very little beyond

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1806-469: Was involved in a war against the rebellious Herbert II, Count of Vermandois , who received support from kings Henry the Fowler and Otto I of East Francia. His rebellion continued until his death in 943. King Louis IV and Duke Hugh the Great were married to sisters of East Frankish king Otto I who after the deaths of their husbands managed Carolingian and Robertine rule together with their brother Bruno

1849-532: Was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair   II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothair's dominions by having himself consecrated as King of Lotharingia at Metz , but he was compelled to open negotiations when Louis found support among Lothair's former vassals. Lotharingia was partitioned between Charles and Louis in the resulting treaty (870). Besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against

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