Boso of Vienne

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This fragment of a fresco from the 12th century from the Abbey of Saint-Fortunat near Charlieu shows King Boso (left) with Saint Stephen in a fictional representation
The kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy and the Duchy of Burgundy in the 9th / 10th. century

Boso von Vienne (also Boso von der Provence ) (* 825/828; † 11 January 887 ) from the Buviniden family was king of Lower Burgundy from 879 to 887 .

origin

Boso's maternal grandfather, Boso the Old († 855), was an Italian count. He and his wife Ingeltrud had four children, the oldest, a daughter who was probably called Richildis, was Boso's mother. The eldest son Boso succeeded his father as count. The second son, Hukbert, was a lay abbot of the Saint-Maurice d'Agaune monastery . In this function he ruled the area of ​​the upper Rhone valley between the Jura and the Alps . He has a reputation for being a real mugger. The youngest child was Theutberga , who married Lothar II in 855 . Since the marriage remained childless, Lothar tried to be separated from his wife and started a rumor that his wife had committed adultery with her brother Hukbert. The affair was carried to the Pope, but could not be finally decided because of Lothar's unexpected death in 869. In the year 864 Hukbert was defeated by the Guelph Konrad II and was killed.

Little is known about Boso's parents. Boso's father was called Bivin (or Bovin). He was a Lorraine count and lay abbot of the Gorze monastery . Bivin's brother Richard was Ostiarius Ludwig I , after his death he was in Lothar I's camp . His sister's name was Richildis and she became very important for her brother's political future. Boso's brother was called Richard and was in the service of Charles the Bald , Ludwig the Stammler and Karlmann of West Franconia .

Life

Boso was married to Emperor Ludwig II's daughter Ermengarde (* probably 852/855, † 896 before June 22) since March / June 876 . Through his sister Richildis († 910) he was also brother-in-law of the West Franconian King Karl the Bald († 877), who favored him very much. He became Count of Vienne in 870 and governor in Italy with the title of Duke in 876 .

Boso took advantage of the weakness of the West Franconian Empire after the death of Ludwig II and, at the urging of his wife Ermengard and with the help of Pope John VIII, settled on October 10, 879 at a meeting of the great at Mantala near Vienne as King of Burgundy and Provence proclaim. With this, Boso founded the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy , which comprised the area east of the Rhone and south of Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean .

Although Boso was able to assert himself against the new king of Eastern Franconia, Karl the Dicken , he was unable to hold the far northeast of his country, Valais , Aosta and Savoy .

Political situation in late Franconian Europe

When Boso served his first master, Charles the Bald, the Frankish empire was divided into five parts. The western part of the empire, which roughly corresponded to today's France, was ruled by Charles the Bald, the eastern part by his brother Ludwig the German . The Middle Kingdom, which was ruled by the brother of Charles and Ludwig, Lothar I, was divided among his three sons Karl, Ludwig II and Lothar II after his death. Ludwig II ruled the Italian part from the Alps to Rome, Lothar II the realm between the western Alps and Friesland and Karl the Rhône-Saone region and Provence.

When the sons of Lothar I died, the middle realms were divided between Charles the Bald and Ludwig the German. Half of the kingdom of Lothar II went to both of them. The empire of Karl went first to his brother Ludwig II. And after his death together with the remaining empire of Ludwig II. To Karl the Kahlen. During this procession to Italy, Boso was crowned duke and Charles the Bald emperor.

When both Charles the Bald and Ludwig the German died shortly afterwards, the Frankish empire received new kings. The successor to Charles the Bald in the western Frankish empire was his son Ludwig the Stammler, the new King Bosos. The empire of Ludwig the German was divided among his three sons. Ludwig the Younger received what is now northern and eastern Germany. Charlemagne Alemannia and Churrätien and Karlmann Bavaria, which he quickly expanded to include Italy, since Ludwig the Stammler was too weak to hold Italy.

When Ludwig the Stammler died, there were disputes in the western Franconian Empire about the successor to Ludwig. While a noble party around Hugo the Abbot and Boso von Vienne tried to crown only one of the two sons as king, the opposing party around Gauzlin von Saint-Denis tried to have both sons of Ludwig crowned and to divide the empire among them. Boso used this power struggle to have himself crowned king in Niederburgund and to make himself independent of both sons of Ludwig the Stammler.

Rise to the political leadership

870 married Charles the Bald Bosos sister Richildis. That was also Boso's entry into the ruling class of the West Frankish empire. After Charles had a part of the kingdom of Lothair II conquered. The Bald, he sat Boso as successor to Lothar loyal Count Gerhard II., Formerly also Count of Paris , and handed Boso the city Vienne and a year later, all other possessions Gerhards II. From From 873 to 875 Boso served the son of Charles the Bald Ludwig the Stammler in his lower kingdom in Aquitaine as a treasurer, i.e. as head of administration. When Charlemagne moved to Italy in 875 to seize the empire of his nephew Ludwig II, Boso went with him. In Italy, Charles the Bald crowned Boso Duke ( dux ) in 876 , appointed him governor ( missus ) of the newly won Italian part of the empire and thus placed him in a kind of viceroyalty. In order to secure Boso's position, Karl married him to Irmingard, the daughter of Ludwig II , the previous King of Italy and Emperor. When Charles the Bald was called back to Italy for help by the Pope in 877, the emperor wanted to obey. However, Boso and other greats of the empire refused allegiance to Karl.

When in 878 Pope John VIII fled to the western Franconian Empire due to the threat from the Saracens and Italian margraves like Lambert von Spoleto and Adalbert von Tuszien to ask for help from Ludwig the Stammler , who had in the meantime succeeded Charles the Bald to the throne, the Pope first traveled to Provence . There he was received by Boso von Vienne and led to King Ludwig in Francia . In Troyes , where the Pope and the King met, the King decided to help the Pope and wanted to send Boso to Italy with the Pope for this purpose. This then went back to Pavia with the Pope . At some point during this time, Boso was adopted by John VIII. However, the army that Ludwig had sent with Boso was not strong enough to bring the promised help to the Pope, so Boso turned around and returned to the Frankish Empire to ask Ludwig the Stammler for reinforcements. There was no return of Bosos because Ludwig the Stammler died too early and Boso was now employed in the Franconian Empire.

Boso initially sided with the supporters of Ludwig the Stammler 's first son Ludwig III. and next to Hugo the abbot was his strongest supporter. As the opposing party, which not only Ludwig III. wanted as king, but a division of the empire between Ludwig III. and his brother Karlmann demanded, called the East Frankish King Ludwig the Younger for help and when he invaded West Franconia, Boso used the confusion to set up his own business: Boso went back to Niederburgund (the area includes the Rhône-Sâone area and Provence) and convinced the clergy there to elect him king. On October 10, 879, Boso was elected and proclaimed King of Lower Burgundy by the greats of his empire, including 25 bishops. The bishops justified their choice with the will of God and the choice of Bosos, which they derived from his steep career and from his adoption by the Pope. The consent of the worldly great was not specifically asked, but assumed. This usurpation united all the other Carolingians once more. Ludwig III. , Charles III. and Karlmann began to besiege Vienne, but this was unsuccessful. Only a second siege by Karlmann and Boso's brother Richard brought the desired success and Vienne fell, but Boso was able to flee. His wife fell into the hands of his opponents. Ultimately, the Carolingians did not have the success they had hoped for. Although Boso lost the northern part of his empire again, he was able to hold the rest of the area and thus created the empire which was henceforth called Arelat after its capital Arles and which he was able to pass on to his son Ludwig the blind .

Marriage and offspring

Between March and June 876, Boso married the Ermengarde of Italy , the younger daughter of the King of Italy and Roman Emperor Ludwig II of Italy , who died in August 875 ; he probably had four children with her:

  1. Willa (* at 873- † before June 929)

⚭ before Rudolf I, King of Burgundy

  • 2.Engelberga (* probably 877, † after January 917)
⚭ before 910 Wilhelm I († 918), Duke of Aquitaine
  • 3.Irmengard (Ermengard) (* around 880/885)
⚭ Manasses I († 918), Count of Chalon , Count of Dijon
⚭ around 900 Anna of Byzantium (* 886, † before 914), daughter of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI.
⚭ 914 Adelheid of Burgundy, daughter of King Rudolf I of the Guelph family

literature

predecessor Office successor
- King of Lower Burgundy
879–887 		Louis the blind
personal data
SURNAME Boso of Vienne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boso from Provence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Lower Burgundy
DATE OF BIRTH 825 or 828
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 887