Karl (Provence)

Charles (* around 845 ; † January 24, 863 in Lyon ) was king of the Franconian part of Burgundy from 855 or 856 .

Karl was the youngest son of Emperor Lothar I from his marriage to Irmingard von Tours . In 855, with the division of Prüm, together with Provence, he was assigned a part of Burgundy (with the exception of Bourgogne ). His older brother Lothar , however, contested his part of the empire, and a final decision was not made until 856 at a meeting in Orbe, where the powerful of this part of the empire probably enforced Charles' own rule. Lothar later accepted the kingship of Charles and concluded a friendship treaty with him in the spring of 858, in which he transferred the territory of two bishoprics to Karl from his empire and in return received an inheritance claim to Charles' empire if Charles should die without sons.

How far Karl, who at least suffered from epilepsy towards the end of his life , was restricted in his ability to govern is a matter of dispute. While Thilo Offergeld suspects that Karl was “not primarily perceived as a minor, but above all as a sick and therefore incapable of acting ruler”, Achim Hack considers such an assessment to be speculation. Karl died childless. After his death, his empire was divided between his two brothers Lothar and Ludwig . Karl was buried in the monastery of St-Pierre-les-Nonnains in Lyon.

literature

• Regesta Imperii I, 3.4 n.2492-2549.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Regesta Imperii (RI) I, 3.4 n.2495
2. ↑ RI I, 3.4 n.2504
3. ^ Offergeld, Thilo: Reges pueri. The royalty of minors in the early Middle Ages. MGH, Schriften Vol. 50, Hannover 2001, p. 338
4. ↑ Hack, Achim Thomas: Age, illness, death and rule in the early Middle Ages. Monographs on the History of the Middle Ages Vol. 56, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 170 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Lothar I.	King of Burgundy 855–863	-