Ludwig II (Italy)

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Ludwig II (* 825 ; † August 12, 875 near Brescia ) was the (titular) King of Italy from 839/840, King of the Lombards from 844, Roman co-emperor from 850 and emperor from 855 from the Carolingian family .

Life

Ludwig II was the eldest son of Emperor Lothar I from his marriage to Irmingard von Tours . His father made him king of Italy in 839/840 . Pope Sergius II then crowned him King of the Lombards on June 15, 844, and Pope Leo IV crowned him Roman (co-) emperor on April 6, 850.

When his father abdicated in 855, he received Italy in the division of Prüm . The Roman Empire sank under him to a mere title and had to renounce any sovereignty over the other Frankish kingdoms. Even in Italy, Muslim Arabs ( Saracens ) wrested the south from their empire. B. Benevento , which was stormed in 841. After the Saracens had extended their devastating raids to the monasteries of Monte Cassino and San Vincenzo on Volturno , the abbots of both monasteries called Ludwig II for help. This undertook a campaign in 851/852. But Bari could not be retaken. The dukes of Benevento and the monasteries had to buy their way out of the looting by paying tribute. From 866 to 871 the emperor stayed in southern Italy without interruption. During the reconquest of Bari in 871, where a Saracen emir had established himself, Ludwig received Byzantine naval aid.

The union with the Byzantine Empire to expel the Saracens led to the conquest of Bari in 871, but the two emperors fell out over the question of rank. A letter of reply from Ludwig to the Byzantine emperor Basil I explains the circumstances, Basil did not want to grant Ludwig the title of emperor Augustus . The Byzantine emperor went so far as to state that Charlemagne was legally not allowed to claim the imperial dignity.

After the childless death of his youngest brother Charles of Provence in 863, he had shared Burgundy with Lothar II . But when Lothar II, in whose favor he had made a move to Rome in 864 in order to force Pope Nicholas I to yield in his marital dispute, died in 869 without an heir, he did nothing to take possession of his land fell to his uncles Karl the Bald (western France) and Ludwig the German (eastern France). After returning to northern Italy from an unsuccessful vengeance against Benevento , he died on August 12, 875 near Brescia. Since his marriage to Engelberga only resulted in two daughters, the Italian branch of the Carolingians died out with him. The empire passed to Charles the Bald.

The two daughters are:

∞ March / June 876 Boso of Vienne (* 825/828; † January 11, 887), King of Niederburgund from the Buviniden family

literature

Web links

Commons : Ludwig II.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. Lily, R.-J., Byzantium. The second Rome. (Berlin 2003) 214.
  2. ^ Rudolf Schieffer : Die Zeit des Carolingischen Großreichs, 714 - 887 in: Bruno Gebhardt : Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte Volume 2. Klett-Cotta , Stuttgart 2005, 10th completely revised edition, ISBN 3-608-60002-7 , p. 144 ( books.google.de )
predecessor Office successor
Lothar I. King of Italy / Longobard
Empire 844–875
Karl the bald
Lothar I. Roman emperor
855–875
Karl the bald