Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat (839 – 13 January 888) was a Carolingian emperor who ruled from 881 until his deposition in 887. He was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He holds the distinction of being the last legitimate Carolingian emperor and the final ruler of a unified Frankish kingdom. Over his life, Charles accumulated control over the various kingdoms that had once made up Charlemagne’s empire. He was given lordship over Alamannia in 876 after the division of East Francia, then became king of Italy when his older brother Carloman of Bavaria abdicated after a stroke. Pope John VIII crowned him emperor in 881. The following year, he inherited Saxony and Bavaria from his brother Louis the Younger, reuniting East Francia. When his cousin Carloman II died in 884, Charles also inherited all of West Francia, briefly reuniting the entire Carolingian Empire. Charles is often remembered as lethargic and inept. He was frequently ill and is thought to have had epilepsy. Twice he bought peace with Viking raiders, including during the infamous Siege of Paris—a decision that ultimately led to his downfall. The reunited empire did not last. In mid-November 887, his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia led a coup, deposing Charles in East Francia, Lotharingia, and the Kingdom of Italy. Forced into quiet retirement, Charles died of natural causes on 13 January 888, just weeks after being deposed. His empire quickly splintered into five separate successor kingdoms, and the territory would not be reunified under a single ruler until Napoleon’s conquests. The nickname “Charles the Fat” (Latin *Carolus Crassus*) was not used during his lifetime. It first appeared in the twelfth century, in the work of the Annalista Saxo. No contemporary source mentions his physical size, but the nickname stuck and is the common name in most modern European languages (French *Charles le Gros*, German *Karl der Dicke*, Italian *Carlo il Grosso*). His numeral, however, is roughly contemporary: Regino of Prüm, a contemporary, recorded his death as “Emperor Charles, third of that name and dignity” (Latin *Carolus imperator, tertius huius nominis et dignitatis*). Charles was the youngest of three sons born to Louis the German, first King of East Francia, and Hemma of the House of Welf. In his youth, an incident of demonic possession was recorded: he was said to have foamed at the mouth before being taken to the church altar. This deeply affected both him and his father. He was described as “a very Christian prince, fearing God, with all his heart keeping His commandments, very devoutly obeying the orders of the Church, generous in alms-giving, practising unceasingly prayer and song, always intent upon celebrating the praises of God.”

In 859, Charles was made Count of the Breisgau, an Alemannic march bordering southern Lotharingia. In 863, his eldest brother Carloman rebelled against their father. The next year, Louis the Younger followed suit, and Charles joined them. Carloman received rule over Bavaria. In 865, Louis the German was forced to divide his remaining lands: Saxony (with Franconia and Thuringia) went to Louis, Alemannia (Swabia and Rhaetia) went to Charles, and Lotharingia was to be split between the two younger brothers. When Emperor Louis II, also King of Italy, died in 875—having agreed with Louis the German that Carloman would succeed him in Italy—Charles the Bald of West Francia invaded Italy and had himself crowned king and emperor. Louis the German sent first Charles, then Carloman, with armies including Italian forces under their cousin Berengar of Friuli. These wars were unsuccessful until Charles the Bald’s death in 877. Louis the German died in 876, and the inheritance was divided as planned after a conference at Ries, though Charles received less of his Lotharingian share than intended. His reign in Germania is dated from his inheritance in 876. The three brothers cooperated unusually well, avoiding wars over their patrimony—a rarity in the Early Middle Ages. In 877, Carloman finally inherited Italy from Charles the Bald. Louis divided Lotharingia, offering a third to Carloman and a third to Charles. In 878, Carloman returned his Lotharingian share to Louis, who split it evenly with Charles. In 879, Carloman was incapacitated by a stroke and divided his domains: Bavaria went to Louis, Italy to Charles. Charles dated his reign in Italy from this point and spent most of his time there until 886. In 880, Charles joined Louis III of France and Carloman II, the joint kings of West Francia, in a failed siege of Boso of Provence in Vienne from August to September. Provence, legally part of the Italian kingdom since 863, had rebelled under Boso. In August 882, Charles sent Richard, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Autun, to take the city, which he finally did in September. After that, Boso was confined to the vicinity of Vienne. On 18 July 880, Pope John VIII wrote to Guy II of Spoleto seeking peace, but Guy ignored him and invaded the Papal States. The pope then begged Charles, as king of Italy, for aid and crowned him emperor on 12 February 881. This raised hopes of a general revival in western Europe, but Charles proved unequal to the task. He did little against Guy II, and papal letters as late as November still pleaded for action.