The first great scion of the dynasty wasBoso,count of Arles and of other Burgundian counties in the mid-9th century. Boso rose in favour as a courtier ofCharles the Bald. He was even appointedviceroy inItaly in 875. After the death of Charles' sonLouis the Stammerer, Boso refused to recognise Louis' sonsCarloman andLouis III as kings of France, and proclaimed himselfking of Provence in 879 atVienne, with the support of the nobility. Boso strove throughout the rest of his life to maintain his title in the face of EmperorCharles the Fat. He died in 887 and was succeeded by his son,Louis the Blind, under the regency of his wifeErmengard, a daughter of theEmperor Louis II.
Louis was adopted by Charles the Fat and legitimised in his royal title. With this legal basis, he sought to take the place of hisCarolingian relatives on the imperial and Italian thrones in 900. He was crowned inPavia and then inRome, but could not actually hold on to power there.
Bouchard, Constance B. (1988). "The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age".French Historical Studies.15 (3):407–431.JSTOR286367.
Bouchard, Constance B. (1999)."Burgundy and Provence, 879–1032".The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 328–345.
Goldberg, Eric J. (2021). "'A Man of Notable Good Looks Disfigured by a Cruel Wound': The Forest Misadventure of Charles the Young of Aquitaine (864) in History and Legend". In Rutger Kramer; Helmut Reimitz; Graeme Ward (eds.).Historiography and Identity III: Carolingian Approaches. Brepols. pp. 355–386.doi:10.1484/M.CELAMA-EB.5.120170.
