| Louis the Blind | |
|---|---|
| Emperor of the Romans | |
 French denier minted in the name of Louis III. Legend:☩ lvdvvicvs imp(erator) | |
| Emperor inItaly | |
| Reign | 901–905 |
| Coronation | February 901,Rome |
| Predecessor | Arnulf |
| Successor | Berengar I |
| King of Italy | |
| Reign | 900–905 |
| Predecessor | Arnulf |
| Successor | Berengar I |
| King of Provence | |
| Reign | 890–928 |
| Predecessor | Boso |
| Successor | Hugh |
| Born | c. 880 Provence |
| Died | 5 June 928 (aged c. 47/48) Vienne, Provence |
| Spouses |
|
| Issue |
|
| House | Bivinid Carolingian |
| Father | Boso |
| Mother | Ermengard |
| Signum manus |  |
Louis the Blind (c. 880 – 5 June 928)[1] wasking inProvence andLower Burgundy from 890 to 928, and alsoking of Italy from 900 to 905, and also theemperor between 901 and 905, styled asLouis III since his grandfather was styled asLouis II from 844–875. His father was kingBoso, from theBosonid family, and his mother wasErmengard, aCarolingian princess & only child of EmperorLouis II. In 905, he was blinded and lost Italy, retreating to his remaining domains in Provence and Lower Burgundy.[2][3]
In historiography, he is styled asKing of Provence, orKing of Burgundy.
Born c. 880, Louis was the son ofBoso, the usurper king of Provence, andErmengard, a daughter ofEmperor Louis II.[4] Upon Boso's death on 11 January 887, Louis was still a child, and under guardianship of his mother. Instead of unilaterally proclaiming her son as the new king in regions previously held or claimed by his father, she decided to improve Louis′ claims, and thus approached her relative, the emperorCharles the Fat & declaredBurgundy’s submission to the Empire. In May, Ermengard traveled to Charles′ court with Louis, and received confirmation of family estates. Charles also adopted Louis, and put both mother and son under his protection.[5]
However, in November 887, emperor Charles was deposed, and died in January 888, but Louis was still young and thus unable to claim royal dignity, while several other regional lords were proclaimed kings in 888:Rudolph I (inUpper Burgundy),Odo I (inWest Francia) andBerengar I (inItaly). In May 889, Ermengard traveled to the court of kingArnulf ofEast Francia, to make a new submission, while at the same time seeking support ofPope Stephen V for her son. In August 890, at theDiet ofValence, a council ofbishops andfeudatories of the realm, after hearing the recommendation of the pope, and receiving notification of Charles the Fat's previous agreement to the proposition, proclaimed Louis as king inLower Burgundy andProvence.[6][7]
The short workVisio Karoli Grossi may have been written shortly after emperor Charles' death to support Louis's claims. If so, Louis must have had the support ofFulk the Venerable,Archbishop of Reims. On the other hand, theVisio may have been written later, circa 901, to celebrate (and support) Louis's later imperial coronation in 901.[8]
His kingdom was smaller than his father's initial realm, as it did not includeUpper Burgundy (lost toRudolph I of Burgundy), nor any of West-Frankish Burgundy, absorbed byRichard the Justiciar,Duke of Burgundy.[6] This meant that Louis′ kingdom was restricted to the environs ofVienne and Provençal regions. Since he was still young, local barons elected Ermengard to act as hisregent, with the support of Louis's uncle,Richard the Justiciar. In 894, Louis himself did homage to Arnulf.[citation needed]
In 896, Louis waged war on theSaracens. Throughout his reign he fought with these Saracenpirates, who had established a base atFraxinet in 889 and had been raiding the coast of Provence, alarming the local nobility.[6]
In 900, Louis, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II, was invited into Italy by various lords, includingAdalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany,[9] who were suffering under the ravages of theMagyars and the incompetent rule ofBerengar I. Louis thus marched his army across theAlps and defeated Berengar, chasing him fromPavia, the oldLombard capital, where, in the church ofSan Michele, he was crowned with theIron Crown of Lombardy on 12 October 900.[10] He travelled onwards toRome, where, in 901, he was crowned emperor byPope Benedict IV.[11] However, his inability to stem the Magyar incursions and impose any meaningful control over northern Italy saw the Italian nobles quickly abandon his cause and once again align themselves with Berengar.[10] In 902, Berengar defeated Louis's armies and forced him to flee to Provence and promise never to return.[12]
In 905, Louis, after again listening to the Italian nobles who were tired of Berengar's rule, this time led byAdalbert I of Ivrea,[13] launched another attempt to invade Italy.[12] Once again throwing Berengar out of Pavia,[10] he marched and also succeeded in takingVerona[12] with only a small following, after receiving the promise of support from thebishop, Adalard.[10] Partisans of Berengar in the town soon got word to Berengar of Louis's exposed position at Verona and his limited support.[10] Berengar returned, accompanied byBavarian troops, and entered Verona in the dead of night. Louis sought sanctuary at the church of St Peter,[citation needed] but he was captured. On 21 July 905, Louis had hiseyes put out (for breaking his oath),[6] and was forced to relinquish his royal Italian and imperial crowns. Later, Berengar became emperor. After this last attempt to restore his power over Italy, Louis continued to rule Provence for over twenty years, though his cousin[14]Hugh,count of Arles, was the dominant figure in the territory.[15][16]
Louis returned toVienne, his capital, and by 911, he had put most of the royal powers in the hands of Hugh. Hugh was made Margrave of Provence and Marquis of Vienne[14] and moved the capital toArles. As regent, Hugh married Louis's sister Willa. Louis lived out his days until his death in obscurity, and through his life he continued to style himself as Roman emperor.[6] He was succeeded by his brother-in-law in 928.[13]
In 899, Louis III was betrothed toAnna of Constantinople [fr], the daughter ofByzantine EmperorLeo VI the Wise and his second wife,Zoe Zaoutzaina.[17] The evidence for this is a letter by PatriarchNicholas Mystikos in which he testifies that Leo VI had united his daughter to aFrank prince, a cousin ofBertha, to whom came later a great misfortune.[citation needed] That unfortunate prince could only be Louis III, whose mother Irmingardis was a first cousin of Bertha and who was blinded on 21 July 905.[18] This betrothal occurred shortly before the fall ofTaormina to theArabs, and was part of extended diplomatic activities meant to strengthen Byzantine alliances with the western powers to preserve Byzantine territory in southern Italy.[19][6]
The question of whether the betrothal was ever followed up by an actual marriage is still a matter of some controversy.[17] Louis fathered a son calledCharles-Constantine,[20] who would becomeCount of Vienne. Charles' mother is not named in any sources. There has been modern speculation, proposed by Previté-Orton and championed byChristian Settipani, that she was Anna,[21][6]the daughter ofLeo VI andZoe Zaoutzaina, based both upon the documented betrothal, as well on theonomastic evidence, stating that Charles-Constantine's name points to a Byzantine mother. Shaun Tougher doubts they were ever married.[22]
Detractors of the theory point out that when Anna was born, however, she was the daughter of a concubine who later became empress. Her father, at the time of Charles' birth, was the reigning emperor, therefore the silence of primary sources works against this theory. In addition,Liutprand of Cremona makes no mention of this, and it would have been very interesting to him, given that he was a thorough gossip, had been ambassador to Constantinople and devoted several chapters to the misadventures of Louis in Italy with no mention of these Byzantine connections.René Poupardin believed that Constantine was not a baptismal name, but Settipani disagrees.Richer specifically stated that Charles' ancestry was tainted with illegitimacy and mentioned nothing of his mother's supposed illustrious Byzantine parentage.[citation needed]
Christian Settipani challenges that theory by stating that the only reason why René Poupardin made him a bastard of Louis III was a passage by Richerius claiming that "Charles Constantine (...) was from a royal race, but which nobility had been vilified by a bastard ancestry remounting to his great-great-grandfather", proving nothing about Charles-Constantine's mother.[18] Such a union would also account for the mention of Greek merchants in Louis’ privilege of 921.[17]
In 914, Louis entered a second union, which would then be either his first or second marriage, by marrying Adelaide, daughter ofRudolph I of Upper Burgundy, likely mother of Rudolph, the other documented son of Louis the Blind.[21]
In December 915, his daughter,Anna of Provence, married Berengar.[23] It has been suggested, largely foronomastic reasons, that Anna was a daughter of Louis III and his wife Anna, daughter of Leo VI the Wise.[24] In that case, she would have been betrothed to Berengar while still a child and only become hisconsors andimperatrix in 923.[24]
Louis the Blind Died: 5 June 928 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of Provence 890–928 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | — DISPUTED — King of Italy 900–905 Disputed byBerengar I | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | — DISPUTED — (Holy) Roman Emperor 901–905 Disputed byBerengar I | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
| Other | |
