Editing Arnulf of Carinthia (section)

==King of East Francia==
[[File:Arnulf of Carinthia, charter of 890.jpg|thumb|A charter of donation by king Arnulf of Carinthia, issued on 15 April 890 at [[Regensburg]].]]
Arnulf took the leading role in the deposition of Charles the Fat. With the support of the Frankish nobles, Arnulf called a [[diet (assembly)|Diet]] at [[Trebur|Tribur]] and deposed Charles in November 887, under threat of military action.<ref name="Comyn, pg. 78">Comyn, pg. 78</ref><ref name="Mann III, pg. 376">Mann III, pg. 376</ref> Charles peacefully agreed to this involuntary retirement, but not without first chastising his nephew for his treachery and asking for a few royal villas in [[Swabia]] on which to live out his final months, which Arnulf granted him.<ref>Duckett, pg. 12</ref> Arnulf, having distinguished himself in the war against the [[Slavs]], was then elected king by the nobles of [[East Francia]] (only the eastern realm, though Charles had ruled the whole of the [[Frankish Empire]]).<ref>Comyn, pg. 80</ref> [[West Francia]], the [[Kingdom of Burgundy]], and the Kingdom of Italy elected their own kings from the Carolingian family.

Like many rulers of the period, Arnulf was heavily involved in [[ecclesiastical]] disputes. In 895, at the Diet of Tribur, he presided over a dispute between the [[episcopal see]]s of [[Bremen]], [[Hamburg]], and [[Cologne]] over jurisdictional authority, which saw [[Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen|Bremen and Hamburg]] remain a combined see, independent of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne|see of Cologne]].<ref>Mann IV, pg. 66</ref>

Arnulf was more a fighter than a negotiator. In 890, he was successfully battling Slavs in Pannonia.<ref>Duckett, pg. 16</ref> In early/mid-891, [[Vikings]] invaded [[Lotharingia]]<ref>Duckett, pg. 17</ref> and crushed an East Frankish army at [[Maastricht]].<ref name="Duckett, pg. 20">Duckett, pg. 20</ref> Terms such as "Vikings", "Danes", "Northmen" and "Norwegians" have been used loosely and interchangeably to describe these invaders.<ref>Arnulf's opponents in 890 have sometimes been described as  "[[Normans]]", although the term has become more strongly associated with the Scandinavians that were allies of West Francia from 911 and settled in the [[Duchy of Normandy]].</ref> In September 891, Arnulf [[Battle of Leuven (891)|repelled the Vikings]]<ref name="Duckett, pg. 20">Duckett, pg. 20</ref> and essentially ended their attacks on that front.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} The ''[[Annales Fuldenses]]'' report that there were so many dead Northmen that their bodies blocked the run of the river. After this victory, Arnulf built a castle on an island in the [[Dyle (river)|Dijle]] river.<ref>[[Latin]] ''Luvanium'', local ''Lovon''.</ref>

===Intervention in West Francia===
Arnulf took advantage of the problems in West Francia after the death of Charles the Fat to secure the territory of Lotharingia, which he converted into a kingdom for his son [[Zwentibold]].<ref>Comyn, pg. 82</ref> In 889, Arnulf supported the claim of [[Louis the Blind]] to the [[kingdom of Provence]], after receiving a personal appeal from Louis' mother, [[Ermengard of Italy|Ermengard]], who came to see Arnulf at [[Forchheim]] in May 889.<ref>Mann III, pg. 382</ref>
[[File:888 CE, Europe.svg|thumb|Europe in AD 888; Arnulf's realms are marked "K. of Germany."]]
Recognising the superiority of Arnulf's position in 888, king [[Odo of France]] formally accepted the suzerainty of Arnulf.<ref name="Bryce, pg. xxxv">Bryce, pg. xxxv</ref> In 893, Arnulf switched his support from Odo to [[Charles the Simple]] after being persuaded by [[Fulk, Archbishop of Reims]], that it was in his best interests.<ref>Mann IV, pg. 55</ref> Arnulf then took advantage of the following fighting between Odo and Charles in 894, harrying some territories of West Francia.<ref name="Mann IV, pg. 56">Mann IV, pg. 56</ref> At one point, Charles the Simple was forced to flee to Arnulf and ask for his protection.<ref>Duckett, pg. 25</ref> His intervention soon forced [[Pope Formosus]] to get involved, as he was worried that a divided and war weary West Francia would be easy prey for the Vikings.<ref name="Mann IV, pg. 56">Mann IV, pg. 56</ref>

In 895, Arnulf summoned both Charles and Odo to his residence at [[Worms, Germany|Worms]]. Charles's advisers convinced him not to go, and he sent a representative in his place. Odo, on the other hand, personally attended, together with a large retinue, bearing many gifts for Arnulf.<ref name="Duckett, pg. 26">Duckett, pg. 26</ref> Angered by the non-appearance of Charles, he welcomed Odo at the Diet of Worms in May 895 and again supported Odo's claim to the throne of West Francia.<ref name="Duckett, pg. 26">Duckett, pg. 26</ref> In the same assembly he crowned his illegitimate son Zwentibold as the king of Lotharingia.<ref name="Duckett, pg. 26">Duckett, pg. 26</ref>

===Wars with Moravia===
As early as 880, Arnulf had designs on [[Great Moravia]] and had the Frankish bishop [[Wiching]] of [[Nitra]] interfere with the missionary activities of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] priest [[Cyril and Methodius|Methodius]], with the aim of preventing any potential for creating a unified Moravian state.<ref>Mann III, pg. 243</ref> Arnulf had formal relations with the ruler of the Moravian Kingdom, [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk]], using them to learn the latter's military and political secrets. Later, these tactics were used to occupy the territory of the Greater Moravian state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/ebce.2018.8.issue-1/ebce-2018-0007/ebce-2018-0007.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/ebce.2018.8.issue-1/ebce-2018-0007/ebce-2018-0007.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Ethics and politics of Great Moravia of the 9th century Vasil Gluchman}}</ref>

Arnulf failed to conquer the whole of Great Moravia in wars of 892, 893, and 899. Yet Arnulf did achieve some successes, in particular in 895, when the [[Duchy of Bohemia]] broke away from Great Moravia and became his vassal state. An accord was reached between him and Duke of Bohemia [[Borivoj I]]. Bohemia was thus freed from the dangers of Frankish invasion. In 893 or 894 Great Moravia probably lost a part of its territory—present-day western [[Hungary]]—to him. As a reward, Wiching became Arnulf's chancellor in 892.<ref>Mann, III, pg. 244</ref> In his attempts to conquer Moravia, in 899 Arnulf reached out to [[Magyars]] who had settled in the [[Carpathian Basin]], and with their help he imposed a measure of control over Moravia.<ref name="Comyn, pg. 83">Comyn, pg. 83</ref><ref>Mann IV, pg. 13</ref>