Editing Charles the Simple (section)

== Revolt of the nobles ==
[[File:Carolingian empire 915.svg|220px|thumb|{{center|Realms ruled by Charles the Simple in 915 (red)}}]]
Queen Frederuna died on 10 February 917 leaving six daughters and no sons<ref>''Genealogiæ Comitum Flandriæ, Witgeri Genealogica Arnulfi Comitis'' MGH SS IX, p. 303.</ref>—and thus uncertainty as to the succession. On 7 October 919 Charles married [[Eadgifu of England|Eadgifu]], the daughter of [[Edward the Elder]], [[King of England]], who bore him a son, the future King [[Louis IV of France]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uLlLAAAAYAAJ&q=Eadgifu+of+Wessex Lappenberg, Johann Martin. ''A History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings'', Volume 2, George Bell, London. 1884, p. 120]</ref>

By this time, Charles's excessive favouritism towards a certain [[Hagano]], a petty nobleman (mediocris) and a relative of Charles's first wife Frederuna, had turned the aristocracy against him. He endowed Hagano with monasteries that were already the [[benefice]]s of other barons, alienating them. In Lotharingia, he earned the enmity of the new duke [[Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine|Gilbert]], who in 919 declared loyalty to the new king of East Francia [[Henry the Fowler]].<ref name="Parisse" /> Opposition to Charles in Lotharingia was not universal, however; he retained the support of [[Wigeric]].{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

The nobles, completely exasperated with Charles's policies and especially his favouritism of Count Hagano, seized Charles in 920.<ref name="TC250">Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe'', trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 250</ref> After negotiations by [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims|Archbishop Herveus of Reims]] the king was released.<ref name="TC250" />

In 922, the Frankish nobles revolted again led by [[Robert I of France|Robert of Neustria]].<ref name="TC250" /> Robert, who was Odo's brother, was elected king by the rebels and crowned, while Charles had to flee to Lotharingia. On 2 July 922, Charles lost his most faithful supporter, Herveus of Reims, who had succeeded Fulk in 900. Charles returned with a Norman army in 923 but was defeated on 15 June at the [[Battle of Soissons (923)|Battle of Soissons]] by Robert, who died in the battle.<ref name="Parisse" /> Charles was captured and imprisoned in a castle at [[Péronne, Somme|Péronne]] under the guard of [[Herbert II of Vermandois]].<ref name="Dunbabin">Jean Dunbabin, "West Francia: The Kingdom", ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, III: c. 900–c. 1024'', ed. [[Timothy Reuter]] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 378–79.</ref> Robert's son-in-law [[Rudolph of France|Rudolph of Burgundy]] was then elected to succeed him as king.<ref>''The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 9919–966'', ed. & trans. Steven Fanning; Bernard S. Bachrach (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. xvi</ref>

Charles died in prison on 7 October 929 and was buried at the nearby abbey of [[Saint-Fursy]]. His son by Eadgifu would eventually be crowned in 936 as [[Louis IV of France]].<ref name="AFRxvii">''The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 9919–966'', ed. & trans. Steven Fanning; Bernard S. Bachrach (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), p. xvii</ref> In the initial aftermath of Charles's defeat, Queen Eadgifu and their children fled to England.<ref name="AFRxvii" />

=== Background ===
On 6 December 884, King [[Carloman II]] of [[West Francia]] died without a male heir and his half-brother, the future Charles the Simple, was just a five-year-old boy. Because of this, their cousin [[Charles the Fat]], already [[Holy Roman Emperor]] and King of [[East Francia]], was invited by the nobles of the Kingdom to assume the throne. Since the beginning, the new monarch was forced to deal with constant Viking raids, with little success. After three years of incompetent government, Charles the Fat was finally deposed by the [[Diet of Tribur]] in 887.<ref>Depreux 2002, pp. 128–129.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Faced with the growing threat of northern invaders, the local nobles again rejected the succession of Charles the Simple because he was too young, and [[Odo of France|Odo, Count of Paris]] (member of the [[Robertians|Robertian]] dynasty) was chosen as the new King of West Francia, after successfully defending [[Paris]] against the Vikings, led by [[Rollo]]. In 893, aided by [[Fulk (archbishop of Reims)|Archbishop Fulk of Reims]], Charles the Simple attempted to reclaim the throne, but in vain. By 897, the young prince ruled only the city of [[Laon]] before Odo on his deathbed designated him as his successor.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

Following the death of Odo in January 898, Charles the Simple finally assumed the title of king of West Francia. Soon the new monarch showed his ambition to conquer [[Lotharingia]], the main objective of all the monarchs of West Francia since [[Charles the Bald]]. Lotharingia was the cradle of the Carolingian dynasty. Charlemagne's ancestors, the [[Pippinids]] were from Lotharingia ([[Herstal]], [[Jupille-sur-Meuse|Jupille]]...). After the [[Treaty of Verdun]] in 843, the Lotharingia was part of [[Middle Francia]] for a short time and both West and East Francia tried to gain control over it. [[Arnulf of Carinthia]], King of East Francia prevented this by entrusting the land to his son [[Zwentibold]] in 895. Zwentibold was hated by his subjects, so Charles the Simple decided to invade in 898 after being called by [[Reginar, Duke of Lorraine|Count Reginar of Hainaut]]. After seizing [[Aachen]] and capturing [[Charlemagne]]'s Palace at [[Nijmegen]], he returned to France at the request of the German bishops. A few years later, in September 911, the Lotharingian aristocracy again called on Charles the Simple after the death of [[Louis the Child]], the last Carolingian ruler in East Francia.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

Charles the Simple was crowned King of Lotharingia in early November 911. However, the constant absences of the new monarch (who preferred to stay in Aachen or Thionville), quickly irritated the Lotharingian nobility (who feared for their own independence) and nobles of France, who saw this inclination as an affront.<ref>Isaïa 2009, p. 82.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}} The situation was even more complicated because, according to Flodoard, Charles the Simple refused to march against the Hungarians who threatened Lotharingia (only Archbishop Hervé de Reims was present there) and finally caused an open rebellion when he attempted to dispossess his own aunt, Abbess Rothilde (also mother-in-law of [[Hugh the Great]]), from [[Chelles Abbey]] in order to give it to his favourite, [[Hagano]] (a relative of his first wife Frederuna).<ref>Depreux 2002, pp. 131–132.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

=== Deposition ===
From 920 to 922, Charles the Simple was in trouble. Although he signed the [[Treaty of Bonn]] with king [[Henry the Fowler]] of [[East Francia]] on 7 November 921, he had to fight on two fronts: one against [[Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine|Duke Giselbert of Lotharingia]] and the other against Hugh the Great, irritated by the treatment of his mother-in-law. Defeated, in June 922 Charles the Simple took refuge in Lotharingia. The nobles of West Francia declared him deposed from the throne, choosing as the new King [[Robert I of France|Robert, Count of Paris]], brother of the late King [[Odo of France|Odo]] and father of Hugh the Great.<ref>Depreux 2002, p. 129.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Charles the Simple returned to France to regain the throne. His army, supported by a Lotharingian army and a group of soldiers, faced King Robert's army at [[Soissons]] in June 923. According to [[Richerus]], Robert was killed in battle by Count Fulbert<ref>Richer de Reims: ''Gallica Histoire de son temps'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20160219221316/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/bpt6k1022235.image.f198.langFR Book I, p. 87] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219221316/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/bpt6k1022235.image.f198.langFR |date=19 February 2016 }}.</ref> or according to other historians, by Charles the Simple. Despite the death of Robert, his army won the battle and Charles the Simple had to escape from the battlefield. The French nobles elected [[Rudolph of France]] (Robert's son-in-law) as their new King, with his coronation taking place on 13 July 923 at [[St Médard]], Soissons.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

During the summer, Charles the Simple was captured by [[Herbert II, Count of Vermandois]], (another son-in-law of King Robert) at [[Château-Thierry]]; meanwhile, King Henry I of Germany took advantage of the situation to seize and add Lotharingia to his domains, after giving his daughter [[Gerberga of Saxony]] in marriage to Duke Giselbert.<ref>Isaïa 2009, p. 87.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

After some time at Château-Thierry, the humiliated Charles the Simple was transferred in 924 to [[Péronne, Somme|Péronne]], where he died on 7 October 929 and was immediately buried in the local Monastery of Saint-Fursy. The legitimate Carolingian heir was now [[Louis IV of France|Louis]], but King Rudolph retained the throne and ruled until his death from illness on 15 January 936 at [[Auxerre]], being buried in the Abbey of Sainte-Colombe of [[Sens]].<ref>Toussaint-Duplessis: ''Annales de Paris. Jusqu'au règne de Hugues Capet'', 1753, p. 201.</ref> The nobility then discussed who could be the next king, because Rudolph left no sons. Finally, the nobles unanimously summoned back Louis to France, thanks to the decisive support of Hugh the Great, to become their new king.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}