Everything about Louis The Blind totally explained
Louis the Blind (c. 880 –
28 June 928) was the
king of Provence from 887,
king of Italy from 900, and briefly
Holy Roman Emperor, as
Louis III, between 901 and 905. He was the son of
Boso, the usurper king of Provence, and
Ermengard, a daughter of the
Emperor Louis II. Through his father, he was a
Bosonid, but through his mother, a
Carolingian.
He succeeded his father upon his death in January 887, though at that time, the kingdom of Provence was restricted to the environs of
Vienne. The Provençal barons elected Ermengard to act as his
regent, with the support of Louis's uncle,
Richard the Justiciar,
Duke of Burgundy. In May, Ermengard travelled with Louis to the court of her relative, the emperor
Charles the Fat, and received his recognition of the young Louis as king. Charles adopted Louis as his son and put both mother and son under his protection. In May 889, she travelled to Charles' successor,
Arnulf, to make submission anew. The short work
Visio Karoli Grossi may have been written shortly after Charles' death to support Louis's claim. If so, Louis must have had the support of
Fulk the Venerable,
Archbishop of Reims. On the other hand, the
Visio may have been written later, circa 901, to celebrate (and support) Louis's imperial coronation.
In 890, at
Valence, a council of prelates and feudatories of the realm, elected Louis as King of
Arles,
Provence, and
Cisjurane Burgundy. In 894, Louis himself did homage to Arnulf.
In 896, Louis waged war on the
Saracens. Throughout his reign, he'd to deal with the depredations of these
Moslem invaders, who had landed and established a base at
Fraxinet in 889.
In 900, Louis, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II, was invited into Italy by various lords, including
Adalbert II of Tuscany, who were suffering under the ravages of the
Magyars and the incompetent rule of
Berengar I. Louis thus marched his army across the
Alps and defeated Berengar, chasing him from
Pavia, the old
Lombard capital, where, in the church of
San Michele, he was crowned with the
Iron Crown of Lombardy on
12 October. He travelled onwards to
Rome, where, in 901, he was crowned Emperor by
Pope Benedict IV. The next year (902), however, Berengar defeated Louis's armies and forced him to flee to Provence and promise never to return.
In 905, Louis launched another attempt to invade Italy. He was again defeated by Berengar, with the aid of
Bavarian troops, captured, and imprisoned in
Verona, where, on
21 July 905, he'd his eyes put out (for breaking his oath) and was forced to relinquish his royal Italian and imperial crowns. Later, Berengar became Emperor. After this last attempt to restore Carolingian power over Italy, Louis continued to rule Provence for many more years, though
Hugh,
Count of Arles, was the dominant figure in the territory.
Louis returned to Vienne, his capital, and by 911, he'd put most of the royal powers in the hands of Hugh. Hugh was made Margrave of Provence and moved the capital to
Arles. As regent, Hugh married Louis's sister Willa. Louis lived out his days until his death in obscurity.
Marriages and heirs
In his first marriage, dated to 905, Louis fathered a son called
Charles-Constantine, who would become
Count of Vienne. Louis' first wife isn't named in any sources but she's traditionally identified with Anna, daughter of the
Byzantine Emperor Leo VI and his second wife
Zoe Zaoutzaina. However, this identification is often disputed as it's based entirely on
onomastics, supposing that Charles-Constantine's name suggest a Byzantine mother.
In 914, Louis entered a second marriage, marrying Adelaide, daughter of
Rudolph I of Upper Burgundy.
Sources
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