| Revision as of 00:22, 28 May 2023 editMouath14 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users690 editsm Saracens is not the most suitable term to describe Aghlabid Tunisia, a nation of multiethnic composition and army. Saracens was mainly used back then by Europeans to describe those from the Arabian peninsula. North Africa was not the same area.← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 05:01, 26 December 2024 edit undoSmasongarrison (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, New page reviewers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers729,464 edits General + punct fixes, typo(s) fixed: City → city, great → great-Tag: AWB | ||
| (22 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Short description|Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 844 |
{{Short description|Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 844 to 875}} | ||
| {{ |
{{more citations needed|date=May 2021}} | ||
| {{Infobox royalty | {{Infobox royalty | ||
| | name = Louis II | |||
| | image = Louis II of Italy.png | | image = Louis II of Italy.png | ||
| | alt = | | alt = | ||
| Line 7: | Line 8: | ||
| | succession = ] of the ]<br>] | | succession = ] of the ]<br>] | ||
| | title = ] | | title = ] | ||
| | reign = |
| reign = 844–875 (with ] until 855) | ||
| | coronation = 15 June 844, ] | | coronation = 15 June 844, ] | ||
| | predecessor = ] | | predecessor = ] | ||
| Line 18: | Line 19: | ||
| | spouse = ] | | spouse = ] | ||
| | issue = ] | | issue = ] | ||
| | dynasty = ] | | dynasty = ] | ||
| | father = ] | | father = ] | ||
| | mother = ] | | mother = ] | ||
| Line 25: | Line 26: | ||
| '''Louis II''' (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called '''the Younger''',<ref>His ordinal and nickname comes from the fact that he was the second Louis to be emperor after his grandfather ]. He should not be confused with ], king of Saxony, or ], king of France.</ref> was the ] and emperor of the ] from 844, co-ruling with his father ] until 855, after which he ruled alone. | '''Louis II''' (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called '''the Younger''',<ref>His ordinal and nickname comes from the fact that he was the second Louis to be emperor after his grandfather ]. He should not be confused with ], king of Saxony, or ], king of France.</ref> was the ] and emperor of the ] from 844, co-ruling with his father ] until 855, after which he ruled alone. | ||
| Louis's usual title was ''imperator augustus'' ("august emperor"), but he used ''imperator Romanorum'' ("emperor of the Romans") after his ] in 871, which led to poor relations with the ]. He was called ''imperator Italiae'' ("emperor of Italy") in ] while the Byzantines called him ''] Phrangias'' ("Emperor of Francia"). | Louis's usual title was ''] ]'' ("august emperor"), but he used ''imperator Romanorum'' ("emperor of the Romans") after his ] in 871, which led to poor relations with the ]. He was called ''imperator Italiae'' ("emperor of Italy") in ] while the Byzantines called him ''] Phrangias'' ("Emperor of Francia"). | ||
| The chronicler ], who is the main source for Louis's activities in southern Italy, notes that "after his death a great tribulation came to Italy."<ref>''Post cuius obitum magna tribulatio in Italia advenit.'' Andreas, in ] (ed.), '']'' (Hannover: 1878), 222–30, §18.</ref> | The chronicler ], who is the main source for Louis's activities in southern Italy, notes that "after his death a great tribulation came to Italy."<ref>''Post cuius obitum magna tribulatio in Italia advenit.'' Andreas, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926233949/http://www.oeaw.ac.at/gema/bergamo.htm |date=2007-09-26 }} in ] (ed.), '']'' (Hannover: 1878), 222–30, §18.</ref> | ||
| ==Childhood== | ==Childhood== | ||
| Louis was born in 825,<ref>Peter H. Wilson, ''Heart of Europe'', (Harvard University Press, 2016), 918.</ref><ref>''Emperor Louis II'', ''Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia'', ed.Christopher Kleinhenz, (Routledge, 2004), 655.</ref> the eldest son of the junior emperor ] and his wife ]. His father was the son of the reigning emperor, ]. Little is known about his early life, except that he grew up in his grandfather's court and probably developed a warm affection for the emperor who, in 839, designated his grandson as King of Italy, and let Louis take up his residence in that country. |
Louis was born in 825,<ref>Peter H. Wilson, ''Heart of Europe'', (Harvard University Press, 2016), 918.</ref><ref>''Emperor Louis II'', ''Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia'', ed.Christopher Kleinhenz, (Routledge, 2004), 655.</ref> the eldest son of the junior emperor ] and his wife ]. His father was the son of the reigning emperor, ]. Little is known about his early life, except that he grew up in his grandfather's court and probably developed a warm affection for the emperor who, in 839, designated his grandson as King of Italy, and let Louis take up his residence in that country. | ||
| Louis the Pious died the next year, and his empire was partitioned between his sons |
Louis the Pious died the next year, and his empire ] between his sons: Louis' father, Lothair, and Louis' uncle, ], as well as their younger half-brother, ]. Under his father's rule, he was crowned king and co-emperor to the middle-aged Emperor Lothair I at ] by ] on 15 June 844. This ceremony mirrors the crowning of Lothair I by his father, a tradition started by Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious, who were, respectively, great-grandfather and grandfather of Louis II. | ||
| ==Joint emperor== | ==Joint emperor== | ||
| Louis II immediately claimed the rights of an emperor in the city, a claim which was decisively rejected; but in 850 he was ] at Rome by ], and soon afterwards, in 851, married ] and undertook the independent government of Italy. He marched into the south of Italy in the year of his imperial coronation and compelled the rival ], ] and ], to make peace. His mediation split the Lombard duchy and gave Radelchis his share with Benevento as his capital, whilst ] was given to Siconulf as an independent principality. Radelchis, now pacified, had no need of his ] mercenaries and happily betrayed them to the emperor. Louis fell on them and they were massacred. He then quashed some accusations against Pope Leo and held a ] at ]. He confirmed the usurping ] ] as prince of Salerno in December 853, displacing the dynasty he had installed there three years earlier. On the death of his father in September 855, he became sole emperor. | Louis II immediately claimed the rights of an emperor in the city, a claim which was decisively rejected; but in 850 he was ] at Rome by ], and soon afterwards, in 851, married ] and undertook the independent government of Italy. He marched into the south of Italy in the year of his imperial coronation and compelled the rival ], ] and ], to make peace. His mediation split the Lombard duchy and gave Radelchis his share with Benevento as his capital, whilst ] was given to Siconulf as an independent principality. Radelchis, now pacified, had no need of his ] mercenaries and happily betrayed them to the emperor. Louis fell on them and they were massacred. He then quashed some accusations against Pope Leo and held a ] at ]. He confirmed the usurping ] ] as prince of Salerno in December 853, displacing the dynasty he had installed there three years earlier. On the death of his father in September 855, he became sole emperor. | ||
| ==Sole emperor== | ==Sole emperor== | ||
| ===Carolingian interventions=== | ===Carolingian interventions=== | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| The division of Lothair's dominions, by which he obtained no territory outside Italy, aroused his discontent, and in 857 he allied himself with ] against his own brother ], and King ]. But after Louis had secured the election of ] in 858, he |
The division of Lothair's dominions, by which he obtained no territory outside Italy, aroused his discontent, and in 857 he allied himself with ] against his own brother ], and King ]. But after Louis had secured the election of ] in 858, he reconciled with his brother, and received some lands south of the ] in return for assistance given to Lothair in his efforts to obtain a divorce from his wife, ]. | ||
| In 863, upon the death of his brother Charles, Louis received the kingdom of ], and in 864 came into collision with Pope Nicholas I over his brother's divorce. The ]s, who had been deposed by Nicholas for proclaiming this marriage invalid, obtained the support of the emperor, who reached Rome with an army in February 864; but, having been seized with fever, he made peace with the pope and left the city. | In 863, upon the death of his brother Charles, Louis received the kingdom of ], and in 864 came into collision with Pope Nicholas I over his brother's divorce. The ]s, who had been deposed by Nicholas for proclaiming this marriage invalid, obtained the support of the emperor, who reached Rome with an army in February 864; but, having been seized with fever, he made peace with the pope and left the city. | ||
| Line 46: | Line 47: | ||
| ===Bari=== | ===Bari=== | ||
| {{main|Louis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)}} | {{main|Louis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)}} | ||
| In his efforts to restore order in Italy, Louis |
In his efforts to restore order in Italy, Louis saw considerable success both against Italy's turbulent princes and against the ] who were ravaging southern Italy. In 866, after issuing a call for assistance to fight the Muslims,<ref>Pierre Riche, ''The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe'', transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 182</ref> he routed these invaders, but could not follow up his successes owing to the lack of a fleet. So in 869 he made alliance with the eastern emperor, ], who sent him ships to assist in the capture of Bari, capital of the ], which succumbed in 871.<ref>Pierre Riche, ''The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe'', 182.</ref> | ||
| Meanwhile, his brother Lothair had died in 869, and owing to his detention in southern Italy, Louis failed to prevent the partition of ] between Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Some jealousy between Louis and Basil followed the victory at Bari, and in reply to an insult from the eastern emperor Louis attempted to justify his right to the title "emperor of the Romans."<ref> |
Meanwhile, his brother Lothair had died in 869, and owing to his detention in southern Italy, Louis failed to prevent the partition of ] between Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Some jealousy between Louis and Basil followed the victory at Bari, and in reply to an insult from the eastern emperor Louis attempted to justify his right to the title "emperor of the Romans."<ref>Letter of Louis II to Basil I, tr. Charles West, '''' (Toronto, 2023), pp. 182–200</ref> | ||
| ===Benevento=== | ===Benevento=== | ||
| He had withdrawn into ] to prepare for a further campaign when he was |
He had withdrawn into ] to prepare for a further campaign when he was attacked in his palace, robbed and imprisoned by ], prince of Benevento, in August 871. The capture of Louis was lamented in a contemporary short poem, the '']''. The landing of fresh bands of Aghlabids compelled Adelchis to release his prisoner a month later, and Louis was forced to swear he would take no revenge for this injury, nor ever enter Benevento with an army. Returning to Rome, he was released from his oath, and was crowned a second time as emperor by ] in May 872.<ref>{{Citation |last=Groth |first=Simon |title=How to Become Emperor – John VIII and the Role of the Papacy in the 9th Century |date=2017 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6zdbwx.7 |work=Transcultural Approaches to the Concept of Imperial Rule in the Middle Ages |pages=122 |jstor=j.ctv6zdbwx.7 |access-date=2023-12-05 |isbn=978-3-631-66219-9}}</ref> | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| Louis won further successes against the Aghlabids, relieving the ] and driving them from ], but the emperor's attempts to punish Adelchis were not very successful. Returning to northern Italy, he died, near ], in what is now the ], on 12 August 875,{{sfn|Mckitterick|2014|p=180}} having named as his successor in Italy his cousin ], son of Louis the German. Louis was buried in the ] in ]. | |||
| ==Family== | ==Family== | ||
| Line 60: | Line 61: | ||
| * Gisela (852/855-before 28 April 868), Abbess of the Monastery of San Salvador of Brescia from the year 861. | * Gisela (852/855-before 28 April 868), Abbess of the Monastery of San Salvador of Brescia from the year 861. | ||
| * ], who married ] |
* ], who married ]{{sfn|Bouchard|1988|p=409}} | ||
| == |
==References== | ||
| {{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
| ==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
| {{Commons category|Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor}} | {{Commons category|Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor}} | ||
| *{{cite journal |title=The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age |first=Constance B. |last=Bouchard |journal=French Historical Studies |volume=15| issue = 3 (Spring) |year= 1988 |publisher=Duke University Press }} | |||
| *{{cite book |first=Jules |last=Gay |title=L'Italie méridionale et l'empire byzantin depuis l'avènement de Basile I<sup>er</sup> jusqu'à la prise de Bari par les Normands (867–1071) |publisher=Albert Fontemoing |year=1904 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k859914z/f11.item.texteImage}} | *{{cite book |first=Jules |last=Gay |title=L'Italie méridionale et l'empire byzantin depuis l'avènement de Basile I<sup>er</sup> jusqu'à la prise de Bari par les Normands (867–1071) |publisher=Albert Fontemoing |year=1904 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k859914z/f11.item.texteImage}} | ||
| * {{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Eric J.|title=Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876|year=2006|publisher=Cornell University Press}} | * {{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Eric J.|title=Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876|year=2006|publisher=Cornell University Press}} | ||
| *{{cite book |title=The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians 751-987 |first=Rosamond |last=Mckitterick |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 }} | |||
| *'']'' and ''Chronica S. Benedicti Casinensis'', both in the '']. Scriptores'', Bände i. and iii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 fol.) | *'']'' and ''Chronica S. Benedicti Casinensis'', both in the '']. Scriptores'', Bände i. and iii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 fol.) | ||
| *Barbara M. Kreutz 'Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996) | |||
| *] Antiquitates Italicæ Medii ævi, Tome XIV, col. 106. (1778) | *] Antiquitates Italicæ Medii ævi, Tome XIV, col. 106. (1778) | ||
| *Muhlbacher, E. ''Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern'' (Innsbruck, 1881) | *Muhlbacher, E. ''Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern'' (Innsbruck, 1881) | ||
| *Sickel, T. ''Acta regum et imperatorum Karolinorum, digesta et enarrata'' (Vienna, 1867—1868) | *Sickel, T. ''Acta regum et imperatorum Karolinorum, digesta et enarrata'' (Vienna, 1867—1868) | ||
| *West, Charles, ''The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855-869'' (Toronto, 2023) | |||
| {{s-start}} | {{s-start}} | ||
| Line 98: | Line 103: | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 05:01, 26 December 2024
Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 844 to 875 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Louis II of Italy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Louis II | |
|---|---|
| Emperor of the Romans | |
 Louis as shown in a 12th-century manuscript of Johannes Berardi's Chronicon casauriense | |
| Emperor of the Carolingian Empire King of Italy | |
| Reign | 844–875 (with Lothar I until 855) |
| Coronation | 15 June 844, Rome |
| Predecessor | Lothair I |
| Successor | Charles the Bald |
| Born | 825 |
| Died | 12 August 875 (aged 49–50) Ghedi, Italy |
| Burial | Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan |
| Spouse | Engelberga |
| Issue | Ermengard, Queen of Provence |
| Dynasty | Carolingian |
| Father | Lothair I |
| Mother | Ermengarde of Tours |
| Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity |
Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone.
Louis's usual title was imperator augustus ("august emperor"), but he used imperator Romanorum ("emperor of the Romans") after his conquest of Bari in 871, which led to poor relations with the Eastern Roman Empire. He was called imperator Italiae ("emperor of Italy") in West Francia while the Byzantines called him Basileus Phrangias ("Emperor of Francia").
The chronicler Andreas of Bergamo, who is the main source for Louis's activities in southern Italy, notes that "after his death a great tribulation came to Italy."
Childhood
Louis was born in 825, the eldest son of the junior emperor Lothair I and his wife Ermengarde of Tours. His father was the son of the reigning emperor, Louis the Pious. Little is known about his early life, except that he grew up in his grandfather's court and probably developed a warm affection for the emperor who, in 839, designated his grandson as King of Italy, and let Louis take up his residence in that country.
Louis the Pious died the next year, and his empire was partitioned between his sons: Louis' father, Lothair, and Louis' uncle, Louis the German, as well as their younger half-brother, Charles the Bald. Under his father's rule, he was crowned king and co-emperor to the middle-aged Emperor Lothair I at Rome by Pope Sergius II on 15 June 844. This ceremony mirrors the crowning of Lothair I by his father, a tradition started by Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious, who were, respectively, great-grandfather and grandfather of Louis II.
Joint emperor
Louis II immediately claimed the rights of an emperor in the city, a claim which was decisively rejected; but in 850 he was crowned joint emperor at Rome by Pope Leo IV, and soon afterwards, in 851, married Engelberga and undertook the independent government of Italy. He marched into the south of Italy in the year of his imperial coronation and compelled the rival dukes of Benevento, Radelchis I and Siconulf, to make peace. His mediation split the Lombard duchy and gave Radelchis his share with Benevento as his capital, whilst Salerno was given to Siconulf as an independent principality. Radelchis, now pacified, had no need of his Aghlabid mercenaries and happily betrayed them to the emperor. Louis fell on them and they were massacred. He then quashed some accusations against Pope Leo and held a Diet at Pavia. He confirmed the usurping regent Peter as prince of Salerno in December 853, displacing the dynasty he had installed there three years earlier. On the death of his father in September 855, he became sole emperor.
Sole emperor
Carolingian interventions
The division of Lothair's dominions, by which he obtained no territory outside Italy, aroused his discontent, and in 857 he allied himself with Louis the German against his own brother Lothair II, and King Charles the Bald. But after Louis had secured the election of Pope Nicholas I in 858, he reconciled with his brother, and received some lands south of the Jura mountains in return for assistance given to Lothair in his efforts to obtain a divorce from his wife, Teutberga.
In 863, upon the death of his brother Charles, Louis received the kingdom of Provence, and in 864 came into collision with Pope Nicholas I over his brother's divorce. The archbishops, who had been deposed by Nicholas for proclaiming this marriage invalid, obtained the support of the emperor, who reached Rome with an army in February 864; but, having been seized with fever, he made peace with the pope and left the city.
Bari
Main article: Louis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)In his efforts to restore order in Italy, Louis saw considerable success both against Italy's turbulent princes and against the Aghlabids who were ravaging southern Italy. In 866, after issuing a call for assistance to fight the Muslims, he routed these invaders, but could not follow up his successes owing to the lack of a fleet. So in 869 he made alliance with the eastern emperor, Basil I, who sent him ships to assist in the capture of Bari, capital of the Emirate of Bari, which succumbed in 871.
Meanwhile, his brother Lothair had died in 869, and owing to his detention in southern Italy, Louis failed to prevent the partition of Lotharingia between Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Some jealousy between Louis and Basil followed the victory at Bari, and in reply to an insult from the eastern emperor Louis attempted to justify his right to the title "emperor of the Romans."
Benevento
He had withdrawn into Benevento to prepare for a further campaign when he was attacked in his palace, robbed and imprisoned by Adelchis, prince of Benevento, in August 871. The capture of Louis was lamented in a contemporary short poem, the Rythmus de captivitate Ludovici imperatoris. The landing of fresh bands of Aghlabids compelled Adelchis to release his prisoner a month later, and Louis was forced to swear he would take no revenge for this injury, nor ever enter Benevento with an army. Returning to Rome, he was released from his oath, and was crowned a second time as emperor by Pope Adrian II in May 872.
_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_25-Apr-2007.jpg)
Louis won further successes against the Aghlabids, relieving the siege of Salerno and driving them from Capua, but the emperor's attempts to punish Adelchis were not very successful. Returning to northern Italy, he died, near Ghedi, in what is now the province of Brescia, on 12 August 875, having named as his successor in Italy his cousin Carloman, son of Louis the German. Louis was buried in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.
Family
On 5 October 851 Louis married Engelberga, daughter of Adelchis I of Spoleto. They had two daughters:
- Gisela (852/855-before 28 April 868), Abbess of the Monastery of San Salvador of Brescia from the year 861.
- Ermengard, who married Boso of Provence
References
- His ordinal and nickname comes from the fact that he was the second Louis to be emperor after his grandfather Louis the Pious. He should not be confused with Louis the Younger, king of Saxony, or Louis VII the Younger, king of France.
- Post cuius obitum magna tribulatio in Italia advenit. Andreas, Historia Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine in Georg Waitz (ed.), MGH SS rerum Langobardicarum (Hannover: 1878), 222–30, §18.
- Peter H. Wilson, Heart of Europe, (Harvard University Press, 2016), 918.
- Emperor Louis II, Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, ed.Christopher Kleinhenz, (Routledge, 2004), 655.
- Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe, transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 182
- Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe, 182.
- Letter of Louis II to Basil I, tr. Charles West, The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855–869 (Toronto, 2023), pp. 182–200
- Groth, Simon (2017), "How to Become Emperor – John VIII and the Role of the Papacy in the 9th Century", Transcultural Approaches to the Concept of Imperial Rule in the Middle Ages, p. 122, ISBN 978-3-631-66219-9, JSTOR j.ctv6zdbwx.7, retrieved 2023-12-05
- Mckitterick 2014, p. 180.
- Bouchard 1988, p. 409.
Sources
- Bouchard, Constance B. (1988). "The Bosonids or Rising to Power in the Late Carolingian Age". French Historical Studies. 15 (3 (Spring)). Duke University Press.
- Gay, Jules (1904). L'Italie méridionale et l'empire byzantin depuis l'avènement de Basile I jusqu'à la prise de Bari par les Normands (867–1071). Albert Fontemoing.
- Goldberg, Eric J. (2006). Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876. Cornell University Press.
- Mckitterick, Rosamond (2014). The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians 751-987. Routledge.
- Annales Bertiniani and Chronica S. Benedicti Casinensis, both in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores, Bände i. and iii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 fol.)
- Barbara M. Kreutz 'Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996)
- Muratori, L. A. Antiquitates Italicæ Medii ævi, Tome XIV, col. 106. (1778)
- Muhlbacher, E. Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (Innsbruck, 1881)
- Sickel, T. Acta regum et imperatorum Karolinorum, digesta et enarrata (Vienna, 1867—1868)
- West, Charles, The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855-869 (Toronto, 2023)
| Emperor Louis II the YoungerCarolingian dynasty Died: 12 August 875 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byLothair I | King of Italy 844 – 875 with Lothair I (844-855) |
Succeeded byCharles the Bald |
| Carolingian emperor 850 – 875 with Lothair I (850–855) | ||
