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LOUIS (804–876)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 31 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOUIS (804–876) surnamed the " See also:German," See also:king of the See also:East See also:Franks, was the third son of the See also:emperor Louis I. and his wife Irmengarde. His See also:early years were partly spent at the See also:court of his grandfather See also:Charlemagne, whose See also:special See also:affection he is said to have won. When the emperor Louis divided his dominions between his sons in 817, Louis received See also:Bavaria and the neighbouring lands, but did not undertake the See also:government until 825, when he became involved in See also:war with the See also:Slavonic tribes on his eastern frontier. In 827 he married Emma, daughter of Well I., See also:count of Bavaria, and See also:sister of his stepmother See also:Judith; and he soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judith's efforts to secure a See also:kingdom for her own son See also:Charles, and the consequent struggles of Louis and his See also:brothers with the emperor Louis I. (q.v.). When the See also:elder Louis died in 84o and his eldest son See also:Lothair claimed the whole See also:Empire, Louis in See also:alliance with his See also:half-See also:brother, king Charles the Bald, defeated Lothair at See also:Fontenoy on the 25th of See also:June 841. In June 842 the three brothers met on an See also:island in the See also:Saone to negotiate a See also:peace, and each appointed See also:forty representatives to arrange the boundaries of their respective kingdoms. This See also:developed into the treaty of See also:Verdun concluded in See also:August 843, by which Louis received the bulk of the lands of the Carolingian empire lying east of the See also:Rhine, together with a See also:district around See also:Spires, See also:Worms and See also:Mainz, on the See also:left See also:bank of the See also:river. His territories included Bavaria, where he made See also:Regensburg the centre of his government, Thuringia, See also:Franconia and See also:Saxony. He may truly be called the founder of the German kingdom, though his attempts to maintain the unity of the Empire proved futile. Having in 842 crushed a rising in Saxony, he compelled the Abotrites to own his authority, and undertook See also:campaigns against the Bohemians, the Moravians and other tribes, but was not very successful in freeing his shores from the ravages of Danish pirates. At his instance synods and assemblies were held where See also:laws weredecreed for the better government of See also:church and See also:state.

In 853 and the following years Louis made more than one See also:

attempt to secure the See also:throne of See also:Aquitaine, which the See also:people of that See also:country offered him in their disgust with the cruel See also:misrule of Charles the Bald. But though he met with sufficient success to encourage him to issue a See also:charter in 858, dated " the first See also:year of the reign in See also:West See also:Francia," treachery and See also:desertion in his See also:army, and the See also:loyalty to Charles of the Aquitanian bishops brought about the failure of the enterprise, which Louis renounced by a treaty signed at See also:Coblenz on the 7th of June 86o. In 855 the emperor Lothair died, and was succeeded in See also:Italy by his eldest son Louis II., and in the See also:northern See also:part of his kingdom' by his second son, Lothair. The See also:comparative weakness of these kingdoms, together with the disorder caused by the matrimonial troubles of Lothair, afforded a suitable opening for the intrigues of Louis and Charles the Bald, whose See also:interest was increased by the fact that both their nephews were without male issue. Louis supported Lothair in his efforts to See also:divorce his wife Teutberga, for which he received a promise of See also:Alsace, while Charles opposed the divorce. But in 865 Louis and Charles See also:meeting near See also:Toul, renewed the peace of Coblenz, and doubtless discussed the possibility of dividing Lothair's kingdom. In 868 at See also:Metz they agreed definitely to a See also:partition; but when Lothair died in 869, Louis was lying seriously See also:ill, and his armies were engaged with the Moravians. Charles the Bald accordingly seized the whole kingdom; but Louis, having recovered, compelled him by a See also:threat of war to agree to the treaty of See also:Mersen, which divided it between the claimants. The later years of Louis were troubled by risings on the part of his sons, the eldest of whom, See also:Carloman, revolted in 861 and again two years later; an example that was followed by the second son Louis, who in a further rising was joined by his brother Charles. A See also:report that the emperor Louis II. was dead led to peace between See also:father and sons. The emperor, however, was not dead, but a prisoner; and as he was not only the See also:nephew, but also the son-in-See also:law of Louis, that monarch hoped to secure both the imperial dignity and the See also:Italian kingdom for his son Carloman. Meeting his daughter Engelberga, the wife of Louis II., at See also:Trent in 872, Louis made an alliance with her against Charles the Bald, and in 874 visited Italy doubtless on the same errand.

The emperor, having named Carloman as his successor, died in August 875, but Charles the Bald reached Italy before his See also:

rival, and by persuading Carloman, when he did See also:cross the See also:Alps, to return, secured the imperial See also:crown. Louis was preparing for war when he died on the 28th of See also:September 876 at See also:Frankfort, and was buried at Lorsch, leaving three sons and three daughters. Louis was in war and peace alike, the most competent of the descendants of Charlemagne. He obtained for his kingdom a certain degree of See also:security in See also:face of the attacks of See also:Normans, Hungarians, Moravians and others. He lived in See also:close alliance with the Church, to which he was very generous, and entered eagerly into schemes for the See also:con-version of his See also:heathen neighbours. See Annales Fuldenses ; Annales Bertiniani ; See also:Nithard, Historiarum Libri, all in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Bande i. and ii. (See also:Hanover and See also:Berlin, 1826 seq.) ; E. See also:Dummler, Geschichte See also:des ostfrankischen Reiches (See also:Leipzig, 1887—1888) ; Th. Sickel, See also:Die Urkunden Ludwigs des Deutschen (See also:Vienna, 1861—1862); E. Miihlbacher, Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (See also:Innsbruck, 1881) ; and A. Krohn, See also:Ludwig der Deutsche (Saarbriicken, 1872).

(A. W.

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