From King To Emperor:a Study Of The Governance Of Charles The Bald

Charles the Bald, the youngest son of Louis the Pious who won his father’s favor. After three times of granted (829,837 and 839), Charles the Bald got a vast area of fiefs. Due to the problem of inheritance, which caused the conflicts among the brothers. In June 841, the irreconcilable contradictions resulted in the Fontenay War. After two years of negotiations, the’Treaty of Verdun’worked out which laid the foundation of France, Germany and Italy.The "Treaty of Verdun" meaning the Carolingian Empire officially split into three parts. The new birth West Frankish kingdom faced many challenges. First of all, the increasing invading waves of Normans after 840 which tested the talents of military and political courage of Charles the Bald; Because of Pepin Ⅱ, plus with Lothair I’s supporting, the trend of independent in Aquitaine got worse; In the northwestern, Dukes of Brittany invaded the Neustria area several times. As for the relationship with the other two kings, The relationship between Charles and Lothair improved after 849, but Louis the German became his enemy, Louis almost captured the West Frank in 858. After the great crisis, the two brothers had long been the rivalries throughout their ruling.Thereafter Charles the Bald overcame the crisis, the situation improved well: firstly, the Norman invasion after 864 reduced very much; secondly, the three sons of Lothair have no legitimate heirs, which made Charles’kingdom a new space to expand. Moreover owing to the strong will and forces, the popes supported Charles as the candidate of Emperor. After the death of Louis Ⅱ of Italy in 875, John Ⅷ crowned Charles Emperor. But the failure of the Battle of Andernach in 876,which making Charles mental and physical wound. In August 877 Charles the Bald fulfilled the duty of defending Rome, but on his way back to the West Frank, he died owing to infect the so-called’Italia fever’. The dream Of Imperial broken in practice.The aforesaid are the simple overview of Charles the Bald as the king of West Frank and his ruling. My thesis consist of six parts. The first one is the birth of the Kingdom, which is the platform of Charles the bald; the second is the hardness of the external challenges, namely the Norman intrusion; the third is the management of the kingdom, mainly, dealing with the issues of local separatist forces, internal competition of Carolingian family, and the institutional reconstruction; the fourth part is the sponsor of culture, which continued the Carolingian Renaissance and reached its peak in 9th century; the fifth part is the coronation of Emperor in 875 and his finally destination. The six part is summarize of the whole thesis, conclusion the characteristics of the ruling of Charles the Bald.