Called The Pious (778-840), Holy Roman emperor (814-40), king of France(814-40), king of Germany (814-40), and king of Aquitaine (781-840). Hewas the son of Charlemagne, king of the Franks. In 817 Louis made plansproviding for the posthumous division of the Carolingian Empire among histhree surviving sons, Lothair I, Holy Roman emperor, Louis II, king ofGermany, and Charles II, Holy Roman emperor. His reign, however, wastroubled by quarrels with his sons, who were dissatisfied with hisarrangements for the succession. Louis was physically strong but waseasily influenced and was unequal to administering the large empire thathe inherited from his father.
In 781, at age 2, Louis I, "Le Pieux", was crowned and anointed King ofAquitaine by Pope Hadrian I, at the same time as his older brother Pepinwas made King of Italy. Louis, whose twin brother had died at birth, wasthe third of Charlemagne's sons by his wife Hildegard. The Diviso Regniof 806indicates that Louis was to have Aquitaine as an independentkingdom upon his father's death. Aquitaine was in effect a March; formuch of Louis' reign as sub-king he and his officials were occupied inquelling Gascon revolts and launching offensives into Spain. Unrest hadnever completely died out in the Pyrenees since the annexation ofAquitaine in 768, and more especially after the disastrous ambush of theFrankish vanguard in Roncesvalles in 778. In about 788, Chorso, Duke ofToulouse was captured by a Gascon named Adelric, and then released afterbeing forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the Gascon or Basqueleader. In 793, the Sarracens invaded Septimania, burned the suburbs ofNarbonne and marched on Carcassonne, but in 795 Bahlul-ben-Machluc suedwith Louis for peace. In 800, he successfully laid siege to Barcelona andsubsequently captured Tortosa, Huesca and Pamplona and formed links withthe Kingdom of the Asturias. Baptized: on 15 Apr 781; On 15 April 781,Louis was baptized by Pope Hadrian I in Rome. The next day, EasterSunday, he was confirmed in his title of King of Aquitaine. Married in794: Ermengarde d'Esbay, daughter of Engueran=Ingram, Count d'Esbay.
Note - between 800 and 837: Louis I established monasteries in Nouaille(a cell of St. Hilaire of Poitiers), Gellone and St. Martin-de-Tours.
After the death of his brothers Pepin and Charles in 810 and 811respectively, Louis was crowned at Aachen on 13 September 813, Emperorand heir to all of Charlemagne's lands, by Charlemagne himself withoutany assistance nor even the presence of the Pope. All sources, Frankishas well as papal, refer to Louis as emperor from then on. Charlemagnedied 5 months later. All of Louis' sisters were required to quit thepalace and retire to their own estates. His cousins, the offsprings ofBernard (Pepin III's half brother) were exhiled: Louis forced Count Walato become a monk at Corbie; Adalhard was exhiled to Noirmoutier to beheld there in custody by the Abbot; Bernhard returned to Lerin andGundrada had to retreat to St. Radegund's convent of Sainte Croix inPoitiers. Only Theodrada was left unmolested as abbess of Notre Dame atSoissons. Louis I was also known as Louis, "Le Pieux". On 27 February814, upon learning of the death of his father, and at the age of 36years, he left Doue-la-Fontaine, in Anjou, to go to Aix-la-Chapelle.
This new emperor, enterred this capital, and poised himself in front ofthe tomb of Charlemagne. So oversome with grief, his forehead touched thestone floor of the church. Hence the name "Le Pieux". Since he was kind,relative to his times, he was also known as "Le Debonnaire". For himself,he preferred to adopt the title "by divine Providence, Emperor Augustus".When Pope Leo died in May of 816, Stephen IV was elected Pope, andcrowned Louis the Emperor on Sunday 5 October by placing a crown on hishead during mass at Rheims. He also secured the release of some Romanexhiles in Francia. This crowning was among the first attempts tointegrate the Papacy into the institutional framework of the Empire.Louis, 'lest he be led astray in satisfying the natural desires of thebody' married Ermengarde, daughter of Count Ingramn. Charlemagneestablished Doue-la-Fontaine, Chasseneuil (Louis' birthplace), Angeac andEbreuil as royal residences to maintain Louis and his household. At anassembly in Aachen in July 817, Louis made provisions for his sons'inheritance through the "Ordinatio Imperii". In his preface he statesthat the unity of the empire preserved for Louis by God should not bedestroyed by men. Lothar was given the title of emperor, and as co-rulerwith his father at once made heir to the empire, and appointed King ofItaly in the event of his father's death. Bernard, then King of Italy wasnot mentioned, but the implication is that Bernard would be subordinateto Lothar should Louis die. Pepin was made King of Aquitaine (plusGascony, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Autun, Avallon and Nevers) and Louis, TheGerman, was made King of Bavaria (plus Carinthia, Bohemia, the lands ofthe Avars and Slavs and the royal manors of Lauterhofen and Ingolstadt).Pepin and Louis were to meet on an annual basis with Lothar to consultand together find "measures to take in the interest of perpetual peace".They could neither start a war nor marry without the approval of theirelder brother. Lothar even had the right to de-throne them after threewarnings. That same year, 817, Stephen IV obtains his politicalindependence, thus severing the tie between Rome and the Frank Empire asconceived by Charlemagne. The arrangement was neat and all contingenciescovered except for the one which took place. After his first wife's(Ermengarde) death, Louis, in 819, married the beautiful Bavarian Judith,daughter of Comte Welf of Bavaria. On 13 June 823 she gave birth to ason. He was called Charles. In September, 824, forgetting his nickname"Le Debonnaire", Louis totally ravages the Bretagne which was rebelling.In 829, at the General Assembly convoked in Worms (Wurm), Louis announcesthat he is forging a Duchy for his son, Charles, and gives him Alamania,Alsace, Rhetia, and part of Burgundy. The Co-Emperor Lothar, disagreesand has his name removed from imperial decrees and diplomas. Toward theend of 829, the political scene gets very complicated with allegationsthat Judith had intimate rapports with Bernard, Count of Barcelone, andultimately desiring the death of the three sons of Hirmingarde. In Mai of830, in Compiegne, Lothar and Pepin of Aquitaine lead a revolt. Louis isforced to cede on every point of contention. The apanage of the youngCharles is eliminated, Judith is locked up in Poitiers at the Monasteryof Sainte-Radegonde. In 831, the bishops would note how she had a talentfor converting men's hearts and souls, and would allow her to rejoin herhusband. In 832, Pepin and Louis revolt against their father. On 24 June833, the Army of Louis Le Pieux faces those of the rebels. The field ofbattle in Rothfeld would be named the Field of the Lie (Lugenfeld). TheEmperor and his sons begin negotiations. The night of 29 to 30 June, itis clear that the supporters of Louis would be influenced by his threesons. On the morning of 30 June, Louis would have to surrender. It wouldnot be until 1 October that Louis would be deposed by the Assembly led byAgobard, Archbishop of Lyon and Eblon, Archbishop of Reims. On 7 October,Judith is sent to the Monastery of Tortone, Bernard to Prum, and Louis toth
e Monastery of Saint-Medard-de-Soissons, where in public ceremony, heis forced to lay down his sword, stripped of royal vestments, he is madeto don the coarse cloth of a penitent. In 834, Louis and Pepin, tired ofbeing under the control of their brother Lothar, decide to free theirfather. On 28 February, they succeed in freeing their father and inAugust in Blois, Lothar swears to Louis Le Pieux, that he would neverleave Italy except by his direct command. Throughout 834, the Normands --Danes, Swedes and Norwegians -- resume their raids. On 28 February 835,the General Assembly proclaims that Louis was innocent of all previousaccusations thus clearing the way for him to be re-established as Emperoron the Throne at Saint-Stephen of Metz.
In 837, thanks to the intercessions of Judith, Charles "Le Chauve",receives a Kingdom composed of Frisia, between the Seine, the Meuse andthe sea and in September 838, he receives the crown at Quierzy-sur-Oise.In 838, Marseille is devastated by the Sarrasins. On 30 May 839, theEmpire is divided in half, with Lothar taking the East, and Charles'lands extend through Provence, Lyon, Toul and Geneva and all the lands ofthe West. Louis "the German", gets to keep only Bavaria. Married in 819:Judith de Baviere (3628), daughter of Welf II, Count de Baviere andEgilwich=Heilwig, Abbess de Challes ; Louis married Judith upon the deathof his first wife, Ermengarde. She bore him a son named Charles in 823.It is clear that Louis was as fond of Charles as Jacob was of hisBenjamin. Died: on 22 Jun 840 in Ingelheim, Germany, at age 61 In 840,while attempting to keep Louis "the German" in line, Louis "Le Pieux" istaken ill in Salz. Feeling near death, he sends Lothar his sword and thecrown on the condition that he would be loyal to Judith and abide by thelands division agreed to in Worms in 839. He died on an island, nearIngelheim on 22 June. 309. Judith de Baviere (Andre Roux: Scrolls, 191.)
(Stuart, Royalty for Commoners, Page 130, Line 171-40.)
(Rosamond, Frankish kingdom under Carolingians, Page 136).
Married Name: de France. Born: circa 800 in Altdorf, Bavaria, daughter ofWelf II, Count de Baviere (3626) and Egilwich=Heilwig, Abbess de Challes. Married in 819: Louis I, King de France , son of Charlemagne, RexFrancorum et Langobardorum and Hildegard, Countess de Linzgau ; Louismarried Judith upon the death of his first wife, Ermengarde. She bore hima son named Charles in 823. It is clear that Louis was as fond of Charlesas Jacob was of his Benjamin. Died: on 19 Apr 843 in Tours,Indre-et-Loire, Touraine, France.
