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|birth_date=c. 967
|birth_date=c. 967
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|death_date=21 May 987 (aged 20)
|death_date=21 May 987 (aged 21-20)
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'''Louis V''' (c. 967 – 21 May 987) was the [[King of West Francia|King of Western Francia]] from 986 until his premature death. He died childless and was the last monarch in the [[Carolingian]] line.
'''Louis V''', nicknamed '''"The Lazy"'''<ref>He was sometimes dubbed "The Lazy" but that nickname wasn't contemporary, and had a pejorative connotation incorrectly justified by medieval biographers by the fact that due to his short reign was a monarch ''qui nihil fecit'' — "who did nothing".</ref> ({{lang-fr|''le Fainéant''}}; c. 966/67 – 21 May 987), was the [[King of West Francia|King of Western Francia]] from 986 until his premature death. He died childless and was the last monarch in the [[Carolingian]] line.


==Life==
⚫
The son of [[Lothair of France|King Lothair]] and his wife [[Emma of Italy|Emma]], a daughter of [[Lothair II of Italy]], Louis was born {{circa|966–67}}.<ref>Detlev Schwennicke, ''Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten'', Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 1</ref> Louis was crowned in June 978 but did not actually assume power until Lothair's death in 986.<ref>Jim Bradbury,''The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328'' (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 45</ref> Louis V was the last [[Carolingian]] King of [[Western Francia]] and reigned in [[Laon]] from 2 March 986 until his own death, at the age of 20, in 987. It may be because he reigned for only one year that medieval biographers awarded him the title ''qui nihil fecit'' — "who did nothing".


===Early Years===
⚫
He married [[Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou]] in 982 in [[Brioude]], where they were immediately crowned [[King of Aquitaine|King and Queen of Aquitaine]].<ref>Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe'', Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 265</ref> The couple was mismatched (Louis was fifteen years old and Adelaide was forty or more and on her third marriage) and they had no children together.<ref name="FN15"/> In less than a year, the marriage had ended.<ref name="FN15">Bernard S. Bachrach, ''Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040'' (University of California Press, 1993), p. 15</ref>

⚫
The eldest son of [[Lothair of France|King Lothair]] and his wife [[Emma of Italy|Emma]], a daughter of [[Lothair II of Italy]], Louis was born {{circa|966–67}}.<ref>Detlev Schwennicke, ''Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten'', Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 1</ref> His father already associated him to the government in 978 and made him officially crowned co-King on 8 June 979 at the Abbey of Saint-Corneille in [[Compiègne]]; however he didn't assumed power until Lothair's death in 986.<ref>Jim Bradbury,''The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328'' (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 45</ref> Louis V was the last [[Carolingian]] King of [[Western Francia]] and reigned in [[Laon]] from 2 March 986 until his own death, at the age of 20, in 987.

In 982 at [[Vieille-Brioude]], [[Haute-Loire]], the fifteen-years-old Louis married with the forty-years-old [[Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou]], a sister of Count [[Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey I]] and twice a widow from her previous marriage with Count Stephen of Gévaudan<ref>According to Settipani, Stephen wasn't properly ''Comte de Gévaudan'', although his descendants by Adelaide-Blance later possessed the counties of Gévaudan, Brioude and Forez. Christian Settipani: ''La Préhistoire des Capétiens'', 1993, p. 336 footnote 996.</ref> and [[Raymond III, Count of Toulouse|Count Raymond of Toulouse, Prince of Gothia]]. This union was purely political and arranged by the King –following the advices of Queen Emma and Count Geoffrey I–, with the double purpose to restore the Carolingian presence in the south of the Kingdom of the Franks, and –according to [[Richerus]]– to obtain the support of the local lords in his fight against the Robertians: being now related by marriage with two of the most powerful southern comital families of the Kingdom, Lothair believes that he could confront the power of Hugh Capet.

⚫
Immediately after their wedding, Louis and Adelaide-Blanche were crowned [[King of Aquitaine|King and Queen of Aquitaine]] by Adelaide's brother Bishop Guy of le Puy.<ref>Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe'', Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 265</ref> However, since the beginning the mismatched couple was unable to peacefully live together,<ref name="FN15">Bernard S. Bachrach: ''Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040'', University of California Press, 1993, p. 15.</ref> not only due to the notorious age difference between them but (according to [[Richerus]]) also because of Louis' debauched lifestyle:

::[...] They had almost no conjugal love; because Louis barely leave the puberty, and Adelaide was old, among them were only incompatibility and disagreements. The didn't shared a common chamber and in this way they can't suffer with the presence of the other; when they had to travel, each took a separate residence, and when they were forced to talk, their conversations were in the open air and never were long but only a few words. They lived in this way for two years, until they obtained the divorce not only for their opposite characters but also because Louis, who at that point was unmanageable due his youth, indulged himself in all sorts of frivolity.<ref>Richerus: ''Historiarum libri quatuor'', Académie impériale de Reims, Reims 1855, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k361020.image.f361.pagination Book III, p. 339].</ref>

In 984, after two years of childless union<ref name="FN15"/> (and according to [[Rodulfus Glaber]]), Adelaide tricked her young husband to made a visit to Aquitaine, and once there, she leave him and returned with her family, marrying shortly after with [[William I of Provence|Count William I of Provence]]:

::When the young prince reached adolescence, Lothair made him king and appointed him his successor; he also chooses for him a princess of Aquitaine as his wife, but soon she perceived that the young man didn't inherit the talents of his father. Therefore she decided to separate from her husband; and for this purpose she adroitly convinced him to made a trip to her province of Aquitaine, assuming that his hereditary rights there guaranteed him the possession of the land. Louis, without suspecting the artifice, yielded to the advice of his wife, and went with her. When they were in Aquitaine, she left her husband to join his family.<ref>[[Rodulfus Glaber]]: ''Collection des mémoires de France par M. Guizot'', Paris 1824 [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/glaber/histoire1.htm#III Book I, chapter III, parts 180 and 181].</ref>

However, despite being recorded by relative contemporary and later sources (Richerus, Rodulfus Glaber, the ''Chronicon Andegavensi'' and the Chronicle of Saint-Maxence, among others), the existence of this marriage was recently challenged by historian Carlrichard Brülh.<ref>Carlrichard Brülh: ''Naissance de deux peuples, Français et Allemands (10th‑11th siècle)'', [[Fayard]], August 1996, p. 248.</ref>

===Reign and Death===


He inherited a battle between his father's line of elected kings (which had been interrupted twice by [[Capetian dynasty|the Robertian kings]] and once by the [[Bosonids|Bosonid family]]), and the house of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Otto I the Great|Otto I]]. As defender of Rome, Otto had the power to name the clergy in Carolingian territory, and the clergy he had named were not supporting the Carolingians.
He inherited a battle between his father's line of elected kings (which had been interrupted twice by [[Capetian dynasty|the Robertian kings]] and once by the [[Bosonids|Bosonid family]]), and the house of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Otto I the Great|Otto I]]. As defender of Rome, Otto had the power to name the clergy in Carolingian territory, and the clergy he had named were not supporting the Carolingians.

Revision as of 23:49, 24 March 2016

Louis V
Coronation of Louis V the 14th-century Grandes chroniques de France
Reign2 March 986 – 21 May 987
CoronationJune 979, Rheims
PredecessorLothair
SuccessorHugh Capet
Bornc. 967
Died21 May 987 (aged 21-20)
SpouseAdelaide-Blanche of Anjou
HouseCarolingian
FatherLothair of France
MotherEmma of Italy

Louis V, nicknamed "The Lazy"[1] ([le Fainéant] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); c. 966/67 – 21 May 987), was the King of Western Francia from 986 until his premature death. He died childless and was the last monarch in the Carolingian line.

Life

Early Years

The eldest son of King Lothair and his wife Emma, a daughter of Lothair II of Italy, Louis was born c. 966–67.[2] His father already associated him to the government in 978 and made him officially crowned co-King on 8 June 979 at the Abbey of Saint-Corneille in Compiègne; however he didn't assumed power until Lothair's death in 986.[3] Louis V was the last Carolingian King of Western Francia and reigned in Laon from 2 March 986 until his own death, at the age of 20, in 987.

In 982 at Vieille-Brioude, Haute-Loire, the fifteen-years-old Louis married with the forty-years-old Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, a sister of Count Geoffrey I and twice a widow from her previous marriage with Count Stephen of Gévaudan[4] and Count Raymond of Toulouse, Prince of Gothia. This union was purely political and arranged by the King –following the advices of Queen Emma and Count Geoffrey I–, with the double purpose to restore the Carolingian presence in the south of the Kingdom of the Franks, and –according to Richerus– to obtain the support of the local lords in his fight against the Robertians: being now related by marriage with two of the most powerful southern comital families of the Kingdom, Lothair believes that he could confront the power of Hugh Capet.

Immediately after their wedding, Louis and Adelaide-Blanche were crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine by Adelaide's brother Bishop Guy of le Puy.[5] However, since the beginning the mismatched couple was unable to peacefully live together,[6] not only due to the notorious age difference between them but (according to Richerus) also because of Louis' debauched lifestyle:

[...] They had almost no conjugal love; because Louis barely leave the puberty, and Adelaide was old, among them were only incompatibility and disagreements. The didn't shared a common chamber and in this way they can't suffer with the presence of the other; when they had to travel, each took a separate residence, and when they were forced to talk, their conversations were in the open air and never were long but only a few words. They lived in this way for two years, until they obtained the divorce not only for their opposite characters but also because Louis, who at that point was unmanageable due his youth, indulged himself in all sorts of frivolity.[7]

In 984, after two years of childless union[6] (and according to Rodulfus Glaber), Adelaide tricked her young husband to made a visit to Aquitaine, and once there, she leave him and returned with her family, marrying shortly after with Count William I of Provence:

When the young prince reached adolescence, Lothair made him king and appointed him his successor; he also chooses for him a princess of Aquitaine as his wife, but soon she perceived that the young man didn't inherit the talents of his father. Therefore she decided to separate from her husband; and for this purpose she adroitly convinced him to made a trip to her province of Aquitaine, assuming that his hereditary rights there guaranteed him the possession of the land. Louis, without suspecting the artifice, yielded to the advice of his wife, and went with her. When they were in Aquitaine, she left her husband to join his family.[8]

However, despite being recorded by relative contemporary and later sources (Richerus, Rodulfus Glaber, the Chronicon Andegavensi and the Chronicle of Saint-Maxence, among others), the existence of this marriage was recently challenged by historian Carlrichard Brülh.[9]

Reign and Death

He inherited a battle between his father's line of elected kings (which had been interrupted twice by the Robertian kings and once by the Bosonid family), and the house of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. As defender of Rome, Otto had the power to name the clergy in Carolingian territory, and the clergy he had named were not supporting the Carolingians.

One particular foe was Adalberon, archbishop of Reims whom Otto I had elevated to the powerful archbishopric of Reims. During Lothair's time, Adalberon had tried to negotiate an alliance between the two houses; but the deal had gone bad, and Lothair had tried him for treason in 986. Lothair died at around the same time. Louis V inherited the throne; Lothair's widow, Emma, married a descendant of Otto I; and Louis V received Adalberon again.

Louis died on 21 May 987[10] from a fall while hunting near the town of Senlis, Oise[11] He had reopened the case against Adalberon of Reims for treason, but his accidental death ended the matter.[12] He left no legitimate heirs, so his uncle Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was nominated as the hereditary successor to the throne. But the clergy, including both Adalberon and Gerbert (who later became Pope Sylvester II), argued eloquently for Hugh Capet, who was not only of royal blood but had proven himself through his actions and his military might. Capet was elected to the Frankish throne and Adalberon crowned him, all within two months of Louis V's death. Thus the Carolingian dynasty ended and the Capetian began.

Ancestry

Family of Louis V of France
16. Louis the Stammerer
8. Charles the Simple
17. Adelaide of Paris
4. Louis IV of France
18. Edward the Elder
9. Eadgifu of England
19. Ælfflæd
2. Lothair of France
20. Otto I, Duke of Saxony
10. Henry the Fowler
21. Hedwiga of Franconia
5. Gerberga of Saxony
22. Dietrich, Count in Westphalia
11. Matilda
23. Reinhild
1. Louis V of France
24. Theobald of Arles
12. Hugh of Italy
25. Bertha of Lotharingia
6. Lothair II of Italy
13. Alda
3. Emma of Italy
28. Rudolph I of Burgundy
14. Rudolph II of Burgundy
29. Guilla of Provence
7. Adelaide of Italy
30. Burchard II, Duke of Swabia
15. Bertha of Swabia
31. Regelinda

References

  1. ^ He was sometimes dubbed "The Lazy" but that nickname wasn't contemporary, and had a pejorative connotation incorrectly justified by medieval biographers by the fact that due to his short reign was a monarch qui nihil fecit — "who did nothing".
  2. ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 1
  3. ^ Jim Bradbury,The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328 (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 45
  4. ^ According to Settipani, Stephen wasn't properly Comte de Gévaudan, although his descendants by Adelaide-Blance later possessed the counties of Gévaudan, Brioude and Forez. Christian Settipani: La Préhistoire des Capétiens, 1993, p. 336 footnote 996.
  5. ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe, Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 265
  6. ^ a b Bernard S. Bachrach: Fulk Nerra the Neo-Roman Consul, 987-1040, University of California Press, 1993, p. 15.
  7. ^ Richerus: Historiarum libri quatuor, Académie impériale de Reims, Reims 1855, Book III, p. 339.
  8. ^ Rodulfus Glaber: Collection des mémoires de France par M. Guizot, Paris 1824 Book I, chapter III, parts 180 and 181.
  9. ^ Carlrichard Brülh: Naissance de deux peuples, Français et Allemands (10th‑11th siècle), Fayard, August 1996, p. 248.
  10. ^ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 116
  11. ^ Jim Bradbury,The Capetians: Kings of France, 987-1328 (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), p. 46
  12. ^ Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family who Forged Europe, Trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 277

Further reading


Preceded by King of Western Francia
986–987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by King of Aquitaine
986–987 		Succeeded by
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