[October 22] Charles, mayor of the palace

Surnamed: "The Hammer" (Martel)
Parents: Pepin II, mayor of the palace
Born: circa 688
House: Carolingian
Spouse(s): (1) Rotrude, daughter of Leudwinus, count of Treves, and Willigard of Bavaria, then (2) Swanhild of the Agilolfings
Predecessor: Pepin II

Reign: 717 – 741
Brief: The career of Charles Martel began with a bang in 715 when he broke out of prison to be acclaimed mayor of the palace of Neustria. King Chilperic II and Mayor Ragenfrid, his rival, rallied against him and dealt Charles his only defeat the next year. In 717, he reentered the fray and defeated both his rivals, marching to Neustria and claiming victory, replacing Chilperic with Chlotar IV as king of Austrasia. Thus began Charles' long life of military success. He began his wars by attacking first the pagan Saxons, and then the rest of the Germanic tribes. By 731, Charles had turned his attention to the Moors in the south. At the Battle of Toulouse in 721, Charles had stopped the Muslim advance, but now a new war would be started to push the Muslims back into Hispania. A new push northward by the Muslims met with the hammer that was Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. The defeat of the Umayyad Caliphate there may have been so important as to have saved Western Europe from complete Islamic domination. Charles continued pushing the Muslims southward even as he also continued incursions into Germany and Italy. The death of King Theuderic IV in 737 left the Merovingian throne vacant, and Charles took the title "prince and duke of the Franks" until his own death four years later. Charles spent the last four years of his life reorganizing the administration of his various realms to create a more efficient sate, which he then handed to his successors, Carloman and Pippin the Short.

Date of Death: 22 October 741
Successor: Carloman

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Fernando I, king of Portugal (1383)
• William IV, prince of Orange (1751)

[October 6] Charles II, emperor of Rome

Surnamed: "The Bald"
Parents: Louis I, emperor of Rome, and Judith
Date of Birth: 13 June 823
House: Carolingian
Spouse(s): (1) Ermentrude, daughter of Odo I, count of Orléans, and Engeltrude, then (2) Richilde, daughter of Bivin, count of Ardennes
Predecessor: Louis II

Reign: 875 – 877
Brief: The youngest son of Emperor Louis the Pious, Charles was a somewhat unexpected heir who was given West Francia following the Treaty of Verdun n 843. In the fighting prior to the treaty, Charles allied with his brother, Louis, against Emperor Lothair I, defeating him in 841. As king in what would one day be France, Charles ruled a relatively peaceful land except for the southern regions where constant warfare with the Moors occasionally drew his interest. After some infighting throughout the 860s, Charles and Louis divided the lands of Lothair II according to the Treaty of Mersen. Viking attacks from the north and rebellions in Brittany dominated the remaining years of his administration in West Francia. In a surprise move, the king was crowned Emperor Charles II in 875 following the death of his nephew. This sparked a new round of civil war between the rival branches of the Carolingians. To make matters worse, increased attacks by the Moors in Italy forced Charles to send an army to help the pope, though few of his nobles would back the expedition. Emperor Charles died while returning from the short campaign in southern Italy and was buried in Burgundy.

Date of Death: 6 October 877

Successor: Charles III (as Emperor), Louis II (in West Francia)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Samuil, tsar of Bulgaria (1014)
• Dawit I, emperor of Ethiopia (1413)
• Charles Emmanuel IV, king of Sardinia (1819)
• Duc Duc, emperor of Vietnam (1883)

[May 21] Louis V, king of the West Franks

Surnamed: "The Indolent" (le Fainéant)
Parents: Lothair, king of the West Franks, and Emma of Italy

Date of Birth: circa 967

House: Carolingian
Spouse: Adelaide, daughter of Fulk II, count of Anjou, and Gerberga

Predecessor: Lothair

Reign: 986 – 987

Summary: The last Carolingian rulers of a major region, Louis V lived a regrettably short life. He was crowned king of the West Franks during the lifetime of his father in 978. He married in 982 to Adelaide, the daughter of the count of Anjou, and immediately after the couple were proclaimed the king and queen of Aquitaine, a title granted to the heir-apparent of the Frankish king for hundreds of years off and on. Unfortunately, Louis and Adelaide were poorly matched, with Adelaide being more than twice Louis' age and on her third marriage. Within two years, she divorced the prince and settled in Arles. With no wife, Louis could produce no children, and thus the Carolingian line in West Francia was destined to end with his passing. It had already ended in Germany in 911. Only two cadet branches, the dukes of Lower Lorraine and the dukes of Vendôme, still descended in direct legitimate descent from Charlemagne. When Lothair died in 986, Louis became king and immediately inherited all of his father's problems.


His major problem was the Robertines, a rival family that had already installed three kings in West Francia in the previous decades. The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I defended the Robertines and continuously undermined the authority of the Carolingian kings by installing clergy that opposed them in West Francia. One such appointment, Archbishop Adalberon of Reims, tried to reconcile the two rival families of the Carolingians and Ottonians but failed. Lothair had tried Adalberon on charges of treason while Lothair's widow married a descendant of Otto I. Louis V tried to resolve the dispute, but died too soon to see it conclude. Louis died while hunting boar. He fell from his horse and suffered a cranial injury that eventually ended in a seizure that took his life. Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, was the closest surviving heir of Louis but the clergy, including Adalberon and a future pope, argued in favor of Hugues Capet, a Robertine. Hugues was elected king of the West Franks and Carolingian rule in West Francia came to an inglorious end.

Date of Death: 21 May 987

Successor: Hugues

Other Monarch Deaths:

Olaf, king of the Isles (1237)
Conrad IV, king of Germany (1254)
Christian I, king of Denmark, Norway & Sweden (1481)
Pandolfo Petrucci, patriarch of Siena (1512)

[March 1] Lothair, king of West Francia

Richard II, duke of Normandy (right), and Lothair, king

of France (left), with the abbot of Mont Saint Michel

Parents: Louis IV, king of the West Franks, and Gerberga of Saxony

Date of Birth: 941

House: Carolingian

Spouse: Emma, daughter of Lothair II, king of Italy, and Adelaide of Burgundy

Reign: 954 – 986

Predecessor: Louis IV

Summary: Nothing is known of the childhood of Lothair. He became king at the age of thirteen and was under a guardianship led by the duke of the Franks, Hugh the Great, who had advised his father during his reign. Lothair grew up with Hugh's son, also named Hugh, who would soon become the king of the Franks once Lothair's own young son died childless. Lothair was given full powers of kingship at thirteen, a rare feat, and his major problem initially was with the duke of Normandy, who sought land in the north of France. Hugh the Great died in the siege of Poitiers in 955 and Lothair acted as mediator between his two sons, granting the younger Hugh the title duke of Paris and the younger son, Otto, the title duke of Burgundy. Meanwhile, Lothair's guardianship was transferred to Bruno, the archbishop of Cologne.

Lothair formally came of age in 959 and wasted little time in angering all his vassals. Baldwin III of Flanders bequeathed the entirety of Flanders to the young king but it took him many years to secure the lands. Lothair then rashly invaded Lorraine and almost captured Emperor Otto II at the old Carolingian capital city of Aachen. Otto reverse-attacked and invaded France, destroying everything in his path to Paris. He was eventually forced to retreat and took heavy losses by Lothair's allies. The king and the emperor finally made peace in 980 and Lothair was appointed guardian over Otto's son, Otto III, in 983. Lothair invaded Lorraine again in 985 and this time took four prominent captives. He attempted to fortify the duchy against another attack by Germany but the local archbishop and Hugh refused to support his decision. The king was forced to release his prisoners and his campaign in Lorraine ended. The final year of Lothair's life was miserable. Barcelona was asked by the caliph of Córdoba and Lothair could not provide any resources to assist the local count. This permanently severed fealty ties between France and the Spanish March. Lothair died knowing that Hugh was the true king of West Francia and that he had become a mostly powerless figurehead. The truth of that realization would come in year when his son died, leaving all of France to Hugh and his progeny.

Date of Death: 1 March 986

Successor: Louis V

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Valerius Valens, emperor of Rome (317 CE)
• Stephen II, king of Hungary (1131)
• Thomas I, count of Savoy (1233)
• Buyantu, emperor of China (1320)
• Amadeus VI, count of Savoy (1383)
• Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1792)
• Nicholas I, king of Montenegro (1921)

[January 19] Dagobert I, king of the Franks

A posthumous portrait of Dagobert I from 1842.

Parents: Chlothar II, king of the Franks, and Haldetrude

Date of Birth: 603

Royal House: Merovingian

Spouse: Gormatrude, then Nanthild

Reign: 629 – 634

Predecessor: Chlothar II

Summary: Gallic politics in the 7th century were very odd. Gaul was divided, at times, into four regions. The largest and most enduring of the two were Neustria and Austrasia. Whenever an heir came of age, the nobles of Gaul would force the Frankish king to divide the kingdom between himself and his son. And thus Dagobert, in 623, was given the title "king of Austrasia" which means "King of the East Lands" in Frankish. Today, those lands comprise up to half of Germany, all of the Low Countries, and large swaths of north-eastern France. When Chlothar II died, Dagobert inherited the entire kingdom. His younger brother, Charibert, claimed Neustria (northwestern France) but Dagobert gave him Aquitaine (southwestern France) instead. In 632, his brother died and Dagobert became the uncontested king of All the Franks, ruling a state that included everything from the Pyrenees past the Rhine, and into modern-day Italy in the south.

As his first order of business, he placed his own son, Sigebert III, on the throne of Austrasia as his own father had done for him. But there was a difference. Sigebert was only three at the time of his enthronement and Dagobert still ruled de facto for another 15 years. Dagobert made Paris his capital city, being located in Neustria near the Austrasian border. He also was responsible for the construction of Saint Denis Basilica, whereafter most French royalty would be interred. Dagobert died in 634 as the last adult Merovingian monarch with any real political power. Upon his death, Sigebert became uncontested ruler of Austrasia while an infant son, Clovis II, ruled Neustria and Burgundy (southeastern France). For the next hundred years, the Merovingian dynasty would stagnate as each successive monarch would only live long enough to produce a son, and then die, leaving the government in the hands of the noble Carolingian family. Dagobert himself had to deal with this faction, led at the time by Pepin of Landen, when he appointed Sigebert to the Austrasian throne, but he retained his power until his death. Never again would a Merovingian monarch be capable of holding such authority in Gaul.

Date of Death: 19 January 639

Successor: Theuderic III

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Maharana Pratap, lord of Mewar (1540)