Family tree Bas » Lodewijk "de blinde" de Provence (881-928)

Personal data Lodewijk "de blinde" de Provence 

• He was born in the year 881.
• (Geschiedenis) .Source 1

  Lodewijk van de Provence, bijgenaamd Lodewijk de Blinde (ca. 881/882 - Arles, 5 juni 928), was koning van Provence (zuid-Bourgondië) van 887 tot 928 en koning van Italië van 900 tot 902. Hij was ook keizer van het Roomse Rijk (toen nog niet "Heilig" genoemd) van 901 tot 905.
  
  Na de dood van zijn vader Bosso van Provence in 887, huldigde hij samen met zijn moeder Ermengard koning Karel de Dikke, die in ruil Lodewijk als koning van de Provence erkende. In 889 werd dit bevestigd door koning Arnulf van Karinthië en de lokale adel koos hem in 890 tot koning.
  Lodewijk huldigde Arnulf in 894 en voerde in 895 een oorlog tegen de Saracenen in Fraxinet. In 900 boden Italiaanse edelen hem de koningskroon aan. Lodewijk ging op deze uitnodiging in en versloeg de regerende koning Berengar. In datzelfde jaar werd Lodewijk in Pavia tot koning van Italië gekroond. Het volgende jaar werd hij ook door de paus in Rome tot keizer gekroond. In 902 werd Lodewijk echter verslagen door Berengar. Hij zwoor een eed aan Berengar dat hij naar huis terug zou keren en nooit meer zou proberen om koning van Italië te worden.
  
  In 905 deed Lodewijk echter nog een poging om koning van Italië te worden maar Berengar versloeg hem bij Verona. Als straf voor het verbreken van zijn eed, liet hij Lodewijk zijn ogen uitsteken en dwong hem het keizerschap af te staan. Lodewijk was tot zijn dood koning van de Provence maar de werkelijke macht lag bij zijn zwager Hugo van Arles. Hugo trouwde met zijn zuster en zou Lodewijk na zijn dood als koning opvolgen, en later ook koning van Italië worden.
  
  Toen Lodewijk in 900 koning van Italië werd, verloofde hij zich met Anna, een natuurlijke dochter van Leo VI van Byzantium. Er is geen enkele aanwijzing dat dit huwelijk werkelijk is voltrokken, en omdat Lodewijk al snel zijn positie in Italië verloor had Leo er natuurlijk ook geen belang meer bij. In tegenstelling tot oudere bronnen gaan moderne bronnen er daarom vanuit dat dit huwelijk niet is voltrokken. Lodewijk was zeker wel getrouwd met Adelheid, een nicht van Rudolf I van Bourgondië

• (Levens event) .

  Louis the Blind (c. 880 – 28 June 928) was the king of Provence from January 11, 887, King of Italy from October 12, 900, and briefly Holy Roman Emperor, as Louis III, between 901 and 905. He was the son of Boso, the usurper king of Provence, and Ermengard, a daughter of the Emperor Louis II.[2] Through his father, he was a Bosonid, but through his mother, a Carolingian. He was blinded after a failed invasion of Italy in 905.
  Contents
  Early Reign
  
  As a boy of seven, Louis succeeded to the throne of his father Boso, the King of Provence upon Boso’s death on 11 January 887.[3] The kingdom Louis inherited was much smaller than his father’s, as it did not include Upper Burgundy (lost to Rudolph I of Burgundy), nor any of French Burgundy, absorbed by Richard the Justiciar, Duke of Burgundy.[1] This meant that the kingdom of Provence was restricted to the environs of Vienne. The Provençal barons elected Ermengard to act as his regent,[2] with the support of Louis's uncle, Richard the Justiciar.
  
  In May, Ermengard traveled with Louis to the court of her relative, the emperor Charles the Fat, and received his recognition of the young Louis as king.[4] Charles adopted Louis as his son and put both mother and son under his protection.[5] In May 889, she traveled to the court of Charles' successor, Arnulf, to make a new submission, while at the same time seeking the blessing of Pope Stephen V.[3] The short work, Visio Karoli Grossi, may have been written shortly after Charles' death to support Louis's claim. If so, Louis must have had the support of Fulk the Venerable, Archbishop of Reims. On the other hand, the Visio may have been written later, circa 901, to celebrate (and support) Louis's imperial coronation.
  
  In August 890, at the Diet of Valence,[3] a council of bishops and feudatories of the realm, after hearing the recommendation of the pope, and receiving notification of Charles the Fat’s previous agreement to the proposition,[4] proclaimed Louis as King of Arles, Provence, and Cisjurane Burgundy.[2] In 894, Louis himself did homage to Arnulf.
  
  In 896, Louis waged war on the Saracens.[1][6] Throughout his reign he fought with these Muslim warriors, who had established a base at Fraxinet in 889, and had been raiding the coast of Provence, alarming the local nobility.[1]
  Conflict with Berengar
  
  In 900, Louis, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II,[7] was invited into Italy by various lords, including Adalbert II of Tuscany,[8][9] who were suffering under the ravages of the Magyars and the incompetent rule of Berengar I.[8] Louis thus marched his army across the Alps and defeated Berengar, chasing him from Pavia, the old Lombard capital, where, in the church of San Michele, he was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy on 12 October, 900.[10] He travelled onwards to Rome, where, in 901, he was crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict IV.[7] However, his inability to stem the Magyar incursions and impose any meaningful control over northern Italy saw the Italian nobles quickly abandon his cause and once again align themselves with Berengar.[10] The next year (902), however, Berengar defeated Louis's armies and forced him to flee to Provence and promise never to return.[11]
  
  In 905, Louis, after again listening to the Italian nobles who were tired of Berengar’s rule, this time led by Adalbert I of Ivrea,[12] launched another attempt to invade Italy.[11] Once again throwing Berengar out of Pavia,[10] he marched and also succeeded in taking Verona[11] with only a small following, after receiving the promise of support from the bishop, Adalard.[10] Partisans of Berengar in the town soon got word to Berengar of Louis’s exposed position at Verona, and his somewhat limited support.[10] Berengar returned, accompanied by Bavarian troops, and entered Verona in the dead of night. Louis sought sanctuary at the church of St Peter,[6] but he was captured, and on 21 July 905, he had his eyes put out (for breaking his oath)[13] and was forced to relinquish his royal Italian and imperial crowns. Later, Berengar became Emperor. After this last attempt to restore Carolingian power over Italy, Louis continued to rule Provence for many more years, though his cousin[14] Hugh, Count of Arles, was the dominant figure in the territory.[15]
  
  Louis returned to Vienne, his capital, and by 911, he had put most of the royal powers in the hands of Hugh. Hugh was made Margrave of Provence and Marquis of Vienne[14] and moved the capital to Arles. As regent, Hugh married Louis's sister Willa. Louis lived out his days until his death in obscurity, and to his dying day, he still continued to style himself as Roman Emperor.[1] He was succeeded by his brother-in-law in 928.[12]
  Marriages and heirs
  
  In 899, Louis III was betrothed to Anna, the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and his second wife, Zoe Zaoutzaina.[16] This occurred shortly before the fall of Taormina to the Arabs, and was part of extended diplomatic activities meant to strengthen Byzantine alliances with the western powers to preserve Byzantine territory in southern Italy.[17]
  
  The question of whether the betrothal was ever followed up by an actual marriage is still a matter of some controversy.[16] Louis fathered a son called Charles-Constantine,[13] who would become Count of Vienne. Charles' mother is not named in any sources. There has been modern speculation, most notably by Christian Settipani on his work Nos Ancêtres de l' Antiquité, that she was Anna,[1] the daughter of Leo VI and Zoe Zaoutzaina, based both upon the documented betrothal, as well on the onomastic evidence, stating that Charles-Constantine's name points to a Byzantine mother.
  
  Detractors of the theory point out that when Anna was born, however, she was the daughter of a concubine who later became Empress. Her father, at the time of Charles' birth was the reigning Emperor, therefore the silence of primary sources works against this theory. In addition Liutprand of Cremona, makes no mention of this, and it would have been very interesting to him, given that he was a thorough gossip, had been ambassador to Constantinople and devoted several chapters to the misadventures of Louis in Italy with no mention of these Byzantine connections. René Poupardin believed that Constantine was not a baptism name, but Settipani denies that. Richer specifically stated that Charles' mother's line (without naming her) was tainted with illegitimacy and mentioned nothing of her supposed illustrious Byzantine parentage.
  
  Christian Settipani challenges that theory by stating that the only reason why René Poupardin made him a bastard of Louis III was solely based on a passage by Richer claiming that Charles Constantine (...) was from a royal race, but which nobility had been vilified by a bastard ancestry remounting to his great-great-grandfather, proving nothing about Charles-Constantine's mother. He finally asserts this Byzantine ancestry based on a letter by Patriarch Nicholas I Mystikos discovered by byzantinists, in which he testifies that Emperor Leo VI of Byzantium, father of Constantine VII, had united his daughter to a Frank Prince, a cousin of Berta (of Tuscia), to whom came later a great misfortune.[18] That unfortunate Prince could only be Louis III, whose mother Irmingardis was a first cousin of Berta de Tuscia and who was blinded on 21 July 905.[19] Such a union would also account for the mention of Greek merchants in Louis’ privilege of 921.[16]
  
  In 914, Louis entered a second union, which would then be either his first or second marriage, by marrying Adelaide, daughter of Rudolph I of Upper Burgundy.

• He died on June 5, 928 in Arles, he was 47 years old.
• A child of Boso V de Provence and Ermengarde der Franken
• This information was last updated on November 2, 2012.

Household of Lodewijk "de blinde" de Provence

(1) He is married to Adelheid van Bourgondie.

They got married

Child(ren):

1. Karel van Vienne  < 910-962 
2. Rudolf de Provence  < 929-????

(2) He is married to Anna van Byzantium.

Permission for the marriage has been obtained in (verloofd, geen huwelijk) on 900.Source 1

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Timeline Lodewijk "de blinde" de Provence

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