Born: 16 Apr 778 AD in Aquitaine, France. Died 20 Jun 840 AD in Germany
Louis was my 35th Great Grand Uncle. He was the son of Charlemagne King
of the Franks who was my 36th Great Grandfather (but going back to the A's with
Aquitaine). He was one of Charlemagne's four legitimate
sons. When his father died in 814, he inherited the entire Frankish Kingdom and all its possessions (with the sole exception of Italy, which
remained within Louis' empire, but under the direct rule of Bernard, who was
his nephew, the son of his brother Pepin).
As a motto of his reign, he minted the reverse of his coins with the legend
Renovatio Regni Francorum. In this, he intended to signify the renewal of the
empire to a lost moral grandeur. He quickly enacted a "moral purge",
in which he sent all of his unmarried sisters to nunneries so that his sisters
didn't become hostage brides and then in turn he wouldn't have to deal
with brothers-in-laws. He also wanted to reform the
Frankish church and revival of the moral life of the clergy.
In 817, Louis and his court were crossing a wooden gallery from the cathedral
to the palace in Aachen, when the gallery collapsed and took the lives of many.
Louis, having barely survived and feeling the imminent danger of death, issued
a decree that laid out plans for an orderly succession.
In 815, he had already given his two eldest sons a share in the government. He had given Bavaria to his oldest son Lothair as King and gave Aquitaine to Pepin, but did not give them a royal title. Later, he proceeded to divide the empire between his
four sons, Lothair, Pepin, Louis (The German) and Charles (the bald). With this succession being in
order, Louis tried to combine his sense for the Empire's unity, supported by the
clergy, with the traditional Frankish principle of partition. Louis didn't
treat his sons equally in status and land, he elevated his first-born son
Lothair above his younger brothers and gave him the largest part of the Empire
as his share. This was done to stir away conflict during the
successions. Lothair was conscious of his status as co-emperor and
proved to be a staunch defender of his share. There was many conflicts between Louis and his eldest son as well. Later there would be more divisions in the empire and many conflicts between Louis and his sons.
After many campaigns and civil wars, Louis fell ill and died on the 20th June 840 in Germany. Soon after there was civil war (exactly what he was trying to avoid). The war was settled in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, which split
the Frankish realm into three parts, the kernels of later France and Germany.
The dispute over the kingship of Aquitaine was not settled until 860.
All this information was researched from different history
websites for my personal family tree notes.
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