France - Historical Biography, France - Political Biography, 751 - 987 (Carolingian Dynasty) - French History

Charles the Bald

Name: Charles the Bald
Author: Janet L. Nelson
ISBN: 9780582055858

by Janet L. Nelson

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Overview

This is the first full-scale biography of Charlemagne's grandson, Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks from 843 to 877, and Emperor from 875. Posterity has not been kind to him or his age: the period has conventionally been seen as one of failure and decline, though it is currently being reassessed in more positive terms; and Charles himself, frequently compared with his grandfather and invariably found wanting, has been judged a weak, even disastrous, ruler, beset by Viking attackers outside his kingdom and rampant 'feudal' forces within it. Janet L. Nelson's judicious political study of his life and reign tells a different story. She exposes the anachronisms in the modern historical approaches that have led to Charles's neglect and misjudgement; and reveals instead an able and resourceful ruler who, under challenging conditions, contrived to maintain, and in important ways enhance, monarchic power and authority by rallying aristocratic consensus and ecclesiastical resources in support of his kingdom. As one amongst several heirs to Charlemagne's Frankish empire, Charles was adept at exploiting opportunities for territorial expansion at the expense of his rival kinsmen. Setting his sights on the imperial throne, he achieved the summit of his ambitions in his coronation as emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 875. In the long term, however, his most important achievement can be seen to have lain elsewhere: in his establishment of political control in the West Frankish heartlands (the valleys of the Seine and its tributaries) where he created the material and ideological basis of a successor-state to the western part of the Carolingian Empire--the West Frankish kingdom that, outlasting the Carolingian dynasty, was to develop across the centuries into France. This is a major contribution to early medieval studies, which will be necessary reading to the scholar and the student, but can also be readily enjoyed by the non-specialist. It throws a vivid light on the

Discusses the historical and political aspects of the reign of this ninth-century French king.