Louis I biography

Synopsis

(born April 16, 778, Chasseneuil, near Poitiers, Aquitaine [now in France]—died June 20, 840, Petersau, an island in the Rhine River near Ingelheim [now in Germany]) Carolingian ruler of the Franks who succeeded his father, Charlemagne, as emperor in 814 and whose 26-year reign (the longest of any medieval emperor until Henry IV [1056–1106]) was a central and controversial stage in the Carolingian experiment to fashion a new European society. Commonly called Louis the Pious, he was known to his contemporaries by the Latin names Hludovicus or Chlodovicus, which echo the Latin name of Clovis (c. 466–511), the illustrious founder of the Merovingian dynasty. Louis was appointed king of Aquitaine in 781 and was already a seasoned 35-year-old politician and military commander when he became coemperor with Charlemagne in 813. He was the fourth monarch of the Carolingian dynasty, preceded by his father; his uncle, Carloman; and his grandfather, Pippin III, the Short.

King of Aquitaine

The vast realm Louis inherited stretched from the modern-day cities of Hamburg, Germany, in the north to Barcelona, Spain, 900 miles south, and from Nantes, France, in the west to Osnabrck, Germany, 720 miles east. The Frankish empire of the "First Europe" was actually an ethnic, linguistic, and cultural patchwork of Franks, Saxons, Bretons, Aquitanians, Spaniards, Lombards, Jews, Byzantines, Romans, Bavarians, Avars, Slavs, and other tributary peoples. Charlemagne attempted to manage his far-flung lands by establishing subkingdoms. In 781 three-year-old Louis was appointed king of Aquitaine, and he gained much valuable experience and matured greatly during the 33 years of his rule. Aquitaine was no sinecure. Incorporated into the Carolingian regime by force, Aquitaine needed watching, especially because it abutted the Spanish March, a military frontier region that had become even more dangerous after Charlemagne's abortive Spanish campaign in 778.

As king, Louis had his own palaces, chancery, treasury, and mints. He commanded military expeditions and supervised the Frankish counts, abbots, and vassals that were sent to Aquitaine. In 794 Charlemagne picked a bride for 16-year-old Louis, already the father of two children by concubines. Irmingard, the daughter of Count Ingram, whose connections with the Carolingian family stretched back to the 7th century, completed Louis's court in Aquitaine. Within 10 years the royal couple had five children. Irmingard also participated in her husband's efforts to reform monastic life, which were spearheaded by Benedict of Aniane, a Goth who had founded a monastery on his family's property. Benedict was only one of a group of southerners destined to play significant roles in Louis's reign. Claudius, a Spaniard, and Jonas, an Aquitanian, became bishops of Turin and Orleans, respectively. Helisachar, a Goth, served as Louis's chancellor and as the abbot of several monasteries. Agobard