Emperor Louis I HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

   Other names for Louis were "The Debonair", "The Pious", "The Pius", "Le Debonnaire", FRANCE King and HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE Emperor.

   Ancestral File Number: 9GCD-78. User ID: 77454314088.

   General Notes:

"Le Debonnaire", "The Debonair", "The Pious", "The Pius", King of FRANCE, Emperor of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE Reigned 814-840.

Not Married Concubine Holyroman Empire Louis I.

BOOKS
Barber Grandparents: 125 Kings, 143 Generations, Ted Butler Bernard andGertrude Barber Bernard, 1978, McKinney TX, p74: "275P Louis i `The Pius', King of France, (S of 268, F of 285); waged numerous wars and extended the French Empire over all Europe."

Europe in the Middle Ages, Robert S Hoyt, 1957, Harcourt Brace & Co, p621: "Genealogical Table II, The Carolingians, Louis the Pious, Emperor 814-840..."

The Story of Civilization, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Bk IV, The Dark Ages, Ch XIX, The Decline of the West, Sec III, France, p471: "Perhaps because [Charle- magne] foresaw, like Diocletian, that his overreaching empire needed quick defense at many points at once, he divided it in 806 among his three sons- Pepin, Louis, and Charles. But Pepin died in 810, Charles in 811; only Louis remained,so absorbed in piety as to seem unfit to govern a rough and treach- erous world. Nevertheless, in 813, at a solemn ceremony, Louis was elevated from the rank of king to that of emperor, and the old monarch uttered his nunc dimittis: `Blessed be Thou, O Lord God, Who hast granted me the grace to see with my own eyes my son seated on my throne!'..."
"Louis `the Pious' [a time-ingrown mistranslation of pius, which means reverent, faithful, kind, gentle, and much besides] (ruled 814-840) was as tall and handsome as his father; modest, gentle, and gracious, and as incorrigibly lenient as Caesar. Brought up by priests, he took to heart the moral precepts that Charlemagne had practiced with such moderation. He had one wife,and no concubines; he expelled from the court his father's mistresses and his sisters' paramours, and when the sisters protested, he immured them in nunneries. He took the priests at their word, and bade the monks live up to their Benedictine rule. Wherever he found injustice or exploitation he tried to stop it, and to right what wrong had been done. The people marveled to find him always taking the side of the weak or poor."
"Feeling bound by Frank custom, he divided his empire into kingdoms ruled by his sons-Pepin, Lothaire, and Louis `the German' (Ludwig). By his second wife, Judith, Louis had a fourth son, known to history as Charles the Bald; Louis loved him with almost grandparental infatuation, and wished to give him a share of the empire, annulling the division of 817; the three older sons objected, and began eight years of civil war against their father. The majority of the nobles and clergy supported the rebellion; the few who seemed loyal deserted Louis in a crisis at Rothfeld (near Colmar), which thereafter was known as the `Lugenfeld', the Field of Lies. Louis bade his remaining sup- porters leave him for their own protection, and surrendered to his sons (833). They jailed and tonsured Judith, confined young Charles in a convent, and ordered their father to abdicate and do public penance. In a church at Soissons Louis, surrounded by thirty bishops, and in the presence of his son and succes- sor Lothaire, was compelled tobare himself to the waist, prostrate himself upon a haircloth, and read aloud a confession of crime. He took the gray garb of a penitent, and for a year was imprisoned in a monastery. From this moment a united episcopate ruled France amid the disintegration of the Carolingian house."
"Popular sentiment revolted against Lothaire's treatment of Louis. Many nobles and some prelates responded to the appeals of Judith to annul the depo- sition; a quarrel among the sons ensued; Pepinand Ludwig released their father, restored him to his throne, and returned Judith and Charles to his arms (834). Louis took no revenge, but forgave all. When Pepin died (838) a new partition was made; Ludwig did not like it, and invaded Saxony.The old Emperor again took the field, and repelled the invasion; but he fell ill of exposure on the way back, and died near Ingelheim (840). Among his last words were a message of forgiveness to Ludwig, and an appeal to Lothaire, now Emperor,to protect Judith and Charles."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol VI, p340, Louis I the Pious Emperor: "Born 778 Chasseneuil Aquitaine, Died 20 Jun 840 Petersaue Germany, son of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne, inherited his father's empire and presided over it during a turbulent period. Louis was crowned as co-emperor in 813 and became emperor in 814 on his father's death. With his members of his family, difficulites began that were to beset him for the remainder of his life. Deposed by his sons (Lothair, Pepin, Louis, and Charles) twice, he was restored to the throne each time (830 and 834). At his death the empire was in disarray."

Macropaedia, Vol XI, p115, Louis I the Pious Emperor: "It was the destinyof Louis I, who inherited the undivided Frankish empire from his illustrious father, Charlemagne, to preside over the Frankish domains during a turbulent period that was decisive in the eventual breakup of the empire...born in 778 at Chasseneuil, near Potiers, Aquitaine, the fifth child of Charlemagne's second wife, Hildegard the Swabian...When Charlemagne died at Aachen in 814 and was succeeded by Louis, by then his only surviving legitimate son, Louis was well experienced in warfare; he was 36, married to Irmengard of Hesbaye..."
"Louis next began to allocate parts of the empire to the various members of his family, and here began the difficulties and disasters that were to beset him for the remainder of his life...He sent his sisters and half sisters to nunneries and later put his three illegitimate half brothers-Drogo, Hugo, and Theodoric-into monasteries."
"At the assembly of Aachen in Jul 817, he confirmed Pepin in the possession of Aquitaine and gave Bavaria to Louis the German; Lothair he made his co-emperor and heir. Charlemagne had been in his 70s and within a few months of death before naming his heir, and for Louis to give such premature expectations to a youth of 22 was to askfor trouble. Moreover, Louis did not anticipate that he would become father of another child: the empress Irmengard died in 818; and four months later Louis married Judith of Bavaria, who, in June 823, bore him a son, Charles (the Bald), to whom the Emperor gave Aleman- nia in 829."
"Backed by his two brothers, Lothair rose in revolt and deposed his father. The assembly of Nijmegen in Oct 830, however, restored Louis to the throne; and, the following Feb, at the Assembly of Aachen, in a second partition, Lothair was given Italy. In 832 Louis took Aquitaine away from Pepin and gave it to Charles. The three brothers revolted a second time, with the support of Pope Gregory IV, and at a meeting near Sigolsheim, in Alsace,once more deposed their father. In Mar 834 Louis was agiain restored to the throne and made peace with Pepin and with Louis the German...Lothair retreated to Italy. Encouraged by his success, Louis made over more territories to his son Charlesat the assemblies of Aachen and Nijmegen (837-838), a move the three brothers accepted, but with bad grace..."
"Meanwhile, Pepin had died (Ded 838), and, at the assembly of Worms (30 May 839), a fourth partition was made, the empire beingdivided between Lothair (Italy), Louis (Germany), and Charles (France)...The Emperor called an assembly at Worms on 1 Jul 840. Before it could meet, however, Louis the Pious died at Petersaue, an island in the Rhine near Ingelheim (20 Jun 840). He was 62 and had ruled for nearly 27 years. He was buried in the Church of St Arnulf in Metz by Bishop Drogo, his half brother."
"The empire he had inherited in peace, Louis left in dearray. He had engaged in no serious external conflict, although the Danes and others had continued to make inroads into the empire. From 829 his four sons had been a constant source of disruption; the quarrels among Lothair, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald were to continue for decades after his death. In many ways Louis seems to have been an estimable person. He was presumably given the dpithet th Pious because of his devoutness, his liberality to the church, his interest in ecclesiastical affairs, and the good education he hadreceived. Contemporary historians vary little in their judgment..."
"Like his father Charlemagne, Louis the Pious is depected in several of the chansons de geste of the 12th century, notably the `Chanson de Guillaume', the `Couronnement de Louis', and the `Charroi de Nimes': he appears as a kindly ruler, but a weak and vacillating one."

The Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Editions, France 814: "Louis I, Emperor Holy Roman Empire 814-840, "Le Debonnaire",son of Charlemagne, Inglorious and turbulent reign, Subjugated Radbod Margrave of Austria 817..."

France A Modern History, Albert Guerard, 1959, Univ Michigan Press, p52: "...Charlemagne's successor, whom contemporaries called Louis the Pious, and posterity, Louis the Weak, showed a strange blend of Frankish cruelty and Christian meekness. He ordered the eyes of his rebellious nephew Bernard to be put out (death resulted), and did public penance (Attigny, 822) for this and other crimes. He still considered himself as the temporal head of Western Christendom, and Church administration was his chief concern, as church services were his only delight. He supported the efforts of Benedict of Aniane to federate all the monasteries of the empire, a conception which proved avortive but was later partly realized by Cluny. This imperial monk was also a King Lear: he divided and redivided his domains among his sons without ever satisfying their jealous greed. The constantly revolted. The eldest once captured and deposed him (833-834), but could not come to terms with his grasping brothers. Louis died in 840 in a campaign against his son Louis of Germany. Michelet had a strange fondness for this pathetic figureand called him `the first Saint Louis.'"

The Kings of France, Claude Wenzler, Tran. Angela Moyon, Editons Quest-France 13 Rue du Breil, Rennes, France 1995, p13:
"The Carolingians- Louis The Debonair or the Pious- Chasseneuil 778- 814- 840 AD. Queen: Judith of Bavaria 800- 819- 845
Louis was one of Charlemagne and Hildegard's sons. When his brothers died, he was able to re-unite the entire Empire in 814 AD. In order to ensure his succession while he was still alive, he divided the Empire into three kingdoms which he gifted, with primacy to the eldest, to his three sons (Ordinatio Imperii, 817 AD). When Judith, Louis the Pious' second wife, had another son, Charles, in 823 AD, she demanded that he be given the same advantages as his brothers. This called into question the division of territory agreed to in 817 AD. In the end, Charlemagne's vast empire was redivided (Treaty of Verdun, 843 AD) between Louis the German, Chares and Lothair."

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 125360 Ancestors of Patricia Ann Kieffer.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 9GCD-78 Bur Church St Arnulf Metz Lorraine France, Ver 4.10 Bur Aachen Cathedral Aachen Rheinland Prussia.

Ancestral File Ver 4.10 9GCD-78 Born Aug 778 Casseneuil Chr 6 Oct 977 [NB 200 years after birth] Died 20 Jun 840 Near Ingelheim Rhinehessen Hesse Bur Aachen Cathedral Aachen Rheinland Prussia.

   Marriage Information:

Louis married Empress Ermengarde Hesbaye HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, daughter of Duke Ingeramne HESBAYE and Duchess Ingeramme HESBAYE, in 798 in , , France. (Empress Ermengarde Hesbaye HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE was born about 778 in Hesbaye, Liege, Belgium and died on 3 Oct 818 in Angers, Maine-Et-Loire, France.)

   Marriage Information:

Louis also married Empress Judith Andech HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, daughter of Count Eticho Altdorf BAVARIA, in Feb 819. (Empress Judith Andech HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE was born on 10 Jan 800-816 in , , Bavaria and died on 19 Apr 843 in Tours, Indre-Et-Loire, Alsace, France.)

   Marriage Information:

Louis also married Concubine Holyroman Empire Louis I. (Concubine Holyroman Empire Louis I was born about 777 in , , France.)