1.
West Francia
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West Francia extended further south than modern France, but it did not extend as far east. In Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the West Frankish king was barely felt, West Frankish kings were elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, and for the half-century between 888 and 936 they chose alternatingly from the Carolingian and Robertian houses. By this time the power of king became weaker and more nominal, the Robertians, after becoming counts of Paris and dukes of France became kings themselves and established the Capetian dynasty. In August 843, after three years of war following the death of Louis the Pious on June 20,840. The youngest, Charles the Bald, received the western Francia, the contemporary West Frankish Annales Bertiniani describes Charles arriving at Verdun, where the distribution of portions took place. After describing the portions of his brothers, Lothair the Emperor and Louis the German, the Annales Fuldenses of East Francia describe Charles as holding the western part after the kingdom was divided in three. Charles the Bald was at war with Pippin II from the start of his reign in 840, accordingly, in June 845, after several military defeats, Charles signed the Treaty of Benoît-sur-Loire and recognised his nephews rule. This agreement lasted until March 25,848, when the Aquitainian barons recognised Charles as their king, thereafter Charless armies had the upper hand and by 849 had secured most of Aquitaine. In May, Charles had himself crowned King of the Franks, the coronation was officiated by Archbishop Wenilo of Sens, and included the first instance of royal unction in West Francia. The idea of anointing Charles may be owed to Archbishop Hincmar of Reims, by the time of the Synod of Quierzy, Hincmar was claiming that Charles was anointed to the entire West Frankish kingdom. With the Treaty of Mersen in 870 the western part of Lotharingia was added to West Francia, in 875 Charles the Bald was crowned Emperor of Rome. The last record in the Annales Bertiniani dates to 882, the next set of original annals from the West Frankish kingdom are those of Flodoard, who began his account with the year 919. After the death of Charless grandson, Carloman II, on December 12,884 and he was probably crowned King in Gaul on 20 May 885 at Grand. His reign was the time after the death of Louis the Pious that all of Francia would be re-united under one ruler. In his capacity as king of West Francia, he seems to have granted the title and perhaps regalia to the semi-independent ruler of Brittany. His handling of the Viking siege of Paris in 885–86 greatly reduced his prestige, in November 887 his nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia revolted and assumed the title as King of the East Franks. Charles retired and soon died on January 13,888, in Aquitaine, Duke Ranulf II may have had himself recognised as king, but he only lived another two years. Although Aquitaine did not become a kingdom, it was largely outside the control of the West Frankish kings
2.
Coronation of the French monarch
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The accession of the King of France was legitimized by coronation ceremony performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at Notre-Dame de Reims. The most important part of the French coronation ceremony was not the coronation itself, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short was the first anointed monarch in Europe, which occurred in Soissons to legitimize the accession of the new dynasty. A second coronation of Pepin by Pope Stephen II took place at the Basilica of St Denis in 754, the first coronation performed by a Pope. Since this Roman glass vial containing the balm due to be mixed with chrism, was brought by the dove of the Holy Spirit. All succeeding Kings of France were anointed with this same oil—mixed with chrism prior to their coronation, French queens were crowned either together with their husband at Rheims or alone at Sainte-Chapelle or Abbey of St. Denis. The king is crowned by the Archbishop of Reims who is assisted by four bishops of his ecclesiastical province. The established order of six bishops is, The Archbishop of Reims anoints, the Bishop of Laon carries the holy ampulla. The Bishop of Langres carries the scepter, the Bishop of Beauvais carries and shows the coat of arms or royal mantle. The Bishop of Chalons carries the royal ring, the Bishop of Noyon carries the belt. To these are added the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Remi, guardian of the ampulla. Peers are cited for the first time in 1203 and 1226, however, their first recorded participation in the coronation is made on the occasion of the coronation of Philip V of France on 9 January 1317. These are the six aforementioned ecclesiastical peers and the six lay peers, in order of protocol, the six lay peers are, The Duke of Burgundy carries the royal crown, girds the kings sword, and gives him the order of chivalry. The Duke of Normandy carries the first square banner, the Duke of Aquitaine carries the second square banner. The Count of Toulouse carries the spurs, the Count of Flanders carries the royal sword. The Count of Champagne carries the banner of war, the spiritual peerages were perpetual, and were never extinguished during the existence of the Kingdom of France. But as early as 1204, the roster of the lay peerages had been incomplete, Normandy had been absorbed into the French crown, Toulouse in 1271, Champagne in 1284. Aquitaine was several times forfeited and restored, Burgundy became extinct in 1361 and again in 1477, hence, more often than not, princes of the royal blood and high-ranking members of the nobility acted as representatives of the ancient lay peerages. Spiritual peers were also represented if their see is vacant or they are unable to attend
3.
Charles the Bald
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Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife and he was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were already adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father. The attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia, at a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade the nobles do homage to Charles as his heir. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepins heirs, the death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. In the following year, the two confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg. The war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843, Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known then as East Francia and later as Germany. Lothair retained the title and the Kingdom of Italy. He also received the regions from Flanders through the Rhineland. The first years of Charless reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful, during these years the three brothers continued the system of confraternal government, meeting repeatedly with one another, at Koblenz, at Meerssen, and at Attigny. In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, and he fled to Burgundy. He was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, and by the fidelity of the Welfs, in 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothairs dominions, besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons. Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon and the Battle of Jengland, the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles also fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, at the Vikings successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions, two of these bridges at Paris saved the city during its siege of 885–886. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the crown at Pavia. Louis the German, also a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles dominions, and Charles had to return hastily to West Francia
4.
Adelaide of Paris
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Adélaïde of Paris was the second wife of Louis the Stammerer, King of Western Francia, and was the mother of Princess Ermentrude and King Charles the Simple. Adelaide was the daughter of the count palatine Adalard of Paris and her great-grandfather was Bégon, Count of Paris. Her great-grandmother, Alpaïs, wife of Bégon, was the daughter of Louis the Pious by an unnamed mistress. Although Louis and Ansgarde already had two children, Louis and Carloman, Charles prevailed upon Pope John VIII, to dissolve the union and this accomplished, Charles married his son to Adelaide in February 875. However, the marriage was called into question because of the close blood-kinship of the pair, when on 7 September 878 the pope crowned Louis, the pope refused to crown Adelaide. When Louis the Stammerer died in Compiegne on 10 April 879, Adelaide was pregnant, giving birth on 17 September 879, the birth of this child led to a dispute between Adelaide and Ansgarde. Ansgarde and her sons accused Adelaide of adultery, Adelaide in turn disputed the right of Ansgardes sons to inherit, Charles eventually succeeded to his fathers throne in 898, his mother assisted in crowning him. She died in Laon on 10 November 901 and was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Corneille, Compiègne, Picardy
5.
Louis III of France
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Louis III was the king of West Francia from 879 until his death in 882. Louiss short reign was marked by military success, Louis was born while his father was King of Aquitaine and his grandfather Charles the Bald was ruling West Francia. Some doubts were raised about his legitimacy, since his parents had married secretly, in September 879 Louis was crowned at Ferrières Abbey. In March 880 at Amiens the brothers divided their fathers kingdom, Louis receiving the northern part, duke Boso, one of Charles the Balds most trusted lieutenants renounced his allegiance to both brothers and was elected King of Provence. In the summer of 880 Carloman II and Louis III marched against him and captured Mâcon and they united their forces with those of their cousin Charles the Fat, then ruling East Francia and Kingdom of Italy, and unsuccessfully besieged Vienne from August to November. In 881 Louis III achieved a victory against Viking riders, whose invasions had been ongoing since his grandfathers reign. Within a year of the battle an anonymous poet celebrated it, Louis III died on 5 August 882 at Saint-Denis in the centre of his realm, having hit his head and fallen from his horse while chasing a girl with amorous intent. He hit the lintel of a door with his head while mounting his horse and fractured his cranium on impact, which led to his death. Since he had no children, his brother Carloman II became the king of West Francia. The Ludwigslied and the Battle of Saucourt, in Judith Jesch, The Scandinavians from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century, the Context of the Old High German Ludwigslied, Medium Aevum,46, 87–103. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century, Charles the Fat, the Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751–987
6.
Carloman II
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Carloman II might refer to the second Carolingian of that name, otherwise known as Carloman I. Carloman II, King of West Francia, was the youngest son of King Louis the Stammerer and Ansgarde of Burgundy, initially some Frankish nobles advocated electing Louis III as the sole king, but eventually both brothers were elected kings. Meanwhile, the powerful Duke Boso of Provence had renounced his allegiance to both brothers and had been elected King of Provence, in the summer of 880 Carloman and Louis III marched against Boso, took Mâcon and the northern parts of his realm. Despite receiving help from their cousin Charles the Fat, who ruled East Francia, only in the summer of 882 Vienne was taken after being besieged by Richard, Count of Autun. After the accidental death of Louis III in August 882, Carloman II became the king of West Francia. The kingdom was in a condition partly owing to repeated incursions from the Viking raiders. Carloman II died while hunting on 12 December 884 and was succeeded in the throne by his cousin and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Carloman
7.
Charles the Simple
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Charles III, called the Simple or the Straightforward, was the King of West Francia from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–23. He was a member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the third and posthumous son of king Louis the Stammerer by his second wife Adelaide of Paris. As a child, Charles was prevented from succeeding to the throne at the time of the death in 884 of his half-brother, instead, Frankish nobles of the realm asked his cousin, Emperor Charles the Fat to assume the crown. The nobility then elected Odo, the hero of the Siege of Paris as the new king, in 893 Charles was crowned by a faction opposed to the rule of Odo at the Reims Cathedral, becoming monarch of West Francia only after the death of Odo in 898. In 911 a group of Vikings led by Rollo besieged Paris, after a victory near Chartres on 26 August, Charles decided to negotiate with Rollo, resulting in the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte which created the Duchy of Normandy. Rollo also agreed to be baptised and to marry Charles daughter Gisela, Charles had tried to win Lotharingian support for years, for instance, by marrying in April 907 a Lotharingian woman named Frederuna, and in 909 his niece Cunigunda married Wigeric of Lotharingia. Charles defended Lotharingia against two attacks by Conrad I, in 925 Lotharingia was once again seized by East Francia. Queen Frederuna died on 10 February 917 leaving six daughters and no sons, on 7 October 919 Charles married Eadgifu, the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of England, who bore him a son, the future King Louis IV of France. By this time Charles excessive favouritism towards a certain Hagano had turned the aristocracy against him and he endowed Hagano with monasteries that were already the benefices of other barons, alienating them. In Lotharingia he earned the enmity of the new duke Gilbert, opposition to Charles in Lotharingia was not universal, however, he retained support of Wigeric. The nobles, completely exasperated with Charles policies and especially his favoritism of count Hagano, after negotiations by Archbishop Herveus of Reims the king was released. In 922 the Frankish nobles revolted again led by Robert of Neustria, Robert, who was Odos brother, was elected king by the rebels and crowned, while Charles had to flee to Lotharingia. On 2 July 922, Charles lost his most faithful supporter, Herveus of Reims, Charles returned with a Norman army in 923 but was defeated on 15 June near Soissons by Robert, who died in the battle. Charles was captured and imprisoned in a castle at Péronne under the guard of Herbert II of Vermandois, Roberts son-in-law Rudolph of Burgundy was then elected to succeed him as king. Charles died in prison on 7 October 929 and was buried at the abbey of Saint-Fursy. His son by Eadgifu would eventually be crowned in 936 as Louis IV of France, in the initial aftermath of Charless defeat, Queen Eadgifu and children had fled to England. On 6 December 884 King Carloman II of West Francia died without a heir and his half-brother. Because of this, their cousin Charles the Fat, already Holy Roman Emperor, since the beginning, the new monarch was forced to deal with constant Viking raids, with little success
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
Carolingian dynasty
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The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name Carolingian derives from the Latinised name of Charles Martel, the Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of Romans in over three centuries. His death in 814 began a period of fragmentation of the Carolingian empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France. This picture, however, is not commonly accepted today, the greatest Carolingian monarch was Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800. His empire, ostensibly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, is referred to historiographically as the Carolingian Empire, the Carolingian rulers did not give up the traditional Frankish practice of dividing inheritances among heirs, though the concept of the indivisibility of the Empire was also accepted. The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons kings in the various regions of the Empire. The Carolingians were displaced in most of the regna of the Empire by 888 and they ruled in East Francia until 911 and held the throne of West Francia intermittently until 987. One chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, the dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of Eudes, Count of Vermandois. His sister Adelaide, the last Carolingian, died in 1122, the Carolingian dynasty has five distinct branches, The Lombard branch, or Vermandois branch, or Herbertians, descended from Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. Though he did not outlive his father, his son Bernard was allowed to retain Italy, Bernard rebelled against his uncle Louis the Pious, and lost both his kingdom and his life. Deprived of the title, the members of this branch settled in France. The counts of Vermandois perpetuated the Carolingian line until the 12th century, the Counts of Chiny and the lords of Mellier, Neufchâteau and Falkenstein are branches of the Herbertians. With the descendants of the counts of Chiny, there would have been Herbertian Carolingians to the early 14th century, the Lotharingian branch, descended from Emperor Lothair, eldest son of Louis the Pious. At his death Middle Francia was divided equally between his three surviving sons, into Italy, Lotharingia and Lower Burgundy, the sons of Emperor Lothair did not have sons of their own, so Middle Francia was divided between the western and eastern branches of the family in 875. The Aquitainian branch, descended from Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious, since he did not outlive his father, his sons were deprived of Aquitaine in favor of his younger brother Charles the Bald. The German branch, descended from Louis the German, King of East Francia, since he had three sons, his lands were divided into Duchy of Bavaria, Duchy of Saxony and Duchy of Swabia. His youngest son Charles the Fat briefly reunited both East and West Francia — the entirety of the Carolingian empire — but it again after his death. With the failure of the lines of the German branch, Arnulf of Carinthia
10.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
11.
Duchy of Aquitaine
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It originated in the 7th century as a duchy of Francia, ultimately a recreation of the Roman provinces of Aquitania Prima and Secunda. It reappeared as a duchy, and in the High Middle Ages and their claims in France triggered the Hundred Years War, in which the kingdom of France emerged victorious in the 1450s, with many incorporated areas coming to be ruled directly by the French kings. Gallia Aquitania fell under Visigothic rule in the 5th century and it was conquered by the Franks under Clovis I in 507, as a result of the Battle of Vouillé. During the 6th and early 7th century, it was direct rule of Frankish kings. Under Chlothar II, Aquitaine was again part of Francia. This subkingdom, consisting of Gascony and the fringe of Aquitaine proper, is conventionally known as Aquitaine. Charibert campaigned successfully against the Basques, but after his death in 632, the duchy of Aquitaine as a quasi-independent realm within the Frankish empire established itself during the second half of the 7th century, certainly by 700 under Odo the Great. The first duke is on record under the name of Felix, as his successor Lupus, he probably owed allegiance to the Frankish kings. Odo succeeded Lupus in 700 and signed a treaty with Charles Martel. He inflicted on the Moors a crushing defeat at the Battle of Toulouse in 721, however, Charles Martel coveted the southern realm, crossed the Loire in 731 and looted much of Aquitaine. Odo engaged the Franks in battle, but lost and came out weakened, soon after this battle, in 732, the Moors raided Vasconia and Aquitaine as far north as Poitiers and defeated Odo twice near Bordeaux. Odo saw no option but to invoke the aid of Charles Martel, Odo was succeeded by his son Hunald, who reverted to former independence, so defying the Frankish Mayor of the Palace Charles Martels authority. The Carolingian leader attacked Hunald twice in 735 and 736, but was unable to subdue the duke. Eventually, Hunald retired to a monastery, leaving both the kingdom and the conflict to Waifer, or Guaifer. For some years Waifer strenuously carried on a struggle with the Franks. As a consequence, male-preference primogeniture was the succession law for the nobility. The autonomous and troublesome duchy of Aquitaine was conquered by the Franks in 769, in order to avoid a new demonstration of Aquitain particularism, Charlemagne decided to organize the land within his kingdom. In 781, he made his son, Louis then 3 years of age
12.
Charles the Child
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Charles the Child was the King of Aquitaine from October 855 until his death in 866. If his father, Charles the Bald, and great grandfather, Charlemagne, are counted as rulers of Aquitaine and he was the second son of Charles the Bald and brother of Louis the Stammerer. The younger Charles was appointed by his father, who had ruled as King of Aquitaine himself from 838. The Aquitainians had previously rebelled against Charles the Bald, requesting from Louis the German that he one of his sons to rule over them. Louis had sent his son, Louis the Younger, prompting Charles the Bald to release his rival claimant to Aquitaine. Pippin succeeded in rallying the nobles to support himself and Charles the Bald against Louis the Younger, by October, however, Pippin lost his popularity with the still-rebellious Aquitainians, prompting Charles the Bald to appoint Charles the Child as King. Charles the Child was duly anointed at Limoges, within a year, he had been replaced by the Aquitainians with Pippin II. These same then deposed Pippin and restored Charles the Child, Pippin was captured in 864 and imprisoned at Senlis, at which point he disappears from history. Unlike previous sub-kings of Aquitaine, Charles the Child had no authority at all. Before 840, the kingdom had been ruled in person by a king, Charles the Bald, however, after his accession as King of Western Francia. All the rights of the region were invested in Charles the Bald, nonetheless, as Charles grew older, he began to exercise what little personal authority he could. For example, in 862 he chose and married a wife against the will of his father, the name of his wife is unknown, although she was apparently the widow of a count named Humbert. Charles the Bald reasserted his power over his son in 863, forcing the younger Charles to put away his wife, the blow left him mentally incapacitated until his resultant death in 866. He died childless and was buried in Bourges, callahan, Daniel F. Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Coronation Rite of the Dukes of Aquitaine and the Cult of Saint Martial of Limoges. The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, edd, warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900. McKitterick, Rosamond, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians
13.
Aquitaine
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Aquitaine, archaic Guyenne/Guienne was a traditional region of France, and was an administrative region of France until 1 January 2016. It is now part of the new region Nouvelle-Aquitaine and it is situated in the south-western part of Metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It is composed of the five departments of Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, in the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by the Romans, whether this Aquitanian language was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or whether it was generally limited to the Aquitaine/Basque region is not known. The original Aquitania at the time of Caesars conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the Garonne River, the Pyrenees, the name may stem from Latin aqua, maybe derived from the town Aquae Augustae, Aquae Tarbellicae or just Aquis or as a more general geographical feature. In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured and Aquitania Prima, Aquitania Secunda, accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are a blur, lacking precision, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati, legalizing their status within the Empire, eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse, but their tenure on Aquitaine was feeble, in 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire. The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place as Novempopulania, where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques and these dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of the Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine, a united Basque-Aquitanian realm reached its heyday under Odo the Greats rule. Odo was required to pledge allegiance to the Frankish Charles Martel in exchange for help against the advancing Arabic forces, Basque-Aquitanian self-rule temporarily came to a halt, definitely in 768 after the assassination of Waifer. Seguin, count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia, seemed to have attempted a detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagnes death, the new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. Before Pepins death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald, however scarce, some Frankish population and nobles settled down in regions like Albigeois, Carcassone, Toulouse, and Provence and Lower Rhone. After the death of the king Dagobert I, the Merovingian tenure south of the Loire became largely nominal, with the power being in the hands of autonomous regional leaders. The Franks may have largely assimilated to the preponderant Gallo-Roman culture by the 8th century. Still, in the Battle of Toulouse, the Aquitanian duke Odo is said to be leading an army of Aquitanians, on the other hand, the Franks didnt mix with the Basques, keeping separate paths. Recorded evidence points to their deployment across Aquitaine in a capacity as a mainstay of the Dukes forces. Romans are cited as living in the cities of Aquitaine, as opposed to the Franks, in 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine
14.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
15.
Hincmar
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Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, the friend, advisor and propagandist of Charles the Bald, was one of the most remarkable figures in the ecclesiastical history of the Carolingian period. He belonged to a family of northern Francia. Destined to the life, he was brought up at Saint-Denis under the direction of the abbot Hilduin. After the death of Louis the Pious Hincmar supported Charles the Bald, in 845 he obtained through the kings support the archbishopric of Reims, and this choice was confirmed at the synod of Beauvais. Archbishop Ebbo, whom he replaced, had deposed in 835 at the synod of Thionville for having broken his oath of fidelity to the emperor Louis. After the death of Louis, Ebbo succeeded in regaining possession of his see for some years and it was in these circumstances that Hincmar succeeded, and in 847 Pope Leo IV sent him the pallium. One of the first cares of the new prelate was the restitution to his see of the domains that had been alienated under Ebbo. From the beginning of his episcopate Hincmar was in constant conflict with the clerks who had been ordained by Ebbo during his reappearance and this conflict, however, bred an antagonism of which Hincmar was later to feel the effects. During the next thirty years the archbishop of Reims played a prominent part in church. His authoritative and energetic will inspired, and in great measure directed and his first encounter was with Gottschalk, whose predestinarian doctrines claimed to be modelled on those of St Augustine. Hincmar placed himself at the head of the party that regarded Gottschalks doctrines as heretical, for a part at least of his doctrines Gottschalk found ardent defenders, such as Lupus of Ferrières, Prudentius of Troyes, the deacon Florus, and Amolo of Lyons. Gottschalk died in prison in 868, the question of the divorce of Lothair II, king of Lorraine, who had repudiated his wife Theutberga to marry his concubine Waldrada, engaged Hincmars literary activities in another direction. In the middle of the century there appeared in Gaul the collection of false decretals commonly known as the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. The importance assigned by these decretals to the bishops and the councils, as well as to the direct intervention of the Holy See. Rothad, bishop of Soissons, one of the most active members of the party in favour of the pseudo-Isidorian theories, deposed in 863 at the council of Soissons that was presided over by Hincmar, Rothad appealed to Rome. Hincmar experienced another check when he endeavoured to prevent Wulfad, one of the deposed clerics ordained by Ebbo, after a synod held at Soissons, Pope Nicholas I pronounced himself in favour of the deposed clerics, and Hincmar was constrained to submit. He was more successful in his contest with his nephew Hincmar, bishop of Laon, the bishop of Laon was sent into exile, probably to Aquitaine, where his eyes were put out by order of Count Boso. In Hincmars eyes this was an encroachment on the jurisdiction of the archbishops, at the same time he wrote a life of St Remigius, in which he endeavoured by audacious falsifications to prove the supremacy of the church of Reims over the other churches
16.
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by St. Sixtus, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese around 750, the archbishop received the title primate of Gallia Belgica in 1089. In 1023, Archbishop Ebles acquired the Countship of Reims, making him a prince-bishop, it became a duchy, the archdiocese comprises the arrondissement of Reims and the département of Ardennes while the province comprises the région of Champagne-Ardenne. The suffragan dioceses in the province of Reims are Amiens, Beauvais, Noyon, and Senlis, Châlons, Langres, Soissons, Laon, and Saint-Quentin. The archepiscopal see is located in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims, in 2014 it was estimated that there was one priest for every 4,760 Catholics in the diocese. Pope John Paul II appointed Thierry Romain Camille Jordan as Archbishop of Reims in 1999, on June 28,2013, Pope Francis appointed Father Bruno Feillet as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Reims. Reims was taken by the Vandals in 406, according to Flodoard, on Holy Saturday,497, Clovis was baptized and anointed by Archbishop Remigius of Reims in the cathedral of Reims. In 719 the city took up arms against Charles Martel, who besieged the city, took it by assault, the First Council of Reims took place in 625, under the presidency of Archbishop Sonnatius. It produced at least twenty-five canons, in 816, Pope Stephen IV crowned Louis the Pious as Emperor at Reims. On 28 January 893, Charles III the Simple was crowned King of West Francia at Reims, King Robert I was consecrated and crowned Rex Francorum at Saint-Remi in Reims on 29 June 922 by Archbishop Hervée. Hugh Capet was crowned at Reims on Christmas Day 988, by Archbishop Adalberon, in 990 the city was attacked by Charles of Lorraine, the rival of Hugues Capet, who seized the city and devastated the area. In 1049, from 3 to 5 October, a Council of the Church took place at Reims under the presidency of Pope Leo IX, with twenty bishops and some fifty abbots in attendance. The Pope was in Reims for the dedication of the church of the monastery of Saint-Rémi, in 1657, the Chapter of the Cathedral of Reims contained nine dignities and sixty-four Canons. The dignities included, the Major Archdeacon, the Minor Archdeacon, the Provost, the Dean, the Cantor, the Treasurer, the Vicedominus, the Scholasticus, and the Poenitentiarius. The two archdeacons were already in existence in 877, when they are mentioned at the head of the Capitulations issued by Archbishop Hincmar and they were both appointees of the Archbishop. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo, ratisbon, Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. Pouillés de la province de Reims, recueils des historiens de la France, Pouilles. Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V. Patavii, Messagero di S. Antonio, hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI
17.
Pope John VIII
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Pope John VIII can also refer to Pope John VIII of Alexandria. Pope John VIII was pope from 14 December 872 to his death in 882 and he is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the 9th century. He devoted much of his attempting to halt and reverse the Muslim gains in southern Italy and their march northwards. He was born in Rome and as a young man witnessed the Arab raid against Rome by the Muslim Aghlabids, among the reforms achieved during his pontificate was a notable administrative reorganisation of the papal Curia. He asked for aid from Charles the Bald and later Count Boso of Provence, in response to Saracens who were raiding Campania. His efforts failed and he was forced to pay tribute to the Emirate of Sicily, the threatening Muslim military presence, coupled with alliances they formed with the local Christians, prompted John to promote a new and uncompromisingly hostile view of the Saracens. This included a ban on forming alliances with the Muslims, however, his efforts proved unsuccessful, partly because Christian leaders viewed his calls for unity as an excuse to assert papal authority in southern Italy. In 873, John VIII learned of St. Methodius imprisonment, Methodius had been imprisoned by his German enemies, who objected to his use of the Slavonic language in the liturgy. John forbade the celebration of Mass in Bavaria until Methodius was released, following Methodius release John allowed him to resume his episcopal duties in Illyricum, but forbid him to celebrate mass in the Slavonic language. In 876, John VIII traveled throughout Campania in an effort to form an alliance among the cities of Salerno, Capua, Naples, Gaeta, by 877, all five cities sent delegates to Traietto to formalize an alliance. In 879 he recognised the reinstatement of Photius as the patriarch of Constantinople. This was undertaken mainly to appease the Byzantines, since in them he saw the hope of removing the Arabs from Italy. In 878 John crowned Louis II, king of France and he also anointed two Holy Roman Emperors, Charles II and Charles III. His country received papal recognition as a state, John brought the very decision on 21 May and confirmed it in his letter from 7 June 879. John VIII was assassinated in 882—the first pope in history to such a fate. List of murdered popes Pope John VIII at Find a Grave Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes Iohannes VIII papa, repertorium Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages. Literature by and about Johannes VIII. in the German National Library catalogue Profile, Enciclopedia dei Papi, fred E. Engreen, Pope John the Eighth and the Arabs, Speculum,20, pp. 318–30
18.
Troyes
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Troyes is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about 150 km southeast of Paris and this area is known as the Champagne region of Northern France. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town, Troyes has been in existence since the Roman era, as Augustobona Tricassium, which stood at the hub of numerous highways, primarily the Via Agrippa. It was the civitas of the Tricasses, who had separated by Augustus from the Senones. Of the Gallo-Roman city of the early Empire, some scattered remains have been found, by the Late Empire the settlement was reduced in extent, and referred to as Tricassium or Tricassae, the origin of French Troyes. In the early cathedral on the present site, Louis the Stammerer in 878 received at Troyes the imperial crown from the hands of Pope John VIII, the Abbey of Saint-Loup developed a renowned library and scriptorium. During the Middle Ages, it was an important trading town, the Champagne cloth fairs and the revival of long-distance trade and new extension of coinage and credit were the real engines that drove the medieval economy of Troyes. In 1285, when Philip the Fair united Champagne to the royal domain, the high-water mark of Plantagenet hegemony in France was reversed when the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII, and Joan of Arc recovered the town of Troyes in 1429. In medieval times Troyes was an important international centre, centring on the Troyes Fair. The name troy weight for gold derives from the standard of measurement evolving here, the great fire of 1524 destroyed much of the medieval city, in spite of the citys numerous canals. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town Hôtels Particuliers of the old town The Hôtel de Ville and they include, Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Cathedral Saint-Nizier Church, in Gothic and Renaissance style, with remarkable sculptures. The Gothic Saint-Urbain Basilica, with a covered by polished tiles. Proclaimed basilica in 1964, it was built by Jacques Pantaléon, elected pope in 1261, under the name of Urbain IV, very early Gothic, with east end rebuilt around 1500. Remarkably elaborate stone screen of 1508-17 in Flamboyant Gothic style, sculpted by Jean Gailde. The Saint-Jean Church, with a Renaissance chancel, tabernacle of the altar by Giraudon. On the portal, coat of arms of Charles IX, the Gothic Saint-Nicolas Church, dating to the beginning of the sixteenth century, with a calvary chapel shaped rostrum is reached by a monumental staircase. On the south portal, two sculptures by François Gentil, David and Isaiah, saint-Pantaléon Church, with numerous statuary from the sixteenth century. It includes a spire, from a height of 60 m, its external clock with only one hand
19.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
20.
Barcelona
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Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. Barcelona has a cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre. Particularly renowned are the works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona, the city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. It is a cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union, in 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion, it is leading Spain in both employment rate and GDP per capita change. In 2009 the city was ranked Europes third and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand, since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. During the Middle Ages, the city was known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelonaa. Internationally, Barcelonas name is abbreviated to Barça. However, this refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna, another common abbreviation is BCN, which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The city is referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan. The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear, the ruins of an early settlement have been excavated in the El Raval neighbourhood, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends, the first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum centred on the Mons Taber, under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens, the city minted its own coins, some from the era of Galba survive. Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have founded in 343
21.
Girona
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It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès. It is located 99 km northeast of Barcelona, Girona is one of the major Catalan cities. The first historical inhabitants in the region were Iberians, Girona is the ancient Gerunda, later, the Romans built a citadel there, which was given the name of Gerunda. The Visigoths ruled in Girona until it was conquered by the Moors in 715, finally, Charlemagne reconquered it in 785 and made it one of the fourteen original counties of Catalonia. It was wrested temporarily from the Moors, who recaptured it in 793, from this time until the moors were finally driven out,1015, the city repeatedly changed hands and was sacked several times by the moors. Wilfred the Hairy incorporated Girona into the County of Barcelona in 878, Alfonso I of Aragón declared Girona a city in the 11th century. The ancient county later became a duchy when King Pero III of Aragon gave the title of Duke to his first-born son, in 1414, King Ferrando I in turn gave the title of prince of Girona to his first-born son, Alfonso. The title is currently carried by Princess Leonor of Asturias, the second since the 16th century to do so, the 12th century saw the Jewish community of Girona flourish, having one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in Europe. The Rabbi of Girona, Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi was appointed Great Rabbi of Catalonia, the presence of the Jewish community of Girona came to an end in 1492, when the Catholic Monarchs expelled all the Jews from Catalonia. Today, the Jewish ghetto or Call is one of the best preserved in Europe and is a major tourist attraction, on the north side of the old city is the Montjuic, where an important religious cemetery was located. Girona has undergone twenty-five sieges and been captured seven times and it was besieged by the French royal armies under Charles de Monchy dHocquincourt in 1653, under Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds in 1684, and twice in 1694 under Anne Jules de Noailles. Finally, the French conquered the city in 1809, after 7 months of siege, Girona was center of the Ter department during the French rule, which lasted from 1809 to 1813. The defensive city walls were demolished at the end of the 19th century to allow for the expansion of the city, in recent years, the missing parts of the city walls on the eastern side of the city have been reconstructed. Called the Passeig de la Muralla it now forms a tourist route around the old city, in the Köppen climate classification, Girona has a humid subtropical climate, with cool winters and hot summers. In winter, temperatures can drop to below −3 °C, in summer, temperatures often soar to 30–35 °C. Although rainfall is spread throughout the year, it is more common in spring. Girona is a destination for tourists and Barcelona day-trippers - the train journey from Barcelona Sants to Girona takes approximately forty minutes on express trains. The old town stands on the hill of the Capuchins to the east of the river Onyar
22.
Wilfred the Hairy
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Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy, was Count of Urgell, Cerdanya, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú and Ausona. On his death in 897, his son, Wilfred Borrell, Wilfred was the Catalan Count of Barcelona who created the tradition of hereditary passage of titles. His son, Wilfred Borrell, inherited the county without any interruption, a number of primitive feudal entities developed in the Marca Hispanica during the 9th century. They were generally self-sufficient and agrarian, but ruled by a military elite. The pattern seen in Catalonia is similar to found in similar border lands or marches elsewhere in Europe. Traditionally the Count of Barcelona was appointed directly by the Carolingian emperor, for example the appointment of Bera in 801, the appointment of heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of strong counts such as Sunifred and Wilfred, and the weakening of Carolingian royal power and this trend resulted in the counts becoming de facto independent of the Carolingian crown under Borrell II in 985. Wilfred remained obscure until drawn into the net by Sir Richard Southern. Wilfred was of Gothic lineage from the region of Carcassonne, tradition claims he was born near Prades in the County of Conflent, now Rià, in Roussillon, France. According to legend, he was the son of Wilfred of Arriaount and his father was murdered by Salomón and Wilfred became his avenger, killing the assassin. Wilfreds mother may have been named Ermesende, Sunifred may have been the son of Belló, Count of Carcassonne during the reign of Charlemagne, or more probably, his son-in-law. Thus, as a descendant of Sunifred and his brother, Sunyer I, count of Empúries and Roussillon, Wilfred is considered to be a member of a Bellonid dynasty by Ramon dAbadal and other historians. The Bellonid lineage lost its power when Sunifred and Sunyer died in 848, later, at an assembly at Attigny in June 870, Charles the Bald made their cousins, Wilfred the Hairy and his brother Miró, counts of Urgell and Cerdanya, and Conflent, respectively. For in that year, the poorly-chronicled Solomon, count of Urgell, Cerdanya, after becoming Count of Urgell and Cerdanya in 870, Wilfred received the counties of Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú in 878 from the Carolingian king of France, Louis the Stammerer. His reign coincided with the crumbling of Carolingian authority and unity, Wilfred was thus the last count of the Hispanic March appointed by the French king and the first to pass his vast holdings as an inheritance to his sons. Wilfred came into possession of Barcelona through his service to Charles the Bald against the rebel Bernard of Gothia, Count of Barcelona, Roussillon, and numerous other Septimanian counties. Wilfred, Miró, their brother Sunifred, and Lindoí, the Viscount of Narbonne, marched against Bernard on behalf of King Charles and his son, Louis the Stammerer. In March and April 878, they defeated the nobles loyal to Bernard, including Sigebuto, Bishop of Narbonne, on 11 September 878, Bernard was dispossessed of all his titles
23.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
24.
French denier
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The denier or penny was a medieval coin which takes its name from the Frankish coin first issued in the late seventh century, in English it is sometimes referred to as a silver penny. Its appearance represents the end of coinage, which, at the start of Frankish rule, had either been Byzantine or pseudo-imperial. Silver would be the basis for Frankish coinage from then on, around AD755, amid the Carolingian Reforms, Pepin the Short introduced a new currency system which was eventually adjusted so that 12 pence equaled one shilling and 20 shillings equaled one pound. Later, three deniers equaled one liard, only the denier was an actual coin, the rest were money of account. This system and the denier itself served as the model for many of Europes currencies, including the British pound, Italian lira, Spanish dinero, in Ancien Régime France, the denier was used as a notional measure of interest rates on loans. Thus, a rate of 4% would be expressed as denier 25, a rate of 5% as denier 20, and so forth
25.
Duchy of Brittany
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The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. The Duchy was established after the expulsion of Viking armies from the region around 939, the Duchy, in the 10th and 11th centuries, was politically unstable, with the dukes holding only limited power outside their own personal lands. The Duchy had mixed relationships with the neighbouring Duchy of Normandy, sometimes allying itself with Normandy, Henry II of England invaded Brittany in the mid-12th century and became Count of Nantes in 1158 under a treaty with Duke Conan IV. Henrys son, Geoffrey, became Duke through his marriage to Constance, the Angevins remained in control until the collapse of their empire in northern France in 1204. The French Crown maintained its influence over the Duchy for the rest of the 13th century, civil war broke out in the 14th century, as rival claimants for the Duchy vied for power during the Breton War of Succession, with different factions supported by England and France. The independent sovereign nature of the Duchy began to come to an end upon the death of Francis II in 1488, the Duchy was inherited by his daughter, Anne, but King Charles VIII of France had her existing marriage annulled and then married her himself. As a result, the King of France acquired the title of Duke of Brittany - jure uxoris, the Duchy was finally merged into the Kingdom of France in 1532 through a vote of the Estates of Brittany. The Ducal crown became united with the French crown in the person of Henry II of France, in modern times the departments have also joined into administrative regions although the administrative region of Brittany does not encompass the entirety of the medieval duchy. The Duchy of Brittany that emerged in the early 10th century was influenced by several earlier polities and these Gallic tribes – termed the Armorici in Latin – had close relationships with the Britonnes tribes in Roman Britain. The reasons for these migrations remain uncertain and these migrations from Britain contributed to Brittanys name. Brittany fragmented into small, warring regna, kingdoms, each competing for resources, the Frankish Carolingian Empire conquered the region during the 8th century, starting around 748 taking the whole of Brittany by 799. The Carolingians tried to create a unitary administration around the centres of Rennes, Nantes, and Vannes using the local rulers, Carolingian technology and culture began to influence Brittany, and the church in Brittany also began to emulate the Frankish model. The greatest influence on the later Duchy, however, was the formation of a unitary Brittany kingdom in the 9th century, in 831 Louis the Pious appointed Nominoe, the Count of Vannes, ruler of the Bretons, imperial missus, at Ingelheim in 831. After the death of Louis in 840, Nominoe rose to challenge the new emperor, Charles the Bald, Charles the Bald created the Marches of Neustria to defend Western Francia from the Bretons and the Vikings. Erispoe fought Charles the Bald, who felt that an attack would successfully challenge the new Breton leader. Erispoe won a victory at the Battle of Jengland and, under their Treaty of Angers in 851, the new kingdom proved fragile and collapsed under Viking attack. In 853 the Viking Godfried left the Seine with his fleet, sailed around the Breton peninsula, Erispoe entered into an alliance with the leader of another Viking fleet, Sidroc, who betrayed him, resulting in Erispoes defeat at the hands of the Vikings. A weakened Erispoe ruled until 857 when he was assassinated and then followed as Breton ruler by his cousin and rival, Salomon, Alan Is military success resulted in a period of peace from Viking invasions and few raids from the Vikings were recorded from 900 through to 907
26.
Pepin the Short
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Pepin the Short was the King of the Franks from 751 until his death. He was the first of the Carolingians to become king, the younger son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude, Pepins upbringing was distinguished by the ecclesiastical education he had received from the monks of St. Denis. Succeeding his father as the Mayor of the Palace in 741, Pepin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his brother Carloman established himself in Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia. The brothers were active in suppressing revolts led by the Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons, in 743, they ended the Frankish interregnum by choosing Childeric III, who was to be the last Merovingian monarch, as figurehead king of the Franks. After Carloman, who was a pious man, retired to religious life in 747. He suppressed a revolt led by his half-brother Grifo, and succeeded in becoming the master of all Francia. Giving up pretense, Pepin then forced Childeric into a monastery and had himself proclaimed king of the Franks with support of Pope Zachary in 751. The decision was not supported by all members of the Carolingian family and Pepin had to put down a revolt led by Carlomans son, Drogo, as King, Pepin embarked on an ambitious program to expand his power. He reformed the legislation of the Franks and continued the reforms of Boniface. Pepin also intervened in favour of the Papacy of Stephen II against the Lombards in Italy and he was able to secure several cities, which he then gave to the Pope as part of the Donation of Pepin. This formed the basis for the Papal States in the Middle Ages. The Byzantines, keen to make good relations with the power of the Frankish empire. Pepin was, however, troubled by the revolts of the Saxons. He campaigned tirelessly in Germany, but the final subjugation of tribes was left to his successors. Pepin died in 768 and was succeeded by his sons Charlemagne, although unquestionably one of the most powerful and successful rulers of his time, Pepins reign is largely overshadowed by that of his more famous son. Pepins father Charles Martel died in 741, Grifo, Charless son by his second wife, Swanahild, demanded a share in the inheritance, but he was imprisoned in a monastery by his two half-brothers. In the Frankish realm the unity of the kingdom was connected with the person of the king. So Carloman, to secure this unity, raised the Merovingian Childeric to the throne, then in 747 Carloman either resolved to or was pressured into entering a monastery
27.
Charlemagne
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Charlemagne or Charles the Great, numbered Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages and he was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state which Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne was the oldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He became king in 768 following his fathers death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, carlomans sudden death in 771 in unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the undisputed ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his fathers policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and he campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden. Charlemagne reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peters Basilica. Charlemagne has been called the Father of Europe, as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and his rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagnes empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and these and other machinations led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for thirteen years and he was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. He married at least four times and had three sons, but only his son Louis the Pious survived to succeed him. By the 6th century, the western Germanic Franks had been Christianised, Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire. Following the Battle of Tertry the Merovingians declined into powerlessness, for which they have dubbed the rois fainéants. Almost all government powers were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace, in 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry. He became the governor of the entire Frankish kingdom. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom, Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Herstal was eventually succeeded by his illegitimate son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. After 737, Charles governed the Franks in lieu of a king, Charles was succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne. In 743, the brothers placed Childeric III on the throne to curb separatism in the periphery and he was the last Merovingian king. Carloman resigned office in 746, preferring to enter the church as a monk, Pepin brought the question of the kingship before Pope Zachary, asking whether it was logical for a king to have no royal power
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Bertrada of Laon
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Bertrada of Laon, also known as Bertrada the Younger or Bertha Broadfoot, was a Frankish queen. She was the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of Charlemagne, Carloman, Bertradas nickname Bertha Broadfoot dates back to the 13th century, when it was used in Adenes Le Rois trouvère Li rouman de Berte aus grands piés. The exact reason that Bertrada was given nickname is unclear. It is possible that Bertrada was born with a clubfoot, although Adenes does not mention this in his poem. The nickname might have been a reference to an ancient legend about a Germanic goddess named Perchta, to real and mythological queens named Bertha, or to several similarly-named Christian queens. Many myths and legends exist in Europe and Asia, in which clubfooted people are described as the link between the world of the living and the spirit world. Bertrada was born sometime between 710 and 727 in Laon, in todays Aisne, France, to Count Charibert of Laon, chariberts father might have been related to Hugobertides. Chariberts mother was Bertrada of Prüm, who founded Prüm Abbey along with Charibert, Bertrada of Prüm was possibly the daughter of Theuderic III. Bertrada married Pepin the Short, the son of Charles Martel, however, Pepin and Bertrada were too closely related for their marriage to be legal at that time, the union was not canonically sanctioned until 749, after the birth of Charlemagne. According to French historian Léon Levillain, Bertrada was Pepins first, other sources suggest that Pepin had previously married a Leutberga or Leutbergie, with whom Pepin would have had five children. Bertrada and Pepin are known to have had seven children, three sons and four daughters, of these, Charlemagne, Carloman and Gisela survived to adulthood. Pepin, born in 756, died in his infancy in 762, Bertrada and Pepin also had Berthe, Adelaide, and Rothaide. Gisela became a nun at Chelles Abbey, Pepin tried to divorce Bertrada a few years after their marriage, but the Pope opposed the divorce. The reason is unknown, but according to historian Christian Settipani, Pepin might have wanted to marry a woman named Angla. In 751, Pepin and Bertrada became King and Queen of the Franks, Pepin was crowned in June 754, and Bertrada, Charlemagne, and Carloman were blessed by Pope Stephen II. After Pepins death in 768, Bertrada lost her title as Queen of the Franks, Charlemagne and Carloman inherited the two halves of Pepins kingdom. Bertrada stayed at the court and often tried to stop arguments between the two brothers, some historians credit Bertradas support for her elder son Charlemagne over her younger son Carloman, and her diplomatic skills, for Charlemagnes early success. Although her influence over Charlemagne may have diminished in time, she lived at his court, Bertrada recommended that Charlemagne set aside his legal wife, Himiltrude, and marry Desiderata, a daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius, but Charlemagne soon divorced Desiderata
29.
Louis the Pious
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Louis the Pious, also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, during his reign in Aquitaine, Louis was charged with the defence of the empires southwestern frontier. He conquered Barcelona from the Muslims in 801 and asserted Frankish authority over Pamplona, as emperor he included his adult sons, Lothair, Pepin, and Louis, in the government and sought to establish a suitable division of the realm among them. In the 830s his empire was torn by war between his sons, only exacerbated by Louiss attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a note, with order largely restored to his empire. Louis is generally compared unfavourably to his father, though the problems he faced were of a different sort. He was the son of Charlemagne by his wife Hildegard. His grandfather was King Pepin the Younger, Louis was crowned King of Aquitaine as a child in 781 and sent there with regents and a court. Charlemagne wanted his son Louis to grow up in the area where he was to reign, Charlemagnes intention was to see all his sons brought up as natives of their given territories, wearing the national costume of the region and ruling by the local customs. Thus were the children sent to their respective realms at so young an age, each kingdom had its importance in keeping some frontier, Louiss was the Spanish March. In 797, Barcelona, the greatest city of the Marca, fell to the Franks when Zeid, its governor, rebelled against Córdoba and, failing, the Umayyad authority recaptured it in 799. Louis campaigned in the Italian Mezzogiorno against the Beneventans at least once, Louis was one of Charlemagnes three legitimate sons to survive infancy. He had a brother, Lothair who died during infancy. According to Frankish custom, Louis had expected to share his inheritance with his brothers, Charles the Younger, King of Neustria, to Louiss kingdom of Aquitaine, he added Septimania, Provence, and part of Burgundy. However, Charlemagnes other legitimate sons died – Pepin in 810 and Charles in 811 –, on his fathers death in 814, he inherited the entire Frankish kingdom and all its possessions. While at his villa of Doué-la-Fontaine, Anjou, Louis received news of his fathers death and he rushed to Aachen and crowned himself emperor to shouts of Vivat Imperator Ludovicus by the attending nobles. From start of his reign, his coinage imitated his father Charlemagnes portrait and he quickly sent all of his unmarried sisters to nunneries, to avoid any possible entanglements from overly powerful brothers-in-laws. Sparing his illegitimate half-brothers, he forced his fathers cousins, Adalard and Wala to be tonsured, placing them in Noirmoutier and Corbie, respectively and his chief counsellors were Bernard, margrave of Septimania, and Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims
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Hildegard of the Vinzgau
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Hildegard, was the second wife of Charlemagne and mother of Louis the Pious. Little is known about her life, because, like all women of Charlemagne, she became important only from a background, recording her parentage, wedding, death. She was the daughter of the Germanic Count Gerold of Kraichgau and his wife Emma, in turn daughter of Duke Nebe of Alemannia and Hereswintha vom Bodensee. As no exact date of birth of Hildegard was recorded, it was assumed that at the time of her wedding she could be around 17 years old, a marriage at this age is not unusual for that time, since the age of marriage was set at puberty. In Roman law, which was well received by the Church. In 778, Hildegard accompanied her husband as far as Aquitaine, in 780/781 she traveled with Charlemagne and four of their children to Rome, where the sons Louis and Carloman were appointed sub-kings of Aquitaine and Italy, respectively. This contributed to the strengthening of the alliance between the Carolingians and the Papacy, because of her frequent pregnancies, can be presumed that Hildegard accompanied her husband on further campaigns, at least temporarily. Hildegard died on 30 April 783, according to Paul the Deacon and she was buried on 1 May in the Abbey of Saint-Arnould in Metz. Following the wishes of Charlemagne, in her grave were burn candles, Hildegard made several donations to the monasteries of St. Denis and St. Martin of Tours. She was a friend of Saint Leoba, who lived some time with her at court. She intervened in Hildegards religious education and also offered her spiritual advice, Hildegard enjoyed in her own lifetime from a high reputation, as was demonstrated in her obituary wrote by Paul the Deacon. However, these compliments are to be regarded with some skepticism, in her Epitaph were included phrases that may have been introduced to flatter Charlemagne, for example, the reference to the fact that Hildegard was the epitome of beauty, wisdom and virtue. This were common words used by writers to their rulers. Pope Adrian I, in a letter to Charlemagne, expressed his condolences over the death of Hildegard. In addition, was assumed that she, like other medieval queens, held several roles. This could mean that she was in contact with all the government decision of her husband. Together with her husband, she was the benefactress of the Monastery of Kempten. Hildegard was extensively mentioned in Kempten as one of the founders, her bust graced the pin crest and this explains that the Queen was revered as a saint in the Allgäu and always presented with an aureola
31.
Welf (father of Judith)
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Welf I is the first documented ancestor of the Elder House of Welf. He is mentioned as a count in the Frankish lands of Bavaria, Welf originated from a distinguished dynasty of Franconian nobles. He is mentioned once, on the occasion of the wedding of his daughter Judith with Emperor Louis the Pious in 819 at Aachen. His son Conrad later appeared as a dux in Alamannia and achieved a position in the Upper Swabian estates he possibly had inherited from his mother Hedwig. His family became politically powerful when Louis the Pious chose his oldest daughter as his 2nd wife upon the death of his consort Ermengarde of Hesbaye, though Welf himself never became publicly prominent, his family became interwoven with the Carolingian dynasty. Welf married Hedwig, daughter of the Saxon count Isambart, Hedwig later became abbess of Chelles
32.
Judith of Bavaria (died 843)
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Queen Judith, also known as Judith of Bavaria, was the daughter of Count Welf of Bavaria and Saxon noblewoman, Hedwig. She was the wife of Louis the Pious, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans. Marriage to Louis marked the beginning of her rise as a figure in the Carolingian court. She had two children with Louis, a daughter Gisela and a son, Charles the Bald, the birth of her son led to a major dispute over the imperial succession, and tensions between her and Charles half-brothers from Louis first marriage. She would eventually fall from grace when Charles wife, the new empress Ermentrude of Orléans and she was buried in 846 in Tours. No surviving sources provide a record of Judith’s exact date and year of birth. Judith was probably born between 797 and 805, given that girls in the Carolingian world would be eligible for marriage at around the age of twelve, and her marriage to King Louis occurred in 819. Judith was the daughter of the noble Saxon Heilwig and Count Welf I, though the Welf clan was noble, they were not part of the Imperial Aristocracy that dominated high office throughout the Carolingian empire. The Welf clans leaders, having lost influence in their region of Alemannia eventually rose to power though cementing familial ties with the Carolingian Imperial Aristocracy in the 770s. Nonetheless, they remained a part of the aristocracy of their region. After the death on the 3rd of October 818 of Louis first wife Queen Ermengard, mother of his sons Louis the German, Peppin and Lothar, shortly after Christmas in 819 he married Judith in Aachen. Like many of the marriages of the time Judith was selected. It is at the show that, at the age of forty. In Frankish society, only women of the nobility were eligible to compete, this trait is highlighted in the Regesta Imperii. Contemporary witnesses such as Ermoldus Nigellus, Walahfrid Strabo, and Louis biographer Thegan attributed Judiths selection to her beauty, intelligence. It is just as likely, however, that Louis was attracted to the geographical and political advantages offered by Judiths family. This fact would have made them desirable allies for Louis, since any military campaign in the eastern frontiers would require the emperor to travel through this region. By marrying Judith, in words, the emperor would effectively gain friends and allies, an important military and political stronghold
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Hedwig of Bavaria
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Hedwig was a Saxon noble woman, the wife of Count Welf I and mother-in-law of Emperor Louis the Pious through his marriage to Judith, her daughter. She was possibly born at Altdorf in the Frankish lands of Alamannia, according to Bishop Thegan of Trier, she was a member of the Saxon high nobility, the daughter of Count Isambart. She had a sister, Adalung des Franken, half-brother Hunfrid I de Recia e de Istria, in her later life she appears as abbess of Chelles near Paris, however, it is uncertain if she had already become a widow by then. Hedwig died on 19 April 843 in Bayern, Frankish Empire and was buried in Bayern Lande
34.
Public domain
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The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books is in the public domain, in the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples for works not covered by copyright which are therefore in the domain, are the formulae of Newtonian physics, cooking recipes. Examples for works actively dedicated into public domain by their authors are reference implementations of algorithms, NIHs ImageJ. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, as rights are country-based and vary, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required. Although the term public domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined many things that cannot be privately owned as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as things that could be enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight. The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, when the first early copyright law was first established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the eighteenth century, instead of public domain they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase fall in the domain can be traced to mid-nineteenth century France to describe the end of copyright term. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain. Because copyright law is different from country to country, Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being different sizes at different times in different countries. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the public domain and equates the public domain to public property. However, the usage of the public domain can be more granular. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights, the materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival
35.
Ranulf II of Aquitaine
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Ranulf II was Count of Poitou from 866 and Duke of Aquitaine from 887. On the death of Charles the Fat in 888, he styled himself King of Aquitaine and did so until 889 or his death, Ranulf was a son of Ranulf I and Bilichild of Maine. He married an Ermengard and by her had a son, Ranulf III and his illegitimate son Ebalus succeeded him in Aquitaine and, upon the death of Ranulf III, in Poitiers too. Ranulf may have selected as a king by the Aquitainian nobles. Only the Annales Fuldenses definitively give him this title, saying Ranulf then set himself up as king and he is recorded to have taken custody of Charles, the young son of Louis the Stammerer and he certainly did not recognise Odo as king. The Annales Vedastes record that in 889 Post nativitatem vero Domini cum paucis Francis Aquitaniam perrexit, aquitanos itaque rex ex parte receptos, festinavit propter Nortmannos redire in Franciam. After Christmas, went to Aquitaine with a few Franks, in order to be accepted, so the king returned from Aquitaine to France because of the Norsemen. Ranulf founded the viscountcy of Thouars at about time, as part of a larger movement to create viscounts with powers over regional fortresses to man them against the Vikings. Ramnulfids Dukes of Aquitaine family tree Lewis, Archibald Ross, the Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press, Austin,1965, kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century, Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire
36.
Neustria
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Neustria or Neustrasia was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks that was created in 511 upon the division of the Merovingian kingdom of Clovis I to his four sons following his death. Neustria was made up of the regions between Aquitaine and the English Channel, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities. It later referred to the region between the Seine and the Loire rivers known as the regnum Neustriae, a constituent subkingdom of the Carolingian Empire, Neustria was also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period of Lombard domination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was called Austrasia, for this meaning of the term, see Neustria. Despite the wars, Neustria and Austrasia re-united briefly on several occasions, the struggle for power continued with Queen Fredegund of Neustria unleashing a bitter war. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to the rack and stretched for three days, then chained between four horses and eventually ripped limb from limb, Clotaire now ruled a united realm, but only for a short time as he made his son Dagobert I king of Austrasia. Dagoberts accession in Neustria resulted in another temporary unification, when in Austrasia, the Arnulfing mayor Grimoald the Elder attempted a coup against his liege, Clovis II had him removed and again reunited the kingdom from Neustria, but again temporarily. During or soon after the reign of Cloviss son Chlothar III, in 678, Neustria, under Mayor Ebroin, subdued the Austrasians for the last time. In 687, Pippin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of the King of Austrasia, defeated the Neustrians at Tertry, the writers who lived in Austrasia proved more loyal to their mayor. Pippins descendants, the Carolingians, continued to rule the two realms as mayors, with Pope Stephen IIs blessing, after 751 the Carolingian Pippin the Short, formally deposed the Merovingians and took control of the empire, he and his descendants ruling as kings. Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy then became united under one authority, in 748, the brothers Pepin the Short and Carloman gave their younger brother Grifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that of Le Mans. This polity was termed the ducatus Cenomannicus, or Duchy of Maine, the term Neustria took on the meaning of land between the Seine and Loire when it was given as a regnum by Charlemagne to his second son, Charles the Younger, in 790. At this time, the city of the kingdom appears to be Le Mans. Under the Carolingian dynasty, the duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of the Franks over the Bretons. Neustria, along with Aquitaine, formed the part of Charles West Frankish kingdom carved out of the Empire by the Treaty of Verdun. Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he made Louis the Stammerer king in 856. Louis married the daughter of the King of Brittany, Erispoe, Louis was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolings. In 861, the Carolingian king Charles the Bald created the Marches of Neustria that were ruled by officials appointed by the crown, known as wardens, prefects or margraves
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Count of Champagne
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The Count of Champagne was the ruler of the region of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the county of Troyes in the eleventh century. When Sancho VII of Navarre died childless in 1234, his nephew Count Theobald IV of Champagne became also King of Navarre, the latters greatgrandaughter Joan married King Philip IV of France. Upon Joans death in 1305, her son Louis became the last independent count of Champagne, the titular counts of Champagne also inherited the post of seneschal of France. In Merovingian and Carolingian times, several dukes of Champagne are known, the duchy appears to have been created by joining together the civitates of Rheims, Châlons-sur-Marne, Laon, and Troyes. In the late seventh and early centuries, Champagne was controlled by the Pippinids, first by Drogo, son of Pippin of Herstal. Feudal Society in the Baillage of Troyes under the Counts of Champagne, feudal Society in Medieval France, Documents from the County of Champagne. ISBN 0-8122-1441-2, ISBN 0-8122-3225-9 Evergates, Theodore, the Aristocracy of Champagne in the Mid-Thirteenth Century, A Quantitative Description. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol.5, sánchez-Marco, Carlos, Casa de Champagne, La Historia Medieval del Reyno de Navarra, retrieved 24 August 2010
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Louis II. of France". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 34.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 