The Collapse of the Carolingian Empire - Echoes of History - Extra History

📜 History and Collapse of the Carolingian Empire
The empire built by Charlemagne would end up divided by his grandsons, all of whom wanted to rule their own piece of it. But the division worked poorly, and may have set a precedent that shaped wars in Western Europe for centuries to come.

#ExtraHistory #CarolingianEmpire #History

[extrahistory]

Charlemagne built an empire, only for his descendants to tear it apart. Does its collapse still echo today?

[GeneralLuigiTBC]

And that is why no Crusader Kings II player I know of keeps gavelkind once primogeniture is available.

[TerrorBlades]

"Your Council has voted against Primogeniture succession law"

[blockmasterscott]

I feel sorry for the son caught in the middle lol. "Gee Dad, thanks for nothing!"

[petergray]

To further elaborate: Charlemagne kicks the bucket in 813 and the throne goes to his sole surviving issue, Louis the Pious. Louis dies in 840, and his demenses are divided into three among his sons: Lothair (Born 795) got Middle Francia; Louis II (802) got East Francia/Germany, and Charles the Bald (823, and was actually quite hairy) got West Frankia AKA France. The two eldest sons were already co-kings, and they rebelled against their father BEFORE he died, in 830, when he tried to make their half-brother Charles a co-king (and that's the nub of everything that will follow).

Lothair deposes his father in 832, daddy gets restored in 833 and deprives Lothair of his title and gives it to Charles. Lothair's allies rebel in 834, and Louis the Pious is deposed again. Louis dies in 840, but before that he names Lothair emporer. After death the bros rebel and Lothair is decisively defeated at Fontenay-en-Puisaye, 25 June 841. The brothers come to parley the following year, and the Empire was divided as detailed above.

Lothair dies in 855, and divides the kingdom among his three sons: Louis II ( eldest, gets imperial title and Italy), Lothair II (Lotharingia- basically the skinny long part of Middle Frankia stretching down from the North Sea to the Alps) and Charles (Provence). Lothair II died young, and his only son was declared illegitimate, so Lotharingia gets divided between his uncles Louis II of Germany and Charles the Bald. Louis II of Italy also dies without issue, and named Louis II of Germany's son Carloman, King of Bavaria, to be his successor.

Louis II of Germany also has three sons, who chose their father's ways to emulate... by rebelling while he was still alive. And again he divides HIS realm: Carloman the eldest son gets Bavaria, Louis the Younger gets Saxony and Thuringia, and the youngest Charles the Fat (who might have been rather skinny) received Swabia and Rhaetia. Carloman becomes King of Italy after Louis of Italy dies without issue, but then suffers a stroke and gives the throne to brother Charles the Fat.

Charles the Bald married twice and had seven sons, but three died in infancy and the other four all died young. Only one son, Louis the Stammerer, actually outlived the father, and then only by barely two years. His sons Carloman II and Louis III then divided West Frankia into North and South. Louis III died in accident in 882, and Carloman while hunting in 884. Neither had issue so the throne went to cousin Charles the Fat. By good luck Charles the Fat had reunited the entire Carolingian Empire without doing a damn thing but possess a heartbeat.

Unfortunately Charles was an inept and lethargic ruler (he might have had epilepsy) and upon his death at the ripe old age of 48 his unified empire fell apart into five successor kingdoms that won't be reunited until Napoleon Bonaparte. But before he died, he had been overthrown by Arnulf of Carinthia, the illegitimate son of Carloman of Bavaria. Arnulf became undisputed king of East Francia, and was succeeded by his sons, the illegitimate Zwentibold (yes, that was his name) and the legit son Louis the Child.

Charles the Fat had no issue, and the West Frankia crown went to his nephew Charles III the Simple, the youngest son of Louis the Stammerer, who had been cheated of his inheritance by his half brother Carloman II. Charles the Simple was succeeded by Louis IV (921-954), grandson Lothair (954-986) and finally his line ends with Louis V (986-987) who died by falling from his horse while hunting. The nobles elected Hugh Capet (descended from Charlemagne through his paternal grandmother) and the Capetian dynasty began

Louis the Child had died as the last Carolingian king in East Francia, and the nobles elected Conrad, a duke, to be king. Conrad died fighting the Duke of Bavaria, and throne of East Francia passed to his rival Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, who founded the Ottonian line of emporers and kings.

[TurlasThe]

"Sometimes, an event echoes through history." Walpole you son of a...what did he do now!?

[andriyg]

Interesting fact:

The imperial crown (Reichskrone), or crown of Charlemagne, was created more than one century after he passed away...

[cebonvieuxjack]

3:04 congrats, you've just described Switzerland.

[ElPikminMaster]

Something something borders drawn without consideration of its people...

The Middle East in a nutshell.

[FireSpark]

You could take the entire concept of this episode and lay it over post-WW2 Middle East. A bunch of European leaders and diplomats carve up a bunch of territories without regard for the demographics contained within. And now, almost a century later, the region is practically a constant war zone. Hopefully we won't have to wait 400 years for things to calm down.

[Blazimirus]

All my fellow ck2 players know the hell that is gavelkind :D

[tenebrisscarrow]

'You know, we'll just make the borders of the middle east arbitrary, 'cus' that went so well for us a few centuries back' - Sykes-Picot

[supahnubz]

Loving the Khosrau series, but afterwards... WE NEED A CHARLEMAGNE SERIES!!!😁

[tenkaikagaya]

It’s worth noting though that those two pieces, West Francia/France and East Francia/Germany, that caused so much chaos in Europe squabbling for control over Middle Francia/Lorraine/Low Countries/Italy are now reunited with those territories as the core of the European Union. All of the EU’s key institutions are headquartered in the middle part of Charlemagne’s old empire.

[Daniele-etks]

In the very first page of "De bello Gallico", Roman general Giulius Caesar describes gallic society and territory before it's conquest. He says that while the peoples who lived closer to the Roman Gallia (today's Provence) were more into trading with Romans, the other Gallic Peoples fought "almost daily" with German peoples on the other side of the Rhein. I think that the succession and partition of the HRE after the death of Charlemagne helped to light up again these conflicts, but this was not the start of these "echoes"

[theliato]

RIP Frankish empire you were too good for this world.

[ErikWarhammer]

Basicly, EVERY CRUSADER KINGS GAME EVER!

[Fux]

Taking an historical event and building up a thesis, contextualizing it and connecting it to modern times is the actual making of History, an historian's job. And by the way, you did that in every single one of your previous videos, choosing one of many possible narratives about a chain of events (none of them neutral, ever) and telling us about it. It's just the job.

[zflowes]

You can say the same thing during the scramble for Africa

[clarityresearch]

Another great video- thanks guys!

As a positive "coda" to the story, the region of Lotharingia (that middle green part) is what many modern demographers call "the blue banana". This region forms the core of European innovation and productivity: Amsterdam, Brussels, Koln, Stuttgart, and Strasbourg. I would speculate that the centuries of cross-cultural connectivity has created a modern ecosystem for pan-European flourishing.

One more thing- no mention of the Oaths of Strasbourg? I think you could do some episodes around this.