CHARLES II, Emperor, called the Bald. - Son of Louis the Pious and his second wife Judith, born in 823 at Frankfurt on the Main. In 829, at the assembly of Worms, Germany was decreed to him as an inheritance, arousing strong animosity among the other sons of Louis the Pious who, having made war on their father, in 833 succeeded in taking Charles prisoner, who was soon freed. At the assembly of Aachen (836) a very large kingdom was constituted for him, and was effectively entrusted to his administration, comprising Austrasia and Neustria, which he then sought to expand toward Provence, Aquitaine and Burgundy, also annexing to himself, upon the death of Lothair II, part of Lotharingia. His reign was troubled by Norman incursions (853 ff.) and by the invasions of his brother Louis the German. When Emperor Louis II died in 875, Pope John VIII invited him to Italy and crowned him emperor in Rome. In 877 he returned to Italy to aid the Pope against the Saracens, but he did not find the Frankish lords favorable. And while he was preparing to cross the Alps again, he died on 6 Aug. of that year at Avrieux, near Modane.

CHARLES II, EMPEROR, CALLED THE BALD - Presentation of the Bible by Vivian, monk of St. Martin of Tours - Paris, National Library, ms. lat. 1, Bible of Charles the Bald, f. 423.(photo Citrande)

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: F. Lot-L. Halphen, Le règne de Charles le Chauve, s. I, 1909; K. Knauer, Karl d. Kahle, Leipzig 1909; H. Leclercq, Charles le Chauve, in DACL, III (1913), 825-66; Fliche-Martin-Fruta, VI (1948), see index.

Alberto Ghinato

@incollection{ec3_carlo_ii_imperatore_detto_il_c, author = {Ghinato, Alberto}, title = {Carlo II, imperatore, detto il calvo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {842--843}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/carlo-ii-imperatore-detto-il-calvo} }

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Charles II, Emperor, called the Bald

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