Charles III, Emperor, King of Germany, called The Fat

CARLO III, EMPEROR, king of ALEMAGNA, called the FAT. - Third son of Ludovico il Germanico, born in 830. As prince, he contested Lotharingia with Carlo il Calvo (872), and at the death of Emperor Ludovico II he vainly attempted to occupy Italy (875). The following year, upon his father’s death, he became king of Alemagna. After lengthy entreaties from Pope Giovanni VIII, who saw in him the restorer of peace in the peninsula, then prey to serious disorders, he descended into Italy in 880, where he was recognized as king and, the following year, on his second descent, proclaimed emperor. Upon the death of his brother Ludovico di Sassonia, he inherited his possessions, which he increased in 885 through succession to the kingdom of France, thus gathering into his hands almost all the possessions of his great-grandfather Carlomagno, whose intellect and energy, however, he possessed neither. He fought feebly against the Normans, who grew ever bolder, especially on the Scheldt; but, weak and irresolute, at the placitum of Tribur he was deposed and his nephew Arnolfo recognized in his place. On 13 January 888 he died at Neidingen, on the Danube, and with him the last of the Carolingian emperors became extinct.