LUIGI III, king of FRANCIA. - Son of Luigi II il Balbo and Ansgarde, born c. 863, died at St-Denis on 10 Aug. 882. During his reign the power of the king continued to weaken and the kingdom to break apart.
After a rivalry that ended in war, the Great Men and the bishops applied the old custom of hereditary partition, electing the two sons of Luigi il Balbo, L. III and Carlomanno. But this was not sufficient, for L. III still had to placate his cousin Luigi il Giovane, son of the Germanico, by ceding Lorraine to him. L. III, who ruled northern Francia, also had to fight the Normans who had come from the estuary of the Scheda as far as Reims (victory of Saucourt-en-Vimeu), and the usurper Bosone, who sought to create a kingdom for himself in Burgundy and Provence, at the expense of Carlomanno.