- Charles of Provence
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Charles of Provence (845 – 24 January 863) was the Carolingian King of Provence from 855 until his early death in 863.
Charles was the youngest son of Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours.
His father divided his realm of the Middle Franks (Lotharingia) between his three sons: the eldest, Louis, received Italy and the emperorship; Lothair II received Lotharingia (modern Lorraine and the Low Countries); and the youngest, Charles, received Upper Burgundy and Lower Burgundy (Arles and Provence).
Charles was only a child when his father died; accordingly, the governance of his realm was undertaken by his tutor, Count Gerard II of Vienne, whose wife was a sister-in-law of Emperor Lothar I. Gerard was a vigorous regent, defending the kingdom from the Northmen, who raided up the Rhone as far as Valence. In 860, he ejected them from the Rhone delta.
Charles' uncle, Charles the Bald of West Francia, attempted to intervene in Provence in 861. After receiving an appeal for intervention from the Count of Arles, he invaded Provence, but only reached Macon, being restrained by Hincmar of Rheims.
Charles of Provence never ruled his realm in anything more but name. It was Gerard, rather than he, who in 858 arranged that should he die without children, Provence would revert to Charles' brother Lothair II. When Charles died, however, his other brother Emperor Louis II also claimed Provence, and the realm was divided between the two (Lothair received the bishoprics of Lyon, Vienne and Grenoble, to be governed by Gerard; Louis II received Arles, Aix and Embrun).
Ancestry
Ancestors of Charles of Provence 16. Pepin the Short 8. Charlemagne 17. Bertrada of Laon 4. Louis the Pious 18. Gerold of Vintzgau 9. Hildegarde 19. Emma of Alamannia 2. Lothair I 20. Rodbert 10. Ingerman of Hesbaye 5. Ermengarde of Hesbaye 11. Hedwig of Bavaria 1. Louis V of France 24. Adalrich, Duke of Alsace 12. Count Haicho 25. Berswinda 6. Hugh of Tours 13. Ganna ? 3. Ermengarde of Tours 7. Ava Charles of ProvenceBorn: 845 Died: January 863Regnal titles Preceded by
Emperor Lothar I
as King of Middle FranciaKing of Provence
23 September 855 – January 863Succeeded by
Kingdom divided between Emperor Louis II
and Lothair II of LotharingiaCategories:- Kings of Burgundy
- Carolingian dynasty
- Medieval child rulers
- 9th-century births
- 863 deaths
- 9th-century rulers in Europe
- French nobility stubs
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