- Louis the Child
Infobox Monarch
name =Louis the Child
title =King of East Francia
caption =Modern illustration of Louis the Child
reign =4 February 900 – 20/24 September 911
coronation =Crowned King of East Francia :4 February 900 , Forchheim
othertitles =
full name =
predecessor =Arnulf
successor =Conrad I
suc-type =
heir =
queen =Ota
consort =
spouse 1 =
spouse 2 =
spouse 3 =
spouse 4 =
spouse 5 =
spouse 6 =
issue =Zwentibold
royal house =Carolingian Dynasty
dynasty =
royal anthem =
father =Arnulf of Carinthia
mother =Ota,
date of birth =circa.September orOctober 893
place of birth =Altötting ,Bavaria
date of death =20/24 Septemberr 911
place of death =Frankfurt am Main ,
date of burial =
place of burial =monastery ofSaint Emmeram inRegensburg |Louis the Child (893 – 20/
24 September 911 ), sometimes called Louis IV or Louis III, [Louis is commonly numbered as "Louis IV", as he was the fourth king of that name (afterLouis the Pious , who ruled "all" Franks,Louis the German andLouis the Younger ). However, some omit Louis the Younger, who never ruled the whole of Germany and was no ancestor of Louis the Child and renumber the latter "Louis III".] was the last Carolingian ruler ofEast Francia .He was the only legitimate son of the Emperor Arnulf and his wife, Ota, a member of the Conradine Dynasty. He was born in September or October 893, in
Altötting ,Bavaria . He succeeded his father as king upon the latter's death in 899, when he was only six. During his reign, the country was ravaged by Magyar raids.Louis was crowned in Forchheim on
4 February 900 . This is the earliest German royal coronation about which records are known to exist. Louis was of a weak personal constitution, often sick, and with his young age, the reins of government were entirely in the hands of others, the nobles and bishops. Indeed, the coronation was probably a result of the fact that there was little Louis could gain at the expense of the nobles. Louis also inheritedLotharingia with the death of his elder illegitimate half-brother,Zwentibold , in 900.The most influential of Louis's councillors were
Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz , andSolomon III, Bishop of Constance . It was these two who assured that the royal court decided in favour of theConradine s against theBabenberger s in the matter of theDuchy of Franconia . They appointed Louis's nephew, Conrad, as duke. In 903 Louis promulgated the first customs regulations in the German part of Europe.Louis himself tried to take some military control as he grew older, but he had little success against the Magyars. His army was destroyed at the
Pressburg in 907 and it was in this state of defeat that Louis died, atFrankfurt am Main , on 20 or 24 September 911, only eighteen years of age. Louis was buried in the monastery ofSaint Emmeram inRegensburg , where his father lay. His death brought an end to the eastern branch of the Carolingian dynasty. The vacuum left in the Carolingian east was eventually filled by the family ofHenry the Fowler , a cousin, and heralded the beginning of the Ottonian dynasty. Firstly, however, the dukes of East Francia assembled to elect Conrad of Franconia king, as opposed to the reigning king ofWest Francia ,Charles the Simple . The magnates of Lotharingia elected Charles.ee also
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Kings of Germany family tree Notes
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