Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Simple
• Nickname: The Simple
• FSID: LCDM-9D5

Notes:

Charles III, also called Charles the Simple and Charles the Straightforward, was the son of Louis the Stammerer and his second wife Adelaide of Paris. Charles was born on 17 September 879, 5 months after the death of his father Louis in Compiegne on 10 April 879.
In 875 Charles mother Adelaide had displaced Louis first wife of 13 years. Charles the Bald had not approved of the first marriage, had it annulled by the Pope, and arranged the marriage of Adelaide and Louis. After Louis' death his first wife, in and attempt to protect the inheritance of her own children, accused Charles mother Adelaide of adultery, bringing Charles parentage into question. After a long and difficult process Charles was finally confirmed as the only legitimate heir of Louis, and heir to the throne. Charles was but and infant, however, and unable to ascend any throne. His older half brothers took joint control of the throne and kept it until their death. Ranulf II, the Duke of Aquitaine, became the guardian of young Charles, and may have tried to claim the throne for him, but in the end used the royal title himself.

In 893, 14 year old Charles was crowned King of West Francia at the Reims Cathedral by Aquitainian nobles who opposed the rule of Odo. He was not able to truly claim the throne until Odo's death and when he finally succeeded to his father's throne in 898 his mother assisted in crowning him.

Charles reign of 24 years was filled with battles to keep his throne.

Charles married twice. His first marriage was in May 907 to Frederuna, daughter of Dietrich, Count in the Hamaland. They had six daughters:
-Ermentrude
-Frederuna
-Adelaide
-Gisela, wife of Rollo
-Rotrude
-Hildegarde

Next in 919 Charles married Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons. Together they had one son:
Louis IV of France (10 September 920–10 September 954), who eventually succeeded to the throne of West Francia in 936

Charles also had several other offspring:
-Arnulf
-Drogo
-Rorice († 976), Bishop of Laon
-Alpais, who married Erlebold, count of Lommegau

In 922 Charles III was deposed and, after being defeated at the Battle of Soissons in 923, he was taken prisoner by Count Herbert II of Vermandois. Imprissoned first at Château-Thierry, then in Péronne, Charles the Simple died there on 7 October 929 and was immediately buried in the local Monastery of Saint-Fursy. His son Louis was now the legitimate Carolingian heir. When Charles was captured in 923 Eadgifu took baby Louis to England to the protection of her half-brother, King Æthelstan of England. In 936 the nobility of France requested Louis return to France and succeed to the throne. 15 year old Louis did so with the support of Hugh the Great. Thus although deposed, Charles son Louis still ascended to his throne
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“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“LOUIS II the Stammerer, King of Neustria, 856, King of Aquitaine, 867, King of France, 877-879, son and heir by his father's 1st marriage, born 1 Nov. c.846. He married (1st) March 862 ANSGARDE, daughter of Count Harduin. They had two sons, Louis (III) [joint King of France] and Carloman [King of France], and three daughters, Hildegarde and Gisela (or Gisele) (wife of Robert, Count palatine of Troyes), and Ermentrude. She died after 2 Nov. 880, 881, or 882. He married (2nd) ADELAIDE, daughter of Count Adelard. They had one son, Charles (III) the Simple [King of France]. LOUIS II, King of France, died at Compiegne 10 April 879. His widow, AdelaIde, died 18 October, after 9 Nov. 901.
Birch Cat. Seals in the British Museum 5 (1898): 113 (seal of King Louis II dated A.D. 879 - Oval: a bust in profile to the right. Legend: ... GRATIA …). Halphen Recueil d’Annales Angevines et Vendômoises (1903): 55 (Annales de Vendôme sub A.D. 879: "Hludovicus moritur, rex Germanie."). Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) IV 34. Decker-Hauff (1955): 330 (identifies wife Adelheid as daughter of Welf, Graf im Argengau). Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 1 (sub Kings of the West Franks). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): IV.40, V.49-V.54. Settipani & von Kerrebrouck La Préhistoire des Capetians (1993).”

Charles married of Wessex, Eadgifu in 919. Eadgifu (daughter of of Wessex, King Edward and of Wiltshire, Ælfflæd) was born in 910 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England; died in 954 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried in 955 in Cathedral of St. Maurice, Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Carolingian
• FSID: 9S9W-MPL
• Appointments / Titles: Between 936 and 954; King of West Francia

Notes:

Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus (both meaning "from overseas"), reigned as king of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his second wife Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of King Edward the Elder of Wessex.His reign is mostly known thanks to the Annals of Flodoard and the later Historiae of Richerus.

Louis was born in the heartlands of West Francia's Carolingian lands between Laon and Reims in 920 or 921. From his father's first marriage with Frederuna (d. 917) he had six half-sisters. He was the only male heir to the throne.

After the dethronement and capture of his faher, Charles the Simple, in 923, following his defeat at the Battle of Soissons, queen Eadgifu and her infant son took refuge in Wessex (for this he received the nickname of d'Outremer) at the court of her father King Edward, and after Edward's death, of her brother King Æthelstan. Young Louis was raised in the Anglo-Saxon court until his teens.

Louis became the heir to the western branch of the Carolingian dynasty after the death of his captive father in 929, and in 936, at the age of 15, was recalled from Wessex by the powerful Hugh the Great, Margrave of Neustria, to succeed the Robertian king Rudolph who had died.

Once he took the throne, Louis wanted to free himself from the tutelage of Hugh the Great, who, with his title of Duke of the Franks was the second most powerful man after the King.

In 945, following the death of William I Longsword, Duke of Normandy, Louis tried to conquer his lands, but was kidnapped by the men of Hugh the Great.

The Synod of Ingelheim in 948 allowed the excommunication of Hugh the Great and released Louis from his long tutelage. From 950 Louis gradually imposed his rule in the northeast of the kingdom, building many alliances (especially with the Counts of Vermandois) and under the protection of the Ottonian kingdom of East Francia.

Louis IV was crowned King by Artald, Archbishop of Rheims on Sunday, 19 June 936, probably at the Abbey of Notre-Dame and Saint-Jean in Laon, perhaps at the request of the King since it was a symbolic Carolingian town and he was probably born there.

In 939 Louis IV married Gerberga of Saxony, the widow of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. They were parents to eight children:
-Lothair of France (941–986)
-Matilda b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy
-Hildegarde b. about 944
-Carloman b. about 945
-Louis b. about 948
-Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953–993)
-Alberade b. before 953
-Henry b. about 953

Louis IV died on September 10, 954, after falling from a horse, some records report he died from tuberculosis.

Louis married von Sachsen, Queen of France Gerberga in 939 in France. Gerberga (daughter of of Sachsen, Heinrich I and von Ringelheim, Saint Mathilde) was born on 10 Jun 913 in Nordhausen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; was christened on 4 Aug 914 in Markneukirchen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; died on 5 May 984 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried on 22 May 984 in Reims Cathedral, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duke of Lower Lorraine, Duke of Brabant
• Appointments / Titles: Prince of France, Duc de Basse-Lotharingie
• House: Carolingian
• Nickname: The Gross
• FSID: LZLQ-664

Charles married de Troyes, Adelaide in 969 in Normandy, France. Adelaide (daughter of de Lothiers, Godefroi and von Sachsen, Mathilde Billung) was born in 953 in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 18 Oct 989 in Moselle, Lorraine, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Carolingian
• FSID: KND9-P91

Notes:

Matilda of France - member of the Carolingian dynasty.

Daughter of King Louis IV of France (920/921–954), ruler of West Francia, and his wife, Gerberga of Saxony (d. about 984), sister of the East Frankish king Otto I. At the time of her birth, Carolingian rule had already weakened: King Louis attempted to stabilize his reign by marrying an East Frankish princess, while he fought with the reluctant dukes of Normandy and with the forces of his Robertian rival Hugh the Great.

When Matilda's brother, 13-year-old Lothair ascended the French throne in 954, Gerberga acted as regent.

In 964 Matilda was married to Conrad, the Welf ruler of the Kingdom of Burgundy, who strongly relied on the support of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Matilda's maternal uncle and husband of Conrad's sister Adelaide. As her dowry, the young queen brought her husband the city of Vienne, which her brother Lothair had ceded to her.

Matilda was outlived by her husband, she probably died after 981. She is buried in Vienne Cathedral

Mathilde married von Hochburgund, Conrad III in 955 in Germany. Conrad (son of von Hochburgund, King Rudolph II and von Schwaben, Bertha) was born in 925 in Franche-Comté, France; died on 19 Oct 993 in Wien, Wien, Wien, Austria; was buried on 19 Oct 993 in Wien, Wien, Wien, Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Countess of Lorraine
• Appointments / Titles: Duchess of Brabant
• Appointments / Titles: Duchess of Louvain
• FSID: LDSS-KKV

Notes:

BIO: from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/FRANCONIA.htm#dauHeribertdiedafter985MFriedrichMoselga, as of 10/21/2014

GERBERGA ([975/80]-after 1036). Thietmar names "Ottone germano sui", referring to Gerberga wife of Heinrich von Schweinfurt, whose captivity is recorded in the preceding paragraph, an earlier paragraph referring to "Heriberti comitis filio Ottone" which appears to refer to the same Otto[333]. An alternative possibility is that Gerberga was the daughter of Otto Graf von Grabfeld (see below), the solution chosen by Europäische Stammtafeln[334], but this assumes that the two references to "Otto" in Thietmar were to different individuals. It is also less likely chronologically as it would appear that Otto Graf von Grabfeld was several decades older than Otto Graf von Hammerstein. Her birth date range is estimated on the basis of her daughter Eilika having given birth to her first child in [1020]. Thietmar states that Gerberga and her children were guarded by her husband's brother Bukko during their rebellion against Heinrich II King of Germany in 1003[335].

m (before 1003) HEINRICH von Schweinfurt Graf im Nordgau, son of Graf BERNHARD & his wife Eilika von Walbeck ([970/75][336]-18 Sep 1017, bur Schweinfurt).

Family/Spouse: of Leuven, Graaf Lambert I. Lambert (son of of Hainaut, Raginar III and van Leuven, Countess Adele) was born in 952 in Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium; was christened in 952 in Verberie, Oise, Picardie, France; died on 12 Sep 1015 in Florennes, Namur, Belgium; was buried after 12 Sep 1015 in Nivelles, Brabant Wallon, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GDZ6-3JS

Berthe married de Blois, Odo I in 983 in Bourgogne, France. Odo was born in 950 in Marmoutier, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; died on 12 Mar 995 in Touraine, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France; was buried after 12 Mar 995 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]