Fulk the Venerable (died June 17, 900) was archbishop of Reims from 883 until his death. He was a key protagonist in the political conflicts of the West Frankish kingdom that followed the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire in the late ninth century.
Fulk was born into a powerful aristocratic family, and his brother was Anscar I, Margrave of Ivrea. He became a palace cleric of Charles the Bald, and by 877 had been made abbot of the abbey of Saint Bertin near Saint-Omer, France. He was consecrated archbishop of Reims in March 883, succeeding the long-serving Hincmar. As bishop, he corresponded with rulers, bishops and popes about a range of political and religious matters. Much of what is known about Fulk's career comes from the historian Flodoard's History of the Church of Reims, written in 948-52, which narrates his life and preserves summaries of some 76 letters, half of which were written to or sent by popes. [1] Fulk corresponded with Alfred the Great regarding the needs of the English church, and rebuked Queen Richilde for what he considered irregular behavior. [2]
Upon the deposition of the Carolingian emperor Charles the Fat in 887, Fulk attempted to install his kinsman Guy III, Duke of Spoleto, as king of West Francia, and even crowned him at Langres in 888. However, Odo, the Robertian count of Paris, was crowned by Walter, archbishop of Sens, and accepted by the nobles as king. Fulk, having had his favoured candidate passed over, continued to oppose Odo's rule, and as a possible alternative turned first to Arnulf of Carinthia, who had succeeded Charles in East Francia, also to no avail. Fulk eventually settled for backing the young Carolingian Charles the Simple, the son of Louis the Stammerer who had been passed over in 888 on account of his youth. In 893, Fulk crowned Charles king in opposition to Odo, and following continued conflict among the kingdom's magnates, agreement was reached whereby Charles would succeed Odo, which happened in 898. [3] The rivalries and factions that emerged in this period set the stage for frequent conflicts between the Carolingians, Robertians and other noble families in the coming decades. Upon Charles' accession, he made Fulk his chancellor.
Following a period of intensified Viking raiding in the late ninth century, in 893 Fulk restored the schools of Reims, bringing in the renowned teachers Remigius of Auxerre and Hucbald of Saint-Amand. [4]
Political tensions continued to simmer, however, and in 900, Fulk was assassinated on the orders of Count Baldwin of Flanders. Charles granted to Fulk the abbey of St Vaast, which had previously been held by Baldwin, whom the king suspected of disloyalty. While traveling with a small escort to meet with Charles, Fulk was killed by a man called Winemar and several accomplices, all of whom were in the service of Baldwin. [5] The murder of a bishop was extremely rare in the Carolingian period, and the event shocked contemporaries, as indicated by the independent accounts of the chroniclers Regino of Prüm, the anonymous author of the Annals of Saint-Vaast, and Flodoard of Reims. [6] Fulk was succeeded in the archbishopric by Heriveus, who convened a synod where Winemar was excommunicated for his crime.
Arnulf of Carinthia was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed king of Italy from 894 and the disputed emperor from February 22, 896, until his death at Regensburg, Bavaria.
Hugh Capet was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was descended from Charlemagne's sons Louis the Pious and Pepin of Italy through his mother and paternal grandmother, respectively, and was also a nephew of Otto the Great.
Charles III, called the Simple or the Straightforward, was the king of West Francia from 898 until 922 and the king of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–923. He was a member of the Carolingian dynasty.
Odo was the elected King of West Francia from 888 to 898. He was the first king from the Robertian dynasty. Before assuming the kingship, Odo was the count of Paris. His reign marked the definitive separation of West Francia from the Carolingian Empire, which would never reunite.
Robert I was the elected King of West Francia from 922 to 923. Before his election to the throne he was Count of Poitiers, Count of Paris and Marquis of Neustria and Orléans. He succeeded the overthrown Carolingian king Charles the Simple, who in 898 had succeeded Robert's brother, king Odo.
Hugh the Great was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. He was the most powerful magnate in France.
Charles III, also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was the last Carolingian emperor of legitimate birth and the last to rule a united kingdom of the Franks.
Louis V, also known as Louis the Do-Nothing, was a king of West Francia from 979 to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last Carolingian monarch in West Francia.
Baldwin II was the second margrave of Flanders, ruling from 879 to 918. He was nicknamed the Bald (Calvus) after his maternal grandfather, Emperor Charles the Bald.
Lothair, sometimes called Lothair II, III or IV, was the penultimate Carolingian king of West Francia, reigning from 10 September 954 until his death in 986.
Flodoard of Reims was a Frankish chronicler and priest of the cathedral church of Reims in the West Frankish kingdom during the decades following the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. His historical writings are major sources for the history of Western Europe, especially France, in the early and mid-tenth century.
Judith of Flanders was a Carolingian princess as the daughter of Charles II, Emperor of the Romans, who became Queen (consort) of Wessex by two successive marriages and later Margravine (consort) of Flanders.
The Battle of Soissons was fought on 15 June 923 between an alliance of Frankish insurgent nobles led by Robert I, elected king in an assembly the year prior, and an army composed of Lotharingians, Normans, and Carolingian forces under King Charles III's command. The battle took place at Soissons, near Aisne. Robert was killed, but his army won the war. Charles was imprisoned by Herbert II of Vermandois and held captive until his death in 929. Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy, Robert's son-in-law, succeeded him as ruler of West Francia.
Odo I, Count of Blois, Chartres, Reims, Provins, Châteaudun, and Omois, was the son of Theobald I of Blois and Luitgard, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois. He received the title of count palatine, which was traditional in his family, from King Lothair of West Francia.
In medieval history, West Francia or the Kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It was the forerunner of the future Kingdom of France and existed from 843 to 987. West Francia emerged from the partition of the Carolingian Empire in 843 under the Treaty of Verdun following the death of Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious. It is considered the first separate polity in French history.
Henry was the leading military commander of the last years of the Carolingian Empire. He was commander-in-chief under Kings Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat. His early career was mostly restricted to East Francia, his homeland, but after Charles inherited West Francia in 884 he was increasingly active there. During his time, raids by the Vikings peaked in Francia. The sources describe at least eight separate campaigns waged by Henry against the Vikings, most of them successful.
The Robertians are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries. The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet.
Theutbald II was one of the rival bishops of Langres following the disputed election of 888. According to Flodoard of Reims, he was a relative of Charles the Simple, king of West Francia.
Heriveus of Reims was a West Frankish churchman and political advisor. In 900, he was consecrated archbishop of Reims, holding this position until his death. Heriveus's tenure was marked by the genesis of the duchy of Normandy and the growing discord between the Carolingian king Charles the Simple and his Robertian rival Robert of Neustria.
Louis IV, called d'Outremer or Transmarinus, 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.
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