Odo (French: Eudes; c. 857 – 1 January 898) was King of West Francia from 888 to 898. He was the first king from the Robertian dynasty, the parent house of the House of Capet. Before assuming the kingship, Odo was the Count of Paris, since 882. His reign marked the definitive separation of West Francia from the Carolingian Empire, which would never be reunited.[2][3]
Odo was the eldest son of Robert the Strong (d. 866), Duke of the Franks, Margrave of Neustria, and Count of Anjou. Regarding the identity of Odo's mother, chronicler Regino of Prüm (d. 915) stated that count Adalhelm was Odo's maternal uncle (Latin: avunculus), meaning that Odo's mother was count Adalhelm's sister. On the other side, some researchers have proposed that Odo's father Robert was married to Adelaide of Tours,[4][5] but those suggestions are not universally acknowledged in scholarly literature,[6] since it was shown that they were based on some misunderstandings in the Chronicle of St-Bénigne.[7][8]
In 882 or 883 Odo married Théodrate of Troyes.[14] The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898)[citation needed], who died shortly after his father. Guy is named as one of the couple's children in an Alan I's charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false.[15] The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Odo by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.
For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of Vikings during the 885–886 Siege of Paris, Odo was chosen by the western Frankish nobles to be their king following the overthrow of Emperor Charles the Fat.[16] He was crowned at Compiègne in February 888 by Walter, Archbishop of Sens.[17]
Odo continued to battle against the Vikings and defeated them at Montfaucon, but was soon involved in a struggle with powerful Frankish nobles who supported the claim of Charles the Simple to the throne.[16][18]
In 890 Odo granted special privileges to the County of Manresa in Osona.[19] Because of its position on the front line against the Moorish aggression, Manresa was given the right to build towers of defence known as manresanas or manresanes. This privilege was responsible for giving Manresa its unique character, distinct from the rest of Osona, for the next two centuries.[citation needed]
To gain prestige and support, Odo paid homage to East Francia's King Arnulf in 888.[20][21] Despite this, in 894 Arnulf declared his support for Charles the Simple, and after a conflict which lasted three years, Odo was compelled to come to terms with his rival and surrender a district north of the Seine to him.[16] Odo died in La Fère on 1 January 898.[a][22]
In popular culture
A character named Count Odo is portrayed by Owen Roe[23] in the 2013 History Channel series Vikings. This fictional Odo actually saves Paris from a Viking attack, but is killed before ever succeeding in becoming king.[24]
↑ E. Favre, Eudes, comte de Paris et roi de France (Paris, 1893)
↑ Carl Johan Lamm. Oriental Glass of Mediaeval Date Found in Sweden and the Early History of Lustre-painting. Akad. Förl., 1941. p 41
↑ Christian Settipani. La Préhistoire des Capétiens (Nouvelle histoire généalogique de l'auguste maison de France). P. Van Kerrebrouck, 1993. p 402-403
↑ Gwatking, H. M., Whitney, J. P., et al. Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III—Germany and the Western Empire. Cambridge University Press:London(1930)
↑ Michel Zimmermann. Western Francia: the southern principalities. In: The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. Edited by Rosamond McKitterick, David Abulafia, Michael C. E. Jones. p 433
↑ Anthony Guggenberger. A General History of the Christian Era: The papacy and the empire. B. Herder, 1909. p 162
↑ Paul Edward Dutton. The Politics of Dreaming in the Carolingian Empire. University of Nebraska Press, 1994. p 229
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