9 - The Ottonians as kings and emperors

Summary

the post-900 political crisis: the dissolution of the frankish kingdom ruled by arnulf and the development of regional and ethnic principalities

The Emperor Arnulf died in Regensburg on 8 December 899. The illegitimate son of King Carloman of Bavaria and Italy had brought about the fall of Charles the Fat in November 887, which had led to his own election by the east Frankish magnates and to the election of non-Carolingian rulers in other parts of the Carolingian empire. Charles the Fat had been able to reunite the Carolingian kingdoms and, apart from Provence, had exercised direct rule over all of them. Unlike Charles, who had accepted the west Frankish crown offered him in 885, Arnulf of Carinthia rejected a corresponding offer from the west Frankish magnates. This incident, whose significance, especially for the development of a German kingdom, has been much discussed, did not mean that Arnulf of Carinthia wished to confine his rule to east Francia, Francia orientalis. He established a relationship of feudal overlordship, or at any rate allowed one to be established. The other rulers elected in 888, Odo of west Francia, Rudolf of upper Burgundy, and Berengar of Italy, as well as, later, Louis of Provence, acknowledged his overlordship. He sent Odo a crown, with which Odo had himself crowned a second time in Rheims. After Charles the Simple had been set up as king in west Francia in 894 he too submitted to Arnulf, who acted as mediator in the dispute between Odo and Charles over the west Frankish throne. Arnulf disputed the claim by Rudolf of upper Burgundy to rule over the whole of the former kingdom of Lothar II; and when Wido of Spoleto challenged his overlordship by having himself made emperor, Arnulf intervened in Italy and acted directly as Italian king.