Louis the Stammerer (1 November 846 – 10 April 879) was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

 and Ermentrude of Orléans

Ermentrude of Orléans

Ermentrude of Orléans was Queen of the Franks by her marriage to Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia. She was the daughter of Odo, Count of Orleans and his wife Engeltrude....

. He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine

Aquitaine

Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

 in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

. In the French monarchial system, he is considered Louis II.

Twice married, he and his first wife, Ansgarde of Burgundy

Ansgarde of Burgundy

Ansgarde of Burgundy was a French queen of Aquitaine, but never of West Francia, the daughter of Hardouin of Burgundy. She secretly married Louis II of France before he was king; her sons became Louis III and Carloman II of France....

, had two sons: Louis

Louis III of France

Louis III was the King of France, still then called West Francia, from 879 until his death. The second son of Louis the Stammerer and his first wife, Ansgarde, he succeeded his father to reign jointly with his younger brother Carloman II, who became sole ruler on Louis's death...

 (born in 863) and Carloman (born in 866), both of whom became kings of France, and two daughters: Hildegarde (born in 864) and Gisela (865–884), who married Robert, Count of Troyes

Robert I, Count of Troyes

Robert I , called Porte-carquois, was the Count of Troyes. He was a son of Odo I, Count of Troyes, and Wandilmodis.Lay abbot of Saint-Loup, he was mentioned for the first time on 25 October 874, when he appeared in a charter of Charles the Bald ceding Chaource, in Tonnerre, to the abbey. He...

.

With his second wife, Adelaide of Paris

Adelaide of Paris

Adélaïde de Paris was the second wife of Louis the Stammerer, King of Western Francia, and was the mother of Charles the Simple.- Life :...

, he had one daughter, Ermentrude (875–914) – who was the mother of Cunigunde, wife of the Count Palatine

Count palatine

Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...

 Wigerich of Bidgau

Wigeric of Lotharingia

Wigeric or Wideric was the count of the Bidgau and held the rights of a count within the city of Trier. He received also the advocacy of the Abbey of Saint RumboldThe abbey founded by St. Rumbold in the 6th, 7th or 8th century and a 9th century St...

; they were the ancestors of the House of Luxemburg —, and a posthumous son, Charles the Simple

Charles the Simple

Charles III , called the Simple or the Straightforward , was the undisputed King of France from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919/23...

, who would become, long after his elder brothers' deaths, king of France.

He was crowned on 8 December 877 by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and was crowned a second time in September 878 by Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Leo IX two centuries later....

 at Troyes

Troyes

Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...

 while the pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 was attending a council there. The pope may even have offered the imperial crown, but it was declined. Louis the Stammerer was said to be physically weak and outlived his father by only two years. He had relatively little impact on politics. He was described "a simple and sweet man, a lover of peace, justice, and religion". In 878, he gave the counties of Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Girona

Girona

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...

, and Besalú

Besalú

Besalú is a town in the comarca of Garrotxa, in Catalonia, Spain.The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current comarca of Garrotxa but sometime extended as far as Corbières, Aude, in France....

 to Wilfred the Hairy

Wilfred the Hairy

Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy, was Count of Urgell , Cerdanya , Barcelona , Girona , Besalú , and Ausona ....

. His final act was to march against the Vikings who were then the scourge of Europe. He fell ill and died on 10 April or 9 April 879 not long after beginning his final campaign. On his death, his realms were divided between his two sons, Carloman and Louis.

Ancestry