Louis the Child

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Louis the Child
King of the Germans
Reign	8 December 899 – 20-24 September 911
Coronation	4 February 900, Forcheim
Born	September/October 893
Birthplace	Altötting
Died	20 or 24 September 911
Place of death	Frankfurt am Main
Buried	Saint Emmeram
Predecessor	Arnulf
Successor	Conrad I
Royal House	Carolingian Dynasty
Father	Arnulf of Carinthia
Mother	Ota

The last Carolingian ruler of East Francia, Louis the Child (893 - 20 or 24 September 911) was the only legitimate son of the Emperor Arnulf and his wife, Ota, a member of the Conradine Dynasty. He was born in September or October 893, in Altoetting, Bavaria. He succeeded his father as king upon the latter's death in 899, when he was only six. During his reign, the country was ravaged by Magyar raids.

Louis was crowned in Forchheim on 4 February 900. This is the oldest German royal coronation of which we have any record. Louis was of a weak personal constitution, often sick, and with his young age, the reins of government were entirely in the hands of others, the nobles and bishops. Indeed, the coronation was probably a result of the fact that there was little Louis could gain at the expense of the nobles. Louis also inherited Lotharingia with the death of his elder illegitimate half-brother, Zwentibold, in 900.

The most influential of Louis's councillors were Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz, and Solomon III, Bishop of Constance. It was these two who assured that the royal court decided in favour of the Conradines against the Babenbergers in the matter of the Duchy of Franconia. They appointed Louis's nephew, Conrad, as duke. In 903 Louis promulgated the first customs regulations in the German part of Europe.

Louis himself tried to take some military control as he grew older, but he had little success against the Magyars. His army was destroyed at the Lechfeld and it was in this state of defeat that Louis died, at Frankfurt am Main, on 20 or 24 September 911, only eighteen years of age. Louis was buried in the monastery of Saint Emmeram in Regensburg, where his father lay. His death brought an end to the eastern branch of the Carolingian dynasty. The vacuum left in the Carolingian east was eventually filled by the family of Henry the Fowler, a cousin, and heralded the beginning of the Ottonian dynasty. Firstly, however, the dukes of East Francia assembled to elect Conrad of Franconia king, as opposed to the reigning king of West Francia, Charles the Simple. The magnates of Lotharingia elected Charles.

Louis is commonly numbered as Louis IV, as he was the fourth king of that name (after Louis the Pious, who ruled all Franks, Louis the German and Louis the Younger). However, some omit Louis the Younger, who never ruled the whole of Germany and was no ancestor of Louis the Child and renumber the latter Louis III.

[edit] See also

• Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other king of Germany.

v • d • e Monarchs of Germany Carolingians: Louis II · Carloman · Louis III · Charles III · Arnulf · Louis the Child — Conradines: Conrad I — Ottonians: Henry I · Otto I · Otto II · Otto III · Henry II — Salians: Conrad II · Henry III · Henry IV · Henry V — Supplinburger: Lothair III — Hohenstaufen: Conrad III · Frederick I · Henry VI · Philip — Welf: Otto IV; Hohenstaufen: Frederick II · Conrad IV — Habsburg: Rudolf I — Nassau: Adolf — Habsburg: Albert I — Luxemburg: Henry VII — Wittelsbach: Louis IV — Luxemburg: Charles IV · Wenceslaus — Wittelsbach: Rupert — Luxemburg: Sigismund — Habsburg: Albert II · Frederick III · Maximilian I · Charles V · Ferdinand I · Maximilian II · Rudolph II · Matthias · Ferdinand II · Ferdinand III · Leopold I · Joseph I · Charles VI — Wittelsbach: Charles VII — Lorraine: Francis I — Habsburg-Lorraine: Joseph II · Leopold II · Francis II — Hohenzollern: William I · Frederick III · William II — Family tree