Louis III (King of France)

Entrance on the throne

After the death of Louis Zaika, a quarrel arose between the Franks over the inheritance of power. Hugo Abbot , remaining faithful to the oath to the late king, along with his like-minded people, wished to put kings in the father's kingdom of his sons, Louis and Carloman . The future Bishop of Paris Gozlen and the Count of Paris Konrad the Black from the powerful family of Welf , as well as their numerous supporters called Louis the Younger to the kingdom.

Starting in 879 and throughout the next decade, the Vikings brought down the last wave of violence on the Franks, even more destructive than all that occurred from the very beginning of their appearance in the West. At that time, while the Franks were in discord, the Normans , in large numbers on their ships and, without meeting any resistance, in mid-July 879, invaded Friesland and the city of the Morin tribe and the whole land of the Menapian tribe was devastated by fire and sword. Then they entered the Scheldt and ravaged the whole of Brabant. Hugo of Lorraine came out against them, but was defeated. The Normans did not cease to devastate churches, kill and take Christians captive.

Hugo Abbot sent an embassy to Louisiana the Younger with a proposal to take the share of Charles the Bald , received last according to the Mersen Treaty of 870 , but refuse to intervene in the dynastic struggle for the throne of the West-Frankish kingdom. Louis the Younger agreed and took part of Lorraine, formerly owned by Charles the Bald. So with the support of Hugo Abbot, Louis III and Carloman were anointed for reign in September 879 by Archbishop of Saens Ansegiz at Ferriere Abbey .

Boson Insurgency

On October 15, 879, in the palace of Mantai, not far from Vienne , the Duke of Provence Boson was crowned as a throne and seized part of Burgundy. It was the first part of the empire that went out of control of the Carolingians. The aristocracy, led by Hugo the Abbot, Bernard Plantwell, and, somewhat later, Earl Richard of Autun , brother of Boson, defended the legitimate royal dynasty.

Gozlen and Konrad, dissatisfied with the influence on the kings of Hugo the Abbot, again tried to invite Louis the Younger to the reign. The Germans moved to the Oise and camped there. Louis III and Carloman with the army came forward to meet, but the battle did not happen. With the mediation of Hugo Abbot, the kings in February 880 entered into an agreement by which the western part of Lorraine was finally transferred to Louis the Younger. Having received a promise from the sons of Louis II Zaaika not to punish the guilty nobles, Louis moved back to his kingdom, but on the way he met the Normans, who were returning from a predatory campaign, and engaged with them in battle with Timeon . The Franks defeated them, but the son of Louis, Hugo, was killed in this battle. He was killed by King Gothfried , whom the annals called the king of the Danes , and because of his death, the king did not pursue the defeated enemy. Then, in Amiens, both brothers divided the kingdom of Louis Zaika among themselves. Louis III got part of Austrasia and all of Neustria , and Carloman received Aquitaine , part of Burgundy and Gothia.

The Carolingians met again in June 880 in Gondreville, on the banks of the Moselle. Attended by the King of Germany, Charles the Fat , Louis III and Carloman. Louis the Younger, who was sick at that time, sent his representatives. Decisions were made in order to prevent the Boson, as well as to limit the influence of Hugo , a thoroughbred Caroling, son of Lothar II , who tried to lay his father’s legacy to his hands.

Heinrich, Duke of Franconia, the closest associate of Louis the Younger and Karl Tolstoy, was the last to be sent to help Louis and Carloman in their war against Boson. In this campaign, Henry, in a difficult battle, defeated Teotbald, brother of Titbergs, the wife of Lothair II , who helped Hugh in his fight for his father's inheritance. Thus, the threat in the face of Hugo was temporarily eliminated.

Louis sent the State Chancellor Gozleine to protect the kingdom from the Normans, while he and his brother moved with the rest of the army to Burgundy and again took the city under their control, which Boson seized. The Macon town of Boson was given to Bernard Plantwell. When the royal troops approached, Boson left Vienne, leaving his wife Bertha there, who led the defense of the city. United with his cousin Karl Tolstoy, the kings of the Western Franks besieged Vienne, but could not take this heavily fortified city. Karl Tolstoy, learning that his elder brother Carloman, the king of Bavaria, had died, and wishing to take part in the struggle for his inheritance, rose in the middle of the night, set fire to his camp, and, without the knowledge of Louis and Carloman, returned home. So having achieved nothing, only betraying the Boson to anathema, the brothers Louis and Carloman were also forced to retreat to their territory.

Norman threat

Gozlen and the army, sent to block the road to the Normans, was defeated, and Gozlen himself barely escaped a shameful flight. The Normans, winged with success, plundered all the monasteries between the Scheldt and the Seine, as well as on the other side of the Scheldt, killing and taking captive the inhabitants of those lands. Gozlen, seeing that he could not resist them, disbanded the army in the beginning of October 880 for the winter. The Normans changed their parking lot and in November built a fortress near Courtra to spend the winter there. And from there they devastated the lands of the menapians and the Sweves, up to the complete extermination of the inhabitants. On December 26, 880, the Normans in large numbers approached the monastery of St.. Vedasta near Arras and on the 28th the monastery and the city of Arras were burned down. On the same day, on the 28th, they invaded Cambrai and devastated the city with fire and murder, as well as neighboring monasteries and monasteries on the River Isere in Flanders. They traveled all over the country to the Somme and captured huge booty, and then returned to their camp.

In February 881, the Normans set in motion again, passing through Terwan to Centula, visited the monastery of St.. Richard and St. Valarich, all the places on the seashore, all the monasteries and villages, then went on to the city of Amiens and the monastery of Corbier, and, laden with loot, returned from there to their camp. By the end of February, they reappeared in Arras and killed everyone they found; and, having devastated all the lands in the district with fire and sword, they returned to their camp unharmed.

King Louis, seeing his kingdom being destroyed, gathered an army and prepared for battle. However, in July 881 , the Normans crossed the Somme with a large army and, according to their custom, devastated the country down to the lands near the town of Beauvais. King Louis crossed the army with the army across the river Oise and moved to Lavier, where, in his opinion, the Normans were supposed to stop by on the way back. Scouts sent out for this purpose in different directions, reported that they return, loaded with loot. The king met them and met them in Vimey district near the village of Sokur in Picardy. On August 3, 881, a battle took place; the Normans were defeated and fled, retreating to the said village; the king pursued them and won a glorious victory over them. This victory, where up to 8,000 Vikings fell, glorified Louis in the folk song and demonstrated the courage and determination of the king, but remained single because the king’s actions were not picked up by anyone. The Normans relocated to Alsace and began to plunder the lands of the East-Frankish Kingdom.

The Death of Louis

Louis III became a victim of his own liveliness. He crashed on the gates when a girl was caught up on a horse. He received serious bruises, consequently became ill, ordered to carry himself in Saint-Denis and died here on August 5, 882 . Buried in the abbey of Saint-Denis . Upon learning of the death of his brother, Carloman immediately went to his kingdom.

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