#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 19 Bald: My great uncle, Charles the Bald

 As I was researching my ancestry back to Charlemagne, I noticed that many of his descendants acquired nicknames.  Now, Charles the Hammer is not so bad or Louis the Pious.  But Pepin the Short?  Louis the Fat? Charles the Simple? Louis the Stammerer? Charles the Bald? So much more fun than boring numbers like Louis II. Anyway, since the prompt is bald this week, Charles the Bald it is.

Now imagine my surprise when I looked for images of Charles and none of them showed him as bald! This guy is certainly not lacking for hair. And really serious histories refer to him as Charles the Bald.  So what gives? Irony, perhaps? I have not noticed that history writers are really into irony. 

As it turns out, he acquired his nickname for a completely different reason. 

Louis I (AKA Louis the Pious) was the only surviving son of Charlemagne and was co-emperor with him, becoming sole ruler of the Franks after his father's death in 814. 

Charles II (AKA Charles the Bald) was the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife and the grandson of Charlemagne. He was born in the area of Frankfurt, Germany in 823. 

When he came along, his three older brothers were already adults and had been assigned sub-kingdoms by their father. Louis's attempts to assign a sub-kingdom to Charles were unsuccessful, setting off massive discord as the older brothers resisted any attempt to reorganize the empire at their expense. Louis's death in 840 led to outright war among his sons. When the war finally ended in 843, Charles was ruler of the West Franks, essentially the modern country of France. So, Charles was "bald" (i.e. landless) no more. However, he was still stuck with the nickname. 

Family infighting continued throughout Charles' reign. In addition, he also had to fend off raids from the Vikings, to whom he had to pay huge bribes in order to get them to retreat from Paris. He built fortified bridges to protect the city from Viking incursions. 

In 875, Charles became the Holy Roman Emperor, following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps.  In revenge, Charles' cousin Louis the German, who had also wanted the Emperor's crown, invaded and devasted Charles's kingdom. 

Charles died crossing the Alps on his way back to Gaul in October 877. He was eventually buried at the Abbey of St. Denis, near Paris. 

He was succeeded by his son, Louis the Stammerer, (!) his eldest son by his first wife, Ermentrude.