Charles the Fat

Also known as Carolus Crassus, Carolus Magnus, Carolus Tertius, Charles III

Emperor of the Carolingian Empire (839-888) (r. 881-887)

AI overview

Charles the Fat was a Carolingian emperor who ruled from 881 to 887, a period when the once-powerful empire founded by Charlemagne was fragmenting into separate kingdoms. He is historically significant because his reign marked the beginning of the end of the unified Carolingian Empire, as he proved unable to effectively govern or defend his vast territories against external threats and internal divisions.

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Karl
Gender: male
Spouse: Richardis
Child: Bernard
Father: Louis the German
Mother: Hemma
Occupation: monarch
Religion: Christianity
Family: Carolingian dynasty
Image: Charles le Gros.PNG

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manner of death: natural causes
place of burial: Abbey of Reichenau
Commons category: Charles the Fat
date of birth: 0832-01-01
date of death: 0888-01-13
owner of: Nantouillet Castle
described by source: New International Encyclopedia
cause of death: disease
name in native language: Karl der Dicke
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
medical condition: epilepsy

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Encyclopedic overview

Charles the Fat (839 – 13 January 888) was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 887. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was the last Carolingian emperor of legitimate birth and the last to rule a united kingdom of the Franks.

Over his lifetime, Charles became ruler of the various kingdoms of Charlemagne's former empire. Granted lordship over Alamannia in 876, following the division of East Francia, he succeeded to the Italian throne upon the abdication of his older brother Carloman of Bavaria who had been incapacitated by a stroke. Crowned emperor in 881 by Pope John VIII, his succession to the territories of his brother Louis the Younger (Saxony and Bavaria) the following year reunited the kingdom of East Francia. Upon the death of his cousin Carloman II in 884, he inherited all of West Francia, thus reuniting the entire Carolingian Empire.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Charles the Fat” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Charles the Fat

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