Charles the Fat

For a brief period in the 880s, Charles the Fat ruled nearly the whole of the empire of Charlemagne, the last member of the dynasty to do so. The youngest son of Louis the German, he received Alemannia when his father's kingdom was divided in 876. The early deaths and incapacities of his brothers steadily enlarged his portion: he took over Italy after his brother Carloman was disabled by illness, and was crowned emperor by Pope John VIII in February 881.

When his brother Louis the Younger died in 882, Charles united all of East Francia under his rule. After the death of the young West Frankish king Carloman II in 884, the western magnates, unwilling to entrust the kingdom to the child Charles the Simple, invited the emperor to assume the West Frankish crown as well. By 885 almost the entire Carolingian inheritance, except the kingdom of Provence, was nominally in his hands.

The unity proved hollow. When a large Viking force besieged Paris in 885 and 886, the defense was led by Odo, count of Paris, of the Robertian house. Charles arrived with an army in 886 but chose to negotiate, paying tribute and permitting the Vikings to winter in Burgundy. The settlement was widely resented and damaged his standing, while Odo's conduct raised the prestige of the Robertians, who would contest the West Frankish crown with the Carolingians for the next century and ultimately replace them as the Capetian dynasty.

Charles's health declined in his final years, and he had no legitimate son by his wife Richardis, only an illegitimate son, Bernard, whom he failed to have recognized as heir. In November 887 his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia rose against him, and the East Frankish magnates deserted the emperor at Tribur. Deposed, Charles died at Neidingen in January 888 and was buried at Reichenau. His fall was followed by the definitive fragmentation of the empire, as separate kings emerged in East and West Francia, Italy, Burgundy, and Provence.