July 31, 1527: Birth of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia. Part I.

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Agust of Saxony, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary Maximilian II, Philip II of Spain

Maximilian II (July 13, 1527 – October 12, 1576), a member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death. He was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on May 14, 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on November 24, 1562. On September 8, 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slovakia). On July 25, 1564 he succeeded his father Ferdinand I as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.

Maximilian was born in Vienna, Austria, the eldest son of the Habsburg archduke Ferdinand I, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Jagiellonian Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Maximilian’s mother, Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale.

King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia was her younger brother. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland (of the Jagiellon dynasty) and Elisabeth of Austria (Habsburg), one of the heiresses of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale, and Catherine de Foix, an Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Maximilian was named after his great-grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. At the time of his birth in 1527, his father Ferdinand succeeded his brother-in-law King Louis II in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary, and in 1556 Ferdinand succeeded his brother as the Holy Roman Emperor, laying the grounds for the global Habsburg Monarchy.

Having spent his childhood years at his father’s court in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Maximilian was educated principally in Italy. Among his teachers were humanist scholars like Kaspar Ursinus Velius and Georg Tannstetter. He also came in contact with the Lutheran teaching and early on corresponded with the Protestant Prince-Elector August of Saxony, suspiciously eyed by his Habsburg relatives.

From the age of 17, he gained some experience of warfare during the Italian War campaign of his uncle Charles V against King François I of France in 1544, and also during the Schmalkaldic War. Upon Charles’ victory in the 1547 Battle of Mühlberg, Maximilian put in a good word for the Schmalkaldic leaders, Johann Friedrich I of Saxony and Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse, and soon began to take part in Imperial business.

On September 13, 1548 Emperor Charles V married Maximilian to his daughter (Maximilian’s cousin) Infanta Maria of Spain in the Castile residence of Valladolid. By the marriage his uncle intended to strengthen the ties with the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, but also to consolidate his nephew’s Catholic faith.

Maximilian temporarily acted as the emperor’s representative in Spain, however not as stadtholder of the Habsburg Netherlands as he had hoped for. To his indignation, King Ferdinand appointed his younger brother Ferdinand II administrator in the Kingdom of Bohemia, nevertheless Maximilian’s right of succession as the future king was recognised in 1549. He returned to the Empire in December 1550 in order to take part in the discussion over the Imperial succession.

Maximilian’s relations with his uncle worsened, as Charles V, again embattled by rebellious Protestant princes led by Elector Maurice of Saxony, wished his son, the future King Felipe II of Spain, to succeed him as emperor. However, Charles’ brother Ferdinand, who had already been designated as the next occupant of the imperial throne, and his son Maximilian objected to this proposal. Maximilian sought the support of the German princes such as Duke Albert V of Bavaria and even contacted Protestant leaders like Maurice of Saxony and Duke Christoph of Württemberg.

At length a compromise was reached: Felipe was to succeed Ferdinand, but during the former’s reign Maximilian, as King of the Romans, was to govern Germany. This arrangement was not carried out, and is only important because the insistence of the emperor seriously disturbed the harmonious relations that had hitherto existed between the two branches of the Habsburg family; an illness that befell Maximilian in 1552 was attributed to poison given to him in the interests of his cousin and brother-in-law, Felipe II of Spain.

The relationship between the two cousins was uneasy. While Felipe had been raised a Spaniard and barely travelled out of the kingdom during his life, Maximilian identified himself as the quintessential German prince and often displayed a strong dislike of Spaniards, whom he considered as intolerant and arrogant. While his cousin was reserved and shy, Maximilian was outgoing and charismatic. His adherence to humanism and religious tolerance put him at odds with Felipe who was more committed to the defence of the Catholic faith.

The Angevin Empire: Part I.

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Angevin Empire, Count of Anjou, Duchy of Aquitaine, Duchy of Normandy, House of Anjou, House of Pl, King Henry II of England, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of France

The Angevin Empire describes the possessions of the Angevin kings of England who held lands in England and France during the 12th and 13th centuries. Its rulers were Henry II (ruled 1154–1189), Richard I (r. 1189–1199), and John (r. 1199–1216). The Angevin Empire is an early example of a composite state.

A composite monarchy (or composite state) is a historical category, introduced by H. G. Koenigsberger in 1975 and popularised by Sir John H. Elliott, that describes early modern states consisting of several countries under one ruler, sometimes designated as a personal union, who governs his territories as if they were separate kingdoms, in accordance with local traditions and legal structures. The composite state became the most common type of state in the early modern era in Europe. Koenigsberger divides composite states into two classes: those, like the Spanish Empire, that consisted of countries separated by either other states or by the sea, and those, like Poland–Lithuania, that were contiguous.

The Angevins of the House of Plantagenet ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and Wales, and had further influence over much of the remaining British Isles. The empire was established by Henry II, as King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou (from which the Angevins derive their name), as well as Duke of Aquitaine by right of his wife, and multiple subsidiary titles. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England, the Angevins held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou, and Chinon in Touraine.

The influence and power of the House of Anjou brought them into conflict with the kings of France of the House of Capet, to whom they also owed feudal homage for their French possessions, bringing in a period of rivalry between the dynasties. Despite the extent of Angevin rule, Henry’s son, John, was defeated in the Anglo-French War (1213–1214) by Philip II of France following the Battle of Bouvines. John lost control of most of his continental possessions, apart from Gascony in southern Aquitaine. This defeat set the scene for further conflicts between England and France, leading up to the Hundred Years’ War.

The term Angevin Empire is a neologism* defining the lands of the House of Plantagenet: Henry II and his sons Richard I and John. Another son, Geoffrey, ruled Brittany and established a separate line there. As far as historians know, there was no contemporary term for the region under Angevin control; however, descriptions such as “our kingdom and everything subject to our rule whatever it may be” were used. The term Angevin Empire was coined by Kate Norgate in her 1887 publication, England under the Angevin Kings. In France, the term espace Plantagenet (French for “Plantagenet area”) is sometimes used to describe the fiefdoms the Plantagenets had acquired.

The use of the term Empire has engendered controversy among some historians over whether the term is accurate for the actual state of affairs at the time. The area was a collection of the lands inherited and acquired by Henry, and so it is unclear whether these dominions shared any common identity and so should be labelled with the term Empire.

Some historians argue that the term should be reserved solely for the Holy Roman Empire, the only Western European political structure actually named an empire at that time, although Alfonso VII of León and Castile had taken the title “Emperor of all Spain” in 1135. Other historians argue that Henry II’s empire was neither powerful, centralised, nor large enough to be seriously called an empire. Furthermore, the Plantagenets never claimed any sort of imperial title as implied by the term Angevin Empire.

However, even if the Plantagenets themselves did not claim an imperial title, some chroniclers, often working for Henry II himself, did use the term empire to describe this assemblage of lands. The highest title was “king of England”; the other titles of dukes and counts of different areas held in France were completely and totally independent from the royal title, and not subject to any English royal law. Because of this, some historians prefer the term commonwealth to empire, emphasising that the Angevin Empire was more of an assemblage of seven fully independent, sovereign states loosely bound to each other, only united in the person of the king of England.

* A neologism is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language.

William I, The Conqueror as King of the English. Part I.

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English Nobles, Matilda of Flanders, Norman Conquest of England, Tower of London, William II of Normandy, William the Conqueror

Those interested in European Royalty and its history know the story of how William II, Duke of Normandy became King of the English in 1066. In this short series I will instead examine what type of King William the Conqueror was and how he ran his administration.

The Norman conquest of England began in 1066 after William II, Duke of Normandy conquered England to capture the throne he believed was rightfully his. And although William was crowned King of the English on Christmas day in 1066 his subduing and conquest of England was not completed until 1071. English nobles and the populace in general did not easily and willingly submit to Norman rule.

As part of his efforts to secure England, William ordered many castles, keeps, and mottes built – among them the central keep of the Tower of London, the White Tower. These fortifications allowed Normans to retreat into safety when threatened with rebellion and allowed garrisons to be protected while they occupied the countryside. The early castles were simple earth and timber constructions, later replaced with stone structures.

At first, most of the newly settled Normans kept household knights and did not settle their retainers with fiefs of their own, but gradually these household knights came to be granted lands of their own, a process known as subinfeudation. William also required his newly created magnates to contribute fixed quotas of knights towards not only military campaigns but also castle garrisons. This method of organising the military forces was a departure from the pre-Conquest English practice of basing military service on territorial units such as the hide.

By William’s death, after weathering a series of rebellions, most of the native Anglo-Saxon aristocracy had been replaced by Norman and other continental magnates. Not all of the Normans who accompanied William in the initial conquest acquired large amounts of land in England. Some appear to have been reluctant to take up lands in a kingdom that did not always appear pacified.

Although some of the newly rich Normans in England came from William’s close family or from the upper Norman nobility, others were from relatively humble backgrounds. William granted some lands to his continental followers from the holdings of one or more specific Englishmen; at other times, he granted a compact grouping of lands previously held by many different Englishmen to one Norman follower, often to allow for the consolidation of lands around a strategically placed castle.

The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury says that the king also seized and depopulated many miles of land (36 parishes), turning it into the royal New Forest region to support his enthusiastic enjoyment of hunting. Modern historians have come to the conclusion that the New Forest depopulation was greatly exaggerated.

Most of the lands of the New Forest are poor agricultural lands, and archaeological and geographic studies have shown that it was likely sparsely settled when it was turned into a royal forest. William was known for his love of hunting, and he introduced the forest law into areas of the country, regulating who could hunt and what could be hunted.

Before I do a deep dive into William’s Administration I’d like to give some background on William’s wife who played a large role in his life.

William was married to Matilda, or Maud, who was the daughter of Baudouin V, Count of Flanders, and Adela, herself daughter of King Robert II of the Franks.

When William was preparing to invade England, Matilda outfitted a ship, the Mora, out of her own funds and gave it to him. Additionally, William gave Normandy to his wife to rule during his absence. Matilda successfully guided the duchy through this period in the name of her fourteen-year-old son; Robert, and no major uprisings or unrest occurred.

Even after William conquered England and became its king, it took her more than a year to visit the kingdom. Matilda was crowned queen on May 11, 1068 in Westminster during the feast of Pentecost, in a ceremony presided over by the archbishop of York. Three new phrases were incorporated to cement the importance of queens, stating that they were divinely placed by God, shared in royal power, and blessed her people by her power and virtue.

Despite having been crowned queen, she spent most of her time in Normandy, governing the duchy, supporting her brother’s interests in Flanders, and sponsoring ecclesiastic houses there. Only one of her children was born in England; Henry was born in Yorkshire when Matilda accompanied her husband in the Harrying of the North.

For many years it was thought that she had some involvement in the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry (commonly called La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde in French), but historians no longer believe that; it seems to have been commissioned by William’s half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and made by English artists in Kent.

Matilda and William had nine or ten children together. He was believed to have been faithful to her and never produced a child outside their marriage. There is no evidence of any illegitimate children born to William.

History of Male British Consorts Part XIV

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British Monarchy, Consort, Duke of Edinburgh, House of Lords, King George VI of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the prince of Wales

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark; June 10, 1921 – April 9, 2021), was a member of the British royal family as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born on the dining room table in Mon Repos, a villa on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. A member of the House of Glücksburg, the ruling house of Denmark, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from King George I of Greece and King Christian IX of Denmark; he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones.

Philip’s four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St. George’s Church in the Old Fortress in Corfu. His godparents were his grandmother Queen Olga of Greece, his cousin Crown Prince George of Greece, his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the mayor of Corfu, Alexandros Kokotos

Even though Prince Philip was born in Greece, and into the Greek and Danish royal families, his family was exiled from the country when he was eighteen months old. After being educated in France, Germany and the UK, he joined the Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18.

From July 1939, he began corresponding with the thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of King George VI of the United Kingdom. Prince Philip had first met her in 1934. During the Second World War wherevhe served with distinction in the British Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.

After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, he abandoned his Greek and Danish titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents’ surname Mountbatten. Of course none of this was necessary because as a descendant of Electress Sophie of Hanover, Philip already was a British Citizen. It is speculated that this was done to make Philip appear less foreign.

He married Elizabeth on November 20, 1947. Just before the wedding, the King granted Philip the style His Royal Highness and created him Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. Philip left active military service when Elizabeth became queen in 1952, having reached the rank of commander, and was made a British Prince in his own right inn1957.

Philip was introduced to the House of Lords on July 21, 1948, immediately before his uncle Louis Mountbatten, who had been made Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Philip, like his sons Charles and Andrew and other royals (with the exception of the 1st Earl of Snowdon), ceased to be members of the House of Lords following the House of Lords Act 1999. He never spoke in the House. In fact, however, he attended Parliament only when escorting the Queen for the annual State Opening of Parliament, where he walked and sat beside her.

Philip had four children with Elizabeth: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Through a British Order in Council issued in 1960, descendants of Philip and Elizabeth not bearing royal styles and titles can use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which has also been used by some members of the royal family who hold titles, such as Anne, Andrew and Edward.

Contrary to rumours over the years, the Queen and Duke were said by insiders to have had a strong relationship throughout their marriage, despite the challenges of Elizabeth’s reign.

After Princess Elizabeth acceded to the throne, the Queen also announced that the Duke was to have “place, pre-eminence and precedence” next to her “on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament”. This meant the Duke took precedence over his son, the Prince of Wales, except, officially, in the British parliament.

A sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He was a patron, president or member of over 780 organisations, and served as chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a self-improvement program for young people aged 14 to 24.

The Queen referred to Prince Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her “constant strength and guide” Their marriage was the longest of any British monarch, lasting more than 73 years until Philip’s death in April 2021.

Prince Philip was the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the longest-lived male member of the British royal family. He retired from his royal duties on August 2, 2017, aged 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and 5,493 speeches since 1952. Philip died on April 9, 2021, two months before his 100th birthday.

July 26, 1678: Birth of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Archduke of Austria.

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Emperor Joseph I, Emperor Leopold I, Felipe V of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Romani, War of the Spanish Succession, Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; July 26, 1678 – April 17, 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy (Hereditary lands outside the empire) from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Emperor Leopold I from his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, the oldest of 17 children born from Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife, Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. On Eleonor Magdalene father’s side her grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and his first wife, Magdalene of Bavaria. On her mother’s side, her grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

Although he was the first son and child born of his parents’ marriage, he was his father’s third son and seventh child. Previously, Leopold had been married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, the first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Mariana of Austria. Leopold was Margaret Theresa of Spain’s maternal uncle and paternal cousin and gave Emperor Leopold four children, one of whom survived infancy. Leopold then married Claudia Felicitas of Austria, eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici. Leopold and Claudia Felicitas were second cousins (both being great-grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria).Claudia Felicitas gave Leopold two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings.

Prior to his ascension, Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the young court of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a “forward-looking ruler”. The large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a certain success was achieved in stabilizing the chronic Habsburg finances.

On February 24, 1699, Joseph married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the youngest daughter of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg, and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. At their wedding in Vienna, the opera Hercule and Hebe by Reinhard Keiser (1674–1739) was performed.

Early on, the Joseph’s mother, Holy Roman Empress Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, decided that Wilhelmine Amalie would be her daughter-in-law. Prince Salm was instrumental in speaking for her candidacy. The adviser of Eleonore, Marco d’Aviano, had convinced her that Wilhelmine Amalie, being pious and older than Joseph, could act as a tempering influence and discontinue his sex life outside of marriage, and to Leopold, he claimed that he had a vision that the pair would be happy. She was subjected to medical examination, which establish that she was fertile.

Joseph and Wilhelmine Amalie had three children and their only son, Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (October 29, 1700 – August 4, 1701); died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday. His eldest daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha (December 8, 1699 – November 17, 1757); married August III, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. His youngest daughter, Archduchess Maria Amalia (October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756); married her Wittelsbach cousin, Prince-Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria who became Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII in 1742.

Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught a sexually transmittable disease, probably syphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered her sterile. Joseph’s father, Emperor Leopold, who was still alive during these events, made Joseph and his brother Charles sign the Mutual Pact of Succession, ensuring that Joseph’s daughters would have absolute precedence over Charles’s daughters, neither of whom was born at the time, and that Maria Josepha would inherit both the Austrian and Spanish realms.

Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687 and was elected King of the Romans (as heir to the Holy Roman Empire) at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the thrones of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire when his father died.

At this point in the history of the Holy Roman Empire the Emperor’s power were minimal as most states within the empire had become automenous after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Therefore, Joseph endeavoured to strengthen his position within the Holy Roman Empire – as a means of strengthening Austria’s standing as a great power.

When Joseph sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over the duchy of Mantua. Joseph I was threatened with excommunication by Pope Clement XI on June 16, 1708.

After becoming Emperor, Joseph continued the War of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father against Louis XIV of France, in a fruitless attempt to make his younger brother Charles (later Emperor Charles VI) King of Spain. In the process, however, owing to the victories won by his military commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy, he did succeed in establishing Austrian hegemony over Italy.

When Emperor Joseph I died in 1711, Archduke Charles succeeded his brother as emperor, and the new British government initiated peace talks to end the War of the Spanish Succession. The majority of nations participating in the war did not desire to see the Imperial Crown and the Spanish Crown reuniting under Charles VI recreating the vast Habsburg Empire as it was under Emperor Charles V who was also Carlos I of Spain. This resulted in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, followed by the 1714 Treaties of Rastatt and Baden, confirming Philippe of Anjou, grandson of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, as King Felipe V of Spain. This began the House of Bourbon’s tenure on the Spanish throne.

Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV. Neither conflict was resolved until the Treaty of Utrecht, after his death. He also sanctioned the extermination of Romani people within the Holy Roman Empire.

In Hungary, Joseph had inherited the kuruc rebellion from his father Leopold I: once again, nobles in Transylvania (Siebenbürgen) had risen against Habsburg rule, even advancing for a time as far as Vienna. Although Joseph was compelled to take military action, he refrained – unlike his predecessors – from seeking to teach his subjects a lesson by executing the leaders. Instead, he agreed to a compromise peace, which in the long term facilitated the integration of Hungary into the Habsburg domains.

Hungary was disturbed by the conflict with Francis Rákóczi II, who eventually took refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The emperor reversed many of the authoritarian measures of his father, thus helping to placate opponents. He began the attempts to settle the question of the Austrian inheritance by a pragmatic sanction, which was continued by his brother Charles VI.

In 1710, Joseph extended his father’s edict of outlawry against the Romani (Gypsies) in the Habsburg lands. Per Leopold, any Romani who entered the kingdom was to be declared an outlaw by letters patent and if the same person returned to Bohemia a second time “treated with all possible severity”.

Joseph ordered that in the Kingdom of Bohemia they were to have their right ears cut off; in the March of Moravia, the left ear was to be cut off; in Austria, they would be branded on the back with a branding iron, representing the gallows.

These mutilations were to enable the authorities to identify Romani who had been outlawed and returned. Joseph’s edict specified “that all adult males were to be hanged without trial, whereas women and young males were to be flogged and banished forever.” Officials who failed to enforce the edict could be fined 100 Reichsthaler. Helping Romani was punishable by a half-year’s forced labor. “Mass killings” of Romani were reported as a result.

Death

During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, le Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph became infected. He died on April 17, in the Hofburg Palace. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.

The Emperor was buried in the Imperial Crypt, resting place of the majority of the Habsburgs. His funeral took place on April 20, in tomb no. 35 in Karl’s Vault. His tomb was designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, decorated with pictures of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession. Josefstadt (the eighth district of Vienna) is named for Joseph.

July 24, 1567: Abdication of Mary I, Queen of Scots.

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Abdication, Earl of Lennox, Earl of Moray, Henry Stewart, James Bothwell, James Stewart, James VI of Scotland, Lord Darnley, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Mary I of Scotland

In late January 1567, Queen Mary I of Scotland prompted her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, King consort of Scotland to return to Edinburgh. He recuperated from his illness in a house belonging to the brother of Sir James Balfour at the former abbey of Kirk o’ Field, just within the city wall.

Mary visited him daily, so that it appeared a reconciliation was in progress. On the night of February 9–10, 1567, Mary visited her husband in the early evening and then attended the wedding celebrations of a member of her household, Bastian Pagez. In the early hours of the morning, an explosion devastated Kirk o’ Field. Darnley was found dead in the garden, apparently smothered. There were no visible marks of strangulation or violence on the body. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (the illegitimate son of King James V), Secretary Maitland, the Earl of Morton and even Queen Mary herself were among those who came under suspicion.

However, by the end of February, Bothwell was generally believed to be guilty of Darnley’s assassination. Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, Darnley’s father, demanded that Bothwell be tried before the Estates of Parliament, to which Mary agreed, but Lennox’s request for a delay to gather evidence was denied. In the absence of Lennox and with no evidence presented, Bothwell was acquitted after a seven-hour trial on April 12. A week later, Bothwell managed to convince more than two dozen lords and bishops to sign the Ainslie Tavern Bond, in which they agreed to support his aim to marry the queen.

Between April 21 and 23, 1567, Mary visited her son, Prince James, at Stirling for the last time. On her way back to Edinburgh on April 24, Mary was abducted, willingly or not, by Lord Bothwell and his men and taken to Dunbar Castle, where he may have raped her. On May 6, Mary and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh. On May 15, at either Holyrood Palace or Holyrood Abbey, they were married according to Protestant rites. Bothwell and his first wife, Jean Gordon, who was the sister of Lord Huntly, had divorced twelve days previously.

Originally, Mary believed that many nobles supported her marriage, but relations quickly soured between the newly elevated Bothwell (created Duke of Orkney) and his former peers and the marriage proved to be deeply unpopular. Catholics considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell’s divorce or the validity of the Protestant service. Both Protestants and Catholics were shocked that Mary should marry the man accused of murdering her husband. The marriage was tempestuous, and Mary became despondent.

Twenty-six Scottish peers, known as the confederate lords, turned against Mary and Bothwell and raised their own army. Mary and Bothwell confronted the lords at Carberry Hill on June 15, but there was no battle, as Mary’s forces dwindled away through desertion during negotiations.

Bothwell was given safe passage from the field. The lords took Mary to Edinburgh, where crowds of spectators denounced her as an adulteress and murderer. The following night, she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. Between July 20 and 23, Mary miscarried twins. On July 24, 1567, Mary was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James. The infant King James VI of Scotland was placed under the regency of the Earl of Moray, while Bothwell was driven into exile. He was imprisoned in Denmark, became insane and died in 1578.

On May 2, 1568, Mary escaped from Loch Leven Castle with the aid of George Douglas, brother of Sir William Douglas, the castle’s owner. Managing to raise an army of 6,000 men, she met Moray’s smaller forces at the Battle of Langside on May 13. Defeated, Mary fled south. After spending the night at Dundrennan Abbey, she crossed the Solway Firth into England by fishing boat on May 16. She landed at Workington in Cumberland in the north of England and stayed overnight at Workington Hall. On May 18, local officials took her into protective custody at Carlisle Castle.

Mary had once claimed Elizabeth’s throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586, and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle. Mary’s life, marriages, lineage, alleged involvement in plots against Elizabeth, and subsequent execution established her as a divisive and highly romanticised historical character, depicted in culture for centuries.

July 23, 1536: Death of Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset.

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Duke of Richmond and Somers, Henry FitzRoy, Henry VIII of England, House of Tudor, King of Ireland, Lady Mary Howard, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Prince Edward, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Mary, Royal Bastard

Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, (June 15, 1519 – July 23, 1536), was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, and the only child born out of wedlock whom Henry VIII acknowledged. He was the younger half-brother of Queen Mary I, as well as the older half-brother of Queen Elizabeth I and King Edward VI. Through his mother, he was the elder half-brother of the 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme and of the 2nd and 3rd Barons Tailboys of Kyme. He was named FitzRoy, which means “son of the king”.

Birth

Henry FitzRoy was born in June 1519. His mother was Elizabeth Blount, Catherine of Aragon’s lady-in-waiting, and his father was Henry VIII. FitzRoy was conceived when Queen Catherine was approaching her last confinement with another of Henry’s children, a stillborn daughter born in November 1518. To avoid scandal, Blount was taken from Henry’s court to the Augustinian priory of St Lawrence at Blackmore near Ingatestone, in Essex.

FitzRoy’s birthdate is often given as June 15, 1519, but the exact date is not known. His birth may have been earlier than predicted. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was out of London from June 9 to 18 when he reappeared back at court in Windsor. The following day he was expected at Hampton Court, but he did not reappear at a council meeting at Westminster until June 29. The policy of discretion worked, as the baby boy’s arrival caused no great stir, and diplomatic dispatches record nothing of Henry VIII’s illegitimate son.

Acknowledgement

The infant boy was given the surname FitzRoy to make sure that all knew he was son of the King. Henry VIII perhaps felt that his lack of a male heir was a slur upon his manhood since he openly acknowledged the boy. At one point he proudly exhibited his newborn son to the court.

Nursery

The boy’s upbringing until the moment when he entered Bridewell Palace in June 1525 (six years following his birth) remains shrouded in confusion. Although the boy was illegitimate, this did not mean that young Henry lived remotely from and had no contact with his father. On the contrary, it has been suggested by his biographer, Beverly Murphy, that a letter from a royal nurse implies that FitzRoy had also been part of the royal nursery, and he was often at court after 1530.

In the sixteenth century royal and noble households were in a state of constant movement and transition, so it is unlikely that FitzRoy grew up in any one house. He was probably transferred from household to household around London like his royal siblings: Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. In 1519 the only surviving legitimate child of the King was the three-year-old Princess Mary. In that year her household was reorganised, suggesting that Henry made some provisions for his only son. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury replaced Lady Margaret Bryan as lady Mistress of Mary’s household.

Elevation

By 1525, the Tudor dynasty had been on the throne for 40 years. However, cracks were beginning to appear. By the sixteenth year of Henry’s reign, 34-year-old Henry still lacked a male heir with his 40-year-old wife Catherine of Aragon. Their only surviving child and heiress was Princess Mary, who at the time was a girl of nine. Henry, though, had another child, an illegitimate one, a sturdy six-year-old son.

Although Henry may have had other illegitimate children, Henry FitzRoy was the only one the King acknowledged. Henry VIII was also the only surviving son of Henry VII. Henry had no surviving younger brother nor any close male relations from his father’s family who could be called up to share the burden of government in the King’s name. As Henry and Catherine’s marriage remained without a son, the king’s only living son became more attractive for onlookers to observe. The King’s chief minister at the time was Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and since Henry FitzRoy’s birth he had taken an interest in his monarch’s only son. In a letter dated June 1525 the Cardinal refers to the King’s son: “Your entirely beloved sonne, the Lord Henry FitzRoy”.

In 1525, FitzRoy was given his own residence in London, which he was granted by his father: Durham House on the Strand. Since his birth FitzRoy had remained in the background, although the boy had been brought up in remarkable style and comfort, almost as if he were a prince of the blood and not an acknowledged royal bastard.

Such discretion over his son may not have been to the King’s taste, and he may have felt his manhood and virility should be publicly demonstrated. He fully made up for his son’s quiet birth and equally quiet christening when on June 18, 1525 the six-year-old boy was brought to Bridewell Palace on the western edge of the city of London where honours were showered upon him. That morning of the 18th, the six-year-old Lord Henry FitzRoy travelled by barge from Wolsey’s mansion of Durham Place, near Charing Cross, down the River Thames. He came in the company of a host of knights, squires, and other gentlemen. At 9am his barge pulled up at the Watergate and his party made their way through the palace to the king’s lodgings on the south side of the second floor. The rooms were richly decorated, with various members of court and the nobility coming to see FitzRoy’s elevation.

Among them were numerous bishops, as well as Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and the King’s brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. During the first ceremony, when he was created Earl of Nottingham, FitzRoy was attended by Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, who carried the sword of state, along with John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, and William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel. Six-year old Henry knelt before his father as Sir Thomas More read out the patents of nobility.

It was the first time since the 12th century that an illegitimate son had been raised to the peerage, when Henry II, King of England had created his son William, Earl of Salisbury. To be a duke was a significant honour. It was the highest rank of the peerage, and the title, originally devised by Edward III, King of England for his son Edward, Prince of Wales as the Duke of Cornwall, retained its royal aura.

The former Henry FitzRoy was subsequently referred to in all formal correspondence as the “right high and noble Prince Henry, Duke of Richmond and Somerset”. As if to compound this sense of royal dignity and endow the child with as much respectability as possible, Henry VIII had granted his son the unprecedented honour of a double dukedom.

While he is mostly known as Richmond, some pains were taken to see that he bore both titles in equal weight. The bulk of Richmond’s new lands came from Margaret Beaufort’s estate. These were lands which were the rightful inheritance of King Henry VII when he was Earl of Richmond and the lands which had belonged to John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, the father of Margaret Beaufort. The use of the Duchy of Somerset must have struck a chord among the courtiers, as it was well known that the Beauforts’ eldest child was John Somerset, a royal bastard who had been legitimised following his parents’ adultery and then marriage.

A part of the Beaufort connection to the Somerset duchy, the title of Duke of Richmond was important as the earldom of Richmond had been held by his grandfather King Henry VII and by his great-grandfather Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. The earldom of Nottingham had been held by Richmond’s great uncle Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the second son of Edward IV. Seeing Henry’s obvious pride and affection for his son, many of those who witnessed Richmond’s elevation must have wondered if this was what the King had in mind.

It was a proud day for Henry, and for his former mistress Elizabeth; however, the ceremony did nothing to spare the Queen’s feelings. She knew she had failed to give England a prince and was anxious about her own daughter’s prospects. In a private letter the Venetian ambassador wrote: “It seems that the Queen resents the earldom and dukedom conferred on the King’s natural son and remains dissatisfied. At the instigation it is said of her three Spanish ladies her chief counsellors, so that the King has dismissed them from court, a strong measure but the Queen was obliged to submit and have patience”.

Crown Offices

In that same year (1525), Richmond, as he came to be known, was granted several other appointments, including Lord High Admiral, Lord President of the Council of the North, and Warden of the Marches towards Scotland and Governor of Carlisle, the effect of which was to place the government of the north of England in his hands. He held the offices in name only, the power was actually in the hands of a council dominated by Thomas Magnus, Archdeacon of the East Riding.

From now on, the Duke was raised like a Prince at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire. His father had a particular fondness for him and took great interest in his upbringing. Sir Thomas Tempest was comptroller of his household. In February 1527, Thomas Magnus told the young Duke that James V of Scotland had asked for hunting dogs. FitzRoy sent the Scottish king 20 hunting hounds and a huntsman.

Kingdom of Ireland

On June 22, 1529 Richmond was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and there was a plan to crown him king of that country, though the King’s counsellors feared that making a separate Kingdom of Ireland whose ruler was not that of England would create another threat similar to the Kingdom of Scotland. After Richmond’s death, the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 established a personal union between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was King of England was to be King of Ireland as well. King Henry VIII of England was proclaimed its first holder.

Marriage

When Henry VIII began the process of having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, it was suggested that FitzRoy marry his own half-sister Mary in order to strengthen FitzRoy’s claim to the throne. Anxious to prevent the annulment and Henry’s possible break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope was even prepared to grant a special dispensation for their marriage.

At age 14, on November 28, 1533 the Duke instead married Lady Mary Howard, the only daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He was on excellent terms with his brother-in-law, the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The marriage was never consummated.

Possible heir to the throne

At the time of Richmond’s death, an Act was going through Parliament which disinherited Henry’s daughter Elizabeth as his heir and permitted the King to designate his successor, whether legitimate or not. There is no evidence that Henry intended to proclaim Richmond his heir, but the Act would have permitted him to do so if he wished. The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V on July 8, 1536 that Henry VIII had made a statute allowing him to nominate a successor, but thought the Duke of Richmond would not succeed to the throne by it, as he was consumptive and now diagnosed incurable.

Death

The Duke’s promising career came to an abrupt end in July 1536. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Richmond became sickly some time before he died, although Richmond’s biographer Beverley A. Murphy cites his documented public appearances and activities in April and May of that year, without exciting comment on his health, as evidence to the contrary.

He was reported ill with “consumption” (usually identified as tuberculosis, but possibly another serious lung complaint) in early July, and died at St. James’s Palace on July 23, 1536. Henry Fitzroy was 17 years old.

Richmond’s father-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, gave orders that the body be wrapped in lead then taken in a closed cart for secret interment. However, his servants put the body in a straw-filled wagon. The only mourners were two attendants who followed at a distance. The Duke’s ornate tomb is in Framlingham Church, Suffolk, which contains various Howard family monuments. One of the houses at the local high school is named after him.

His father outlived him by just over a decade, and was succeeded by his legitimate son, Edward VI, born shortly after FitzRoy’s death. Most historians maintain that Edward, like Henry FitzRoy, died of tuberculosis. It is said that Henry FitzRoy might have been made king had Henry VIII died without an in-wedlock son:

Happy Birthday HRH Prince George of Cambridge.

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Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Charles, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria, the prince of Wales

Prince George of Cambridge (George Alexander Louis; born July 22, 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his grandfather Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and his father. As he is expected to become king one day, his birth was widely celebrated across the Commonwealth realms. George occasionally accompanies his parents on royal tours and engagements.

George was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, London, at 16:24 BST (15:24 UTC) on July 22, 2013. The birth was uncustomarily announced by press conference instead of through an easel outside Buckingham Palace, though an easel was placed following the birth. The newborn was widely hailed as a future king in the majority of British newspapers. 21-gun salutes signalled the birth in the capitals of Bermuda and New Zealand; the bells of Westminster Abbey and many other churches were rung; and landmarks in the Commonwealth realms were illuminated in various colours, mostly blue to signify the birth of a boy. On 24 July, his name was announced as George Alexander Louis.

George’s father, the Duke of Cambridge, is the elder son of the Prince of Wales, who is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, placing George third in the line of succession to the British throne. Speculation ensued during the pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge that the birth would boost the British national economy and provide a focus for national pride.

George was christened by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace on October 23, 2013, with Oliver Baker, Emilia Jardine-Paterson, Earl Grosvenor, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Julia Samuel, William van Cutsem and Zara Tindall serving as godparents. The font used at the ceremony was made for Queen Victoria’s first child and the water was taken from the River Jordan. Commemorative coins were issued by the Royal Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint; the first time a royal birth had been marked that way. Prince George’s birth marked the second time that three generations in direct line of succession to the throne have been alive at the same time, a situation that last occurred between 1894 and 1901, in the last seven years of the reign of Queen Victoria.

Abdication of Leopold III of Belgium: Conclusion.

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Abdication, Baudouin, King of the Belgians, Leopold III of Belgium, Lilian Baels, Prince Charles, Regent, the Princess de Réthy, World War ii

Second marriage

On September 11, 1941, while a prisoner of the Germans, Leopold secretly married Lilian Baels in a religious ceremony that had no validity under Belgian law, which required a religious marriage to be preceded by a legal or civil marriage. On 6 December, they were married under civil law. The reason for the out-of-order marriages was never officially made public.

Jozef-Ernest Cardinal van Roey, Archbishop of Mechelen, wrote an open letter to parish priests throughout the country announcing Leopold’s second marriage on 7 December. The letter from the Cardinal revealed that the king’s new wife would be known as Princesse de Réthy, not Queen Lilian, and that any children they had would have no claim to the throne. Leopold’s new marriage damaged his reputation further in the eyes of many of his subjects.

Exile and abdication

In 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered Leopold III deported to Germany. Princess Lilian followed with the family in another car the following day under an SS armed guard. The Nazis held the family in a fort at Hirschstein in Saxony from June 1944 to March 1945, and then at Strobl, Austria.

The British and American governments worried about the return of the king. Charles W. Sawyer, US Ambassador to Belgium, warned his government that an immediate return by the king to Belgium would “precipitate serious difficulties”. “There are deep differences even in the royal family and the situation holds dynamite for Belgium and perhaps for Europe”. “The Foreign Office feared that an increasing minority in French-speaking Wallonia would demand either autonomy or annexation to France.

Winant, the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James’s, reported a Foreign Office official’s concern regarding irredentist propaganda in Wallonia.” and that “the French Ambassador in Brussels… is believed to have connived in the spreading of this propaganda”.

Leopold and his companions were liberated by members of the United States 106th Cavalry Group in early May 1945. Because of the controversy about his conduct during the war, Leopold III and his wife and children were unable to return to Belgium and spent the next six years in exile at Pregny-Chambésy near Geneva, Switzerland. A regency under his brother Prince Charles had been established by the Belgian legislature in 1944.

Resistance to Leopold’s return

Van den Dungen, the rector of the Free University of Brussels, wrote to Leopold on June 25, 1945 about concerns for serious disorder in Wallonia, “The question is not if the accusations against you are right or not [but that…] you are no longer a symbol of Belgian unity.”

Gillon, the President of the Belgian Senate, told the king that there was a threat of serious disorder: “If there are only ten or twenty people killed, the situation would become terrible for the king.”

The president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, Frans Van Cauwelaert, was concerned that there would be a general strike in Wallonia and revolt in Liège. He wrote, “The country is not able to put down the disorders because of the insufficient forces of the police and a lack of weapons.”

In 1946, a commission of inquiry exonerated Leopold of treason. Nonetheless, controversy concerning his loyalty continued, and in 1950, a referendum was held about his future. Fifty-seven per cent of the voters favoured his return. The divide between Leopoldists and anti-Leopoldists ran along the lines of socialists and Walloons who were mostly opposed (42% favourable votes in Wallonia) and Christian Democrats and Flemish who were more in favour of the King (70% favourable votes in Flanders).

General strike of 1950

On his return to Belgium in 1950, Leopold was met with one of the most violent general strikes in the history of Belgium. Three protesters were killed when the gendarmerie opened automatic fire upon the protesters. The country stood on the brink of civil war, and Belgian banners were replaced by Walloon flags in Liège and other municipalities of Wallonia. To avoid tearing the country apart, and to preserve the monarchy, Leopold decided on August 1, 1950 to withdraw in favour of his 20-year-old son Baudouin. His official adication took effect on July 16, 1951. In this postponed abdication the king was, in effect, forced by the government of Jean Duvieusart to offer to abdicate in favour of his son.

Post-abdication life

Leopold and his wife continued to advise King Baudouin until the latter’s marriage in 1960. Some Belgian historians, such as Vincent Delcorps, speak of there having been a “diarchy” during this period. In retirement, he followed his passion as an amateur social anthropologist and entomologist and travelled the world, collecting zoological specimens. Two species of reptiles are named after him, Gehyra leopoldi and Polemon leopoldi.

He went to Senegal and strongly criticized the French decolonization process, and he explored the Orinoco and the Amazon with Heinrich Harrer.

Leopold died in 1983 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe) following emergency heart surgery. He was interred next to Queen Astrid in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. Leopold’s second wife, the Princess de Réthy, was later interred with them.

July 21, 905: Holy Roman Emperor Louis III is blinded.

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Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, Charles-Constantine, Count of Vienne, Holy Roman Emperor Louis III, King of Provence, Louis III, Louis The Blind, Margrave Adalbert II of Tuscany

Louis the Blind (c. 880 – June 5, 928) was the king of Provence from January 11, 887, King of Italy from October 12, 900, and briefly Holy Roman Emperor, as Louis III, between 901 and 905. He was the son of Boso, the usurper king of Provence, and Ermengard, a daughter of Emperor Louis II. Through his father, he was a Bosonid, but through his mother, a Carolingian. He was blinded after a failed invasion of Italy in 905.

As a boy of seven, Louis succeeded to the throne of his father Boso as King of Provence upon Boso’s death on 11 January 887. The kingdom Louis inherited was much smaller than his father’s, as it did not include Upper Burgundy (lost to Rudolph I of Burgundy), nor any of French Burgundy, absorbed by Richard the Justiciar, Duke of Burgundy. This meant that the kingdom of Provence was restricted to the environs of Vienne. The Provençal barons elected Ermengard to act as his regent, with the support of Louis’s uncle, Richard the Justiciar.

In May, Ermengard traveled with Louis to the court of her relative, the emperor Charles the Fat, and received his recognition of the young Louis as king. Charles adopted Louis as his son and put both mother and son under his protection. In May 889, she traveled to the court of Charles’ successor, Arnulf, to make a new submission, while at the same time seeking the blessing of Pope Stephen V. The short work, Visio Karoli Grossi, may have been written shortly after Charles’ death to support Louis’s claim. If so, Louis must have had the support of Fulk the Venerable, Archbishop of Reims. On the other hand, the Visio may have been written later, circa 901, to celebrate (and support) Louis’s imperial coronation.

In August 890, at the Diet of Valence, a council of bishops and feudatories of the realm, after hearing the recommendation of the pope, and receiving notification of Charles the Fat’s previous agreement to the proposition, proclaimed Louis as King of Arles, Provence, and Cisjurane Burgundy. In 894, Louis himself did homage to Arnulf.[citation needed]
In 896, Louis waged war on the Saracens. Throughout his reign he fought with these Saracen pirates, who had established a base at Fraxinet in 889 and had been raiding the coast of Provence, alarming the local nobility.

In 900, Louis, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II, was invited into Italy by various lords, including Adalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany, who were suffering under the ravages of the Magyars and the incompetent rule of Berengar I. Louis thus marched his army across the Alps and defeated Berengar, chasing him from Pavia, the old Lombard capital, where, in the church of San Michele, he was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy on 12 October, 900. He travelled onwards to Rome, where, in 901, he was crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict IV. However, his inability to stem the Magyar incursions and impose any meaningful control over northern Italy saw the Italian nobles quickly abandon his cause and once again align themselves with Berengar. In 902, Berengar defeated Louis’s armies and forced him to flee to Provence and promise never to return.

In 905, Louis, after again listening to the Italian nobles who were tired of Berengar’s rule, this time led by Adalbert I of Ivrea, launched another attempt to invade Italy. Once again throwing Berengar out of Pavia, he marched and also succeeded in taking Verona with only a small following, after receiving the promise of support from the bishop, Adalard. Partisans of Berengar in the town soon got word to Berengar of Louis’s exposed position at Verona, and his limited support.

Berengar returned, accompanied by Bavarian troops, and entered Verona in the dead of night. Louis sought sanctuary at the church of St Peter,[citation needed] but he was captured, and on 21 July 905, he had his eyes put out (for breaking his oath) and was forced to relinquish his royal Italian and imperial crowns. Later, Berengar became Emperor. After this last attempt to restore Carolingian power over Italy, Louis continued to rule Provence for over twenty years, though his cousin Hugh, Count of Arles, was the dominant figure in the territory.

In 899, Louis III was betrothed to Anna, the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and his second wife, Zoe Zaoutzaina. The evidence for this is a letter by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos in which he testifies that Leo VI had united his daughter to a Frank prince, a cousin of Bertha, to whom came later a great misfortune. That unfortunate prince could only be Louis III, whose mother Irmingardis was a first cousin of Bertha and who was blinded on July 21, 905. This betrothal occurred shortly before the fall of Taormina to the Arabs, and was part of extended diplomatic activities meant to strengthen Byzantine alliances with the western powers to preserve Byzantine territory in southern Italy.

The question of whether the betrothal was ever followed up by an actual marriage is still a matter of some controversy. Louis fathered a son called Charles-Constantine, who would become Count of Vienne. Charles’ mother is not named in any sources. There has been modern speculation, proposed by Previté-Orton and championed by Christian Settipani, that she was Anna, the daughter of Leo VI and Zoe Zaoutzaina, based both upon the documented betrothal, as well on the onomastic evidence, stating that Charles-Constantine’s name points to a Byzantine mother. Shaun Tougher doubts they were ever married.

Detractors of the theory point out that when Anna was born, however, she was the daughter of a concubine who later became empress. Her father, at the time of Charles’ birth, was the reigning emperor, therefore the silence of primary sources works against this theory. In addition, Liutprand of Cremona makes no mention of this, and it would have been very interesting to him, given that he was a thorough gossip, had been ambassador to Constantinople and devoted several chapters to the misadventures of Louis in Italy with no mention of these Byzantine connections. René Poupardin believed that Constantine was not a baptismal name, but Settipani disagrees. Richer specifically stated that Charles’ ancestry was tainted with illegitimacy and mentioned nothing of his mother’s supposed illustrious Byzantine parentage.

Christian Settipani challenges that theory by stating that the only reason why René Poupardin made him a bastard of Louis III was a passage by Richerius claiming that “Charles Constantine (…) was from a royal race, but which nobility had been vilified by a bastard ancestry remounting to his great-great-grandfather”, proving nothing about Charles-Constantine’s mother. Such a union would also account for the mention of Greek merchants in Louis’ privilege of 921.

In 914, Louis entered a second union, which would then be either his first or second marriage, by marrying Adelaide, daughter of Rudolph I of Upper Burgundy, likely mother of Rudolph, the other documented son of Louis the Blind.

Louis returned to Vienne, his capital, and by 911, he had put most of the royal powers in the hands of Hugh. Hugh was made Margrave of Provence and Marquis of Vienne and moved the capital to Arles. As regent, Hugh married Louis’s sister Willa. Louis lived out his days until his death in obscurity, and through his life he continued to style himself as Roman Emperor. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law in 928.