Tags
Carolingian Empire, Charles the Bald, Charles The Fat, Charles the Simple, Duke of the Franks, Eudes, House of Capet, King of West Francia, Robert the Strong, Robertian Dynasty
Eudes (c. 857 – January 1, 898) was the elected King of West Francia from 888 to 898. He was the first king from the Robertian dynasty, the parent house of the House of Capét. Before assuming the kingship, Eudes held the title Count of Paris. His reign marked the definitive separation of West Francia from the Carolingian Empire, which would never be reunited.
Family and inheritance
Eudes was the eldest son of Robert the Strong, who was Duke of the Franks, Margrave of Neustria, and Count of Anjou.
His mother was Adelaide (Aelis) of Tours (c. 820 – c. 866) a daughter of Count Hugh of Tours and his wife Ava, who was a sister of Matfrid, Count of Orléans.
After his father’s death at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, Eudes inherited the Margraviate of Neustria. Eudes lost this title in 868 when King Charles II the Bald of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and Emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877); appointed Hugh the Abbot to the title.
Eudes regained it following the death of Hugh in 886. After 882 he was the Count of Paris. Eudes was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.
In 882 or 883 Eudes married Théodrate of Troyes. The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898) who died shortly after his father.
Guy is named as one of the couple’s children in an Alan I’s charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false. The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Eudes by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.
For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of Vikings during the 885–886 Siege of Paris, Eudes was chosen by the western Frankish nobles to be their king following the overthrow of Emperor Charles the Fat. He was crowned at Compiègne in February 888 by Walter, Archbishop of Sens.
Odo continued to battle against the Vikings and defeated them at Montfaucon, but was soon involved in a struggle with powerful Frankish nobles who supported the claim of Charles the Simple to the throne.
In 890 King Eudes granted special privileges to the County of Manresa in Osona. Because of its position on the front line against the Moorish aggression, Manresa was given the right to build towers of defence known as manresanas or manresanes. This privilege was responsible for giving Manresa its unique character, distinct from the rest of Osona, for the next two centuries.
To gain prestige and support, King Eudes paid homage to East Francia’s King Arnulf in 888. Despite this, in 894 Arnulf declared his support for Charles the Simple, and after a conflict which lasted three years, King Eudes was compelled to come to terms with his rival and surrender a district north of the Seine to him. King Eudes died in La Fère on January 1, 898.
In 893, at the age of 14, Charles the Simple was crowned King of West Francia by a faction opposed to the rule of King Eudes at the Reims Cathedral. However, Charles the Simple didn’t became monarch of West Francia until after the death of King Eudes in 898.