Summer – King
Charles II ("the Bald") sets out for
Italy, accompanied by his wife
Richilde and a number of his chief
vassals. He gives orders for an expedition, but Duke
Boso (his brother-in-law) refuses to join the army. At the same time
Carloman, son of
Louis the German, has crossed the
Alps into eastern
Lombardy at the head of a Frankish army. Charles sends Richilde back to
Gaul, for the
coronation as empress of the
Holy Roman Empire, and with orders for reinforcements. However, the Frankish
aristocracy is more concerned with the attacks by the
Vikings in their country, than the war with the
Saracens in southern Italy.
Pope John VIII receives Charles at
Vercelli, where he requests help against the attacks by the Saracens in southern Italy. He forms an
alliance with the Italian states at
Traetto.
October 6 – Charles II dies while crossing the pass of
Mont Cenis at
Brides-les-Bains, en route back to Gaul. He is succeeded by his son
Louis the Stammerer, king of
Aquitaine, who becomes ruler of the
West Frankish Kingdom. Carloman, forced by an
epidemic which breaks out in his army, returns to
Germany. After the death of his father, Louis makes plans to receive the
oath of fidelity from his subjects, but he learns that the
magnates are refusing him obedience and rallying around Boso. The rebels are supported by his stepmother Richilda, and, as a sign of their displeasure, ravage the country.
Hincmar, archbishop of
Reims, intercedes and the rebels agree to a settlement. The magnates, whose rights Louis promises to recognize, all make their submissions.
Ceolwulf II is installed as
puppet king of
Mercia. The west of the kingdom comes under Ceolwulf's rule, while in the east the Five Boroughs begin as fortified Danish
burhs.[2]
^Vasiliev, A. A. (1968). Byzance et les Arabes, Tome II, 1ére partie: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes à l'époque de la dynastie macédonienne (867–959) (in French). French ed.:
Henri Grégoire,
Marius Canard. Brussels: Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales. p. 71.