Charles the Fat: Carolingian Unity and the Crisis of Power (884–888)
p4884 à 888
In 884, after the death of Carloman II, West Francia falls under the authority of Charles the Fat (Charles III), who already rules other Carolingian territories.
For several years, Charles has accumulated crowns:
- king of East Francia,
- king of Italy,
- emperor since 881.
With the inheritance of West Francia, he ends up governing a large part of Charlemagne’s former empire.
For a moment, the prospect of a Carolingian reunification seems to return.
But this unity is fragile.
Royal power no longer rests only on dynastic legitimacy: it depends on alliances among aristocrats, on control of territories, and above all on the king’s ability to defend the realm against external threats.
Charles’s rule in West Francia will be marked by a spectacular ordeal that exposes this question: the Siege of Paris (885–886).
🔍 Zoom – 885–886: the Siege of Paris
🧩 A king at the head of an empire hard to govern
Charles the Fat embodies the Carolingian ideal of a sovereign placed above several kingdoms, heir to the imperial idea forged under Charlemagne.
Yet 9th‑century realities make this ambition difficult.
Distances are immense and communication is slow.
A king cannot be present everywhere at once.
While Charles tries to maintain political balance among his different territories — Italy, East Francia, Lotharingia, and West Francia — local tensions continue to accumulate.
In June 885, Charles receives at the palace of Ponthion the oaths of allegiance of many great aristocrats. At that moment, the Carolingian whole seems almost reconstituted, from East Francia to Provence and Transjurane Burgundy.
Carolingian Empire — Wikimedia Commons
One region, however, remains largely outside this political system: Brittany, a peripheral march where Frankish kings’ authority remains very limited.
This apparent unity nevertheless masks a more fragile reality: the Carolingian empire now rests on unstable local balances.
⚔️ 885: political tensions and the rise of the Viking threat
The year 885 opens in a climate of political and military tension across Carolingian space.
In May, Emperor Charles the Fat has Godfrid eliminated, a Norse leader who had become duke of western Frisia after entering Frankish service. Godfrid had accepted conversion to Christianity and sworn loyalty to the emperor, but he is soon suspected of betrayal and of maintaining ambiguous ties with other Viking groups. On Charles’s orders, he is assassinated, brutally ending this attempt to integrate a Viking chief into Frankish aristocracy.
Assassination of Godfrid — Wikimedia Commons
At the same time, the emperor punishes another opponent: Hugh, son of King Lothair II and Godfrid’s brother‑in‑law. In revolt against imperial authority, Hugh is captured and suffers an exemplary punishment. On Charles’s order, he is blinded, a practice meant to exclude him definitively from power. He is then confined in the abbey of Prüm, where he remains in captivity.
These events show Charles’s desire to maintain order in a fragile empire, but also the brutality of political struggles at the time.
👑 June 885: asserting imperial authority
In June 885, Charles the Fat travels to the palace of Ponthion, in Champagne. There, he receives the oaths of the great men of West Francia, reaffirming his authority over the kingdom recently inherited after Carloman II’s death.
On this occasion, the emperor also orders a military expedition against Vikings settled at Leuven, threatening the northern regions. The operation, however, ends in failure, illustrating the growing difficulty for Carolingian power to neutralise highly mobile groups.
🐉 Summer 885: the Vikings advance
The military situation deteriorates rapidly during the summer.
On 5 July 885, Vikings seize Rouen, one of the main centres of the Seine valley. The attackers come from Leuven, advancing either overland or along rivers. They are joined by another band coming from England, which greatly increases their numbers.
Rouen’s fall opens the route of the Seine, a strategic axis leading to the heart of West Francia.
🛡️ November 885: the Vikings before Paris
In autumn, the threat reaches its climax.
On 24 November 885, major Norse forces — which chroniclers estimate at 30,000 men on about 700 ships — converge on Paris, after taking Rouen and then the fortress of Pontoise.
The next day, 25 November, their leader Siegfried (Sigfredhr) contacts the city authorities. He is received by Bishop Gozlin, one of the main leaders of Parisian defence.
Siegfried asks permission to pass through Paris to sail further up the Seine and settle his men and their families upstream. The city authorities refuse categorically, aware that such passage would expose the kingdom’s heartland.
On 26 November 885, after this refusal, the Northmen begin the Siege of Paris.
Siege of Paris — Wikimedia Commons
Defended by Count Odo and Bishop Gozlin, the city becomes the stage of a major confrontation between Frankish forces and Viking armies — an episode that will deeply mark the kingdom’s history.
⚔️ January 886: Viking raids in Burgundy and return toward Paris
Between 11 and 25 January 886, Vikings operating in the Seine valley push their expeditions south. Taking advantage of freedom of movement obtained after negotiations with royal power, they ravage part of Burgundy and seize the wealthy abbey of Flavigny, one of the region’s major religious centres. As often, monasteries are prime targets: they concentrate wealth, stores, and offer little military resistance.
After plundering the region, the Vikings return north and appear again before Paris. They come to claim the ransom promised at the end of the siege, according to agreements negotiated with royal power.
Expeditions continue during the year. In autumn 886, Viking bands sail up the Marne as far as Chessy, near Lagny, where they establish winter quarters. This temporary installation illustrates late 9th‑century Viking strategy: alternate fast raids with wintering in strategic river positions, preparing new campaigns the following spring.
⚖️ The Assembly of Kirchheim: dynastic tensions and succession affairs
At the Assembly of Kirchheim (a major Carolingian political gathering convened by Emperor Charles the Fat near the end of his reign), the emperor must handle several important political and family matters affecting the empire’s balance.
At this assembly, Charles decides to repudiate his wife, Richardis of Swabia, accusing her of misconduct. Richardis, from a great Alemannic aristocratic family, had played a notable role at court. Sources remain ambiguous about the reasons: some mention adultery accusations, others political intrigue linked to imperial succession. In any case, the episode reveals the internal tensions surrounding Charles’s court near the end of his reign.
At the same time, the emperor receives Louis the Blind, young king of Provence, accompanied by his mother Ermengard. Louis, still a child, seeks confirmation of his rights. Charles officially recognises his possessions and royal title, consolidating Bosonid legitimacy in Provence.
Because of Louis’s age, the kingdom is governed under the regency of his mother Ermengard, assisted by the powerful aristocrat Richard the Justiciar, count of Autun and a major figure of Burgundian nobility. This arrangement reflects the delicate balance between royal dynasties and the aristocratic families that support them.
🔍 Zoom – 886: ransom, compromise, and a legitimacy crisis
⚖️ 887: the fall of Charles the Fat
While the Vikings besiege Paris from October 885 to February 886, the city is defended by Count Odo and Bishop Gozlin, who organise resistance with local forces.
When Charles the Fat finally arrives with an army, expectations are high. Many hope for a major battle that would end the Viking threat.
But the sovereign chooses another strategy.
Rather than risk an uncertain confrontation, he negotiates with the Vikings. He allows them to sail up the Seine to plunder Burgundy, then in tension with central power, and later accepts the payment of a ransom to secure their departure.
If this solution avoids immediate destruction, it produces deep unease among elites.
For many, the king has not fulfilled his essential mission: protect the realm and fight the enemy.
By contrast, the prestige of Paris’s defenders — notably Odo — grows considerably.
After the Paris episode, trust in Charles weakens in several regions of the empire.
Criticism concerns not only his military choices, but also his ability to govern such a vast set.
In November 887, the great men of East Francia gather at Tribur, near Mainz.
Driven by Arnulf of Carinthia, a member of the Carolingian dynasty, they decide to depose Charles the Fat.
This decision is a major rupture: for the first time, a Carolingian emperor is officially removed by the aristocracy.
In the months that follow, the empire fragments rapidly.
In 888, Lotharingia refuses Arnulf’s authority and turns to Rudolph I of Burgundy, while other regions seek their own political solutions.
🔍 Zoom – 887: the deposition of Charles the Fat
👑 888: a new king in West Francia
Charles the Fat dies shortly after his deposition, on 12 January 888, in the cloister of Neudingen, on the Danube.
He dies without a legitimate heir, ending the attempt to restore Carolingian unity.
In West Francia, the great men then make a decisive choice.
On 29 February 888, they elect as king Odo, count of Paris and hero of the city’s defence.
This election marks a major evolution of the political system.
Kingship is no longer only dynastic inheritance: it becomes also an aristocratic choice, based on a leader’s capacity to defend the kingdom.
With Odo’s accession, West Francia enters a new phase: a monarchy more dependent on balances among the kingdom’s great families.
🔍 Zoom – 888: Odo, king of the West Franks
🧠 Key takeaways
- 884–888: Charles the Fat governs a large part of the former Carolingian Empire.
- Political unity seems to revive, but remains fragile.
- 885–886: the Siege of Paris reveals the importance of local leaders like Odo.
- 887: Charles’s deposition at Tribur marks a deep crisis of imperial power.
- 888: Odo’s election in West Francia shows the rise of a more elective kingship.
Image credits
- Carolingian Empire — Trasamundo, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Assassination of Godfrid — Jacobus van Dijck, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Siege of Paris — Jean Victor Schnetz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons