923: War in Lotharingia and an Impossible Balance

After 922, the crisis is not resolved at Reims: it continues through war and sieges. Robert must defend his legitimacy against Charles the Simple, still alive and supported in some networks.

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🏰 A war of strongholds

War is fought through:

• control of castles and routes;
• alliances with Lotharingian princes;
• temporary truces that allow forces to be redeployed.

Robert relies on his son Hugh the Great, but balance remains unstable: the smallest aristocratic defection can reverse the relationship of forces.

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🧠 Key takeaways

• 923 is a civil war made of sieges and alliances.
• The king depends on supporters more than on an abstract “central power”.