Louis Ier le Pieux
Western Emperor · 814-840 · born on 16 April 778, died on 20 June 840
Son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, succeeded his father in 814. Deeply religious, he wanted to reform the Church and preserve the unity of the empire, but his wish to share the inheritance among his sons provoked revolts and fratricidal wars.
In 817, his division of the empire displeased his sons. Lothair, Louis the German and Pippin revolted against him; in 830 and again in 833, the emperor was even deposed before being restored. These crises, and the public penance he had to perform at Compiègne in 835, durably weakened imperial authority.
He died in 840, on an island in the Rhine. His sons fought over the inheritance until the Treaty of Verdun (843), which divided the empire into three: West Francia, awarded to Charles the Bald, foreshadowed the future kingdom of France.
In the tree of power
- Era: Carolingians
- Predecessor: Charlemagne (768-814)
- Successor: Charles II le Chauve (840-877)