Raoul (Rodolphe)

King of West Francia · 923-936 · born in 890, died in January 936

Son of Richard the Justiciar, first duke of Burgundy, and of Adelaide of Burgundy, Raoul — called Rodolphe in Latin texts — was born around 890 into the high Burgundian nobility.

Duke of Burgundy on his father’s death in 921, he married Emma, daughter of the Robertian king Robert I and sister of Hugh the Great. When Robert I was killed at the battle of Soissons in June 923, the kingdom’s great men, refusing to return the crown to Charles III the Simple, elected Raoul, anointed at Saint-Médard de Soissons on 13 July 923.

His reign was that of a contested king: he fought the Normans, victorious at Eu in 925, and in 935 drove back the Hungarians who were ravaging Champagne and Burgundy. He died at Auxerre on 15 January 936 without a surviving heir (his son Louis died in 934) and was buried at Sainte-Colombe de Sens; the crown then passed to the Carolingian Louis IV of Outremer.

In the tree of power

Further reading