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Birth:          ABT  883 
Death:          28 Jun  928 Arles, France

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_the_Blind
Louis the Blind (c. 880 – 28 June 928) was the king of Provence from 11 January 887, 
King of Italy from 12 October 900, and briefly Holy Roman Emperor, as Louis III, 
between 901 and 905. He was the son of Boso, the usurper king of Provence, and 
Ermengard, a daughter of the Emperor Louis II.[2] Through his father, he was a 
Bosonid, but through his mother, a Carolingian. He was blinded after a failed invasion 
of Italy in 905.
Early Reign[edit]

As a boy of seven, Louis succeeded to the throne of his father Boso, the King of 
Provence upon Boso’s death on 11 January 887.[3] The kingdom Louis inherited was 
much smaller than his father’s, as it did not include Upper Burgundy (lost to Rudolph I 
of Burgundy), nor any of French Burgundy, absorbed by Richard the Justiciar, Duke of 
Burgundy.[1] This meant that the kingdom of Provence was restricted to the environs 
of Vienne. The Provençal barons elected Ermengard to act as his regent,[2] with the 
support of Louis's uncle, Richard the Justiciar.

In May, Ermengard traveled with Louis to the court of her relative, the emperor Charles 
the Fat, and received his recognition of the young Louis as king.[4] Charles adopted 
Louis as his son and put both mother and son under his protection.[5] In May 889, she 
traveled to the court of Charles' successor, Arnulf, to make a new submission, while at 
the same time seeking the blessing of Pope Stephen V.[3] The short work, Visio Karoli 
Grossi, may have been written shortly after Charles' death to support Louis's claim. If 
so, Louis must have had the support of Fulk the Venerable, Archbishop of Reims. On 
the other hand, the Visio may have been written later, circa 901, to celebrate (and 
support) Louis's imperial coronation.

In August 890, at the Diet of Valence,[3] a council of bishops and feudatories of the 
realm, after hearing the recommendation of the pope, and receiving notification of 
Charles the Fat’s previous agreement to the proposition,[4] proclaimed Louis as King 
of Arles, Provence, and Cisjurane Burgundy.[2] In 894, Louis himself did homage to 
Arnulf.

In 896, Louis waged war on the Saracens.[1][6] Throughout his reign he fought with 
these Saracen pirates, who had established a base at Fraxinet in 889, and had been 
raiding the coast of Provence, alarming the local nobility.[1]

Conflict with Berengar[edit]

In 900, Louis, as the grandson and heir of the Emperor Louis II,[7] was invited into 
Italy by various lords, including Adalbert II of Tuscany,[8][9] who were suffering under 
the ravages of the Magyars and the incompetent rule of Berengar I.[8] Louis thus 
marched his army across the Alps and defeated Berengar, chasing him from Pavia, the 
old Lombard capital, where, in the church of San Michele, he was crowned with the 
Iron Crown of Lombardy on 12 October, 900.[10] He travelled onwards to Rome, 
where, in 901, he was crowned Emperor by Pope Benedict IV.[7] However, his inability 
to stem the Magyar incursions and impose any meaningful control over northern Italy 
saw the Italian nobles quickly abandon his cause and once again align themselves 
with Berengar.[10] The next year (902), however, Berengar defeated Louis's armies 
and forced him to flee to Provence and promise never to return.[11]

In 905, Louis, after again listening to the Italian nobles who were tired of Berengar’s 
rule, this time led by Adalbert I of Ivrea,[12] launched another attempt to invade Italy.
[11] Once again throwing Berengar out of Pavia,[10] he marched and also succeeded 
in taking Verona[11] with only a small following, after receiving the promise of support 
from the bishop, Adalard.[10] Partisans of Berengar in the town soon got word to 
Berengar of Louis’s exposed position at Verona, and his somewhat limited support.[10] 
Berengar returned, accompanied by Bavarian troops, and entered Verona in the dead 
of night. Louis sought sanctuary at the church of St Peter,[6] but he was captured, 
and on 21 July 905, he had his eyes put out (for breaking his oath)[13] and was forced 
to relinquish his royal Italian and imperial crowns. Later, Berengar became Emperor. 
After this last attempt to restore Carolingian power over Italy, Louis continued to rule 
Provence for many more years, though his cousin[14] Hugh, Count of Arles, was the 
dominant figure in the territory.[15]

Louis returned to Vienne, his capital, and by 911, he had put most of the royal powers 
in the hands of Hugh. Hugh was made Margrave of Provence and Marquis of Vienne
[14] and moved the capital to Arles. As regent, Hugh married Louis's sister Willa. Louis 
lived out his days until his death in obscurity, and to his dying day, he still continued 
to style himself as Roman Emperor.[1] He was succeeded by his brother-in-law in 928.
[12]

Marriages and heirs[edit]

In 899, Louis III was betrothed to Anna, the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the 
Wise and his second wife, Zoe Zaoutzaina.[16] The evidence for this is a letter by 
Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos in which he testifies that Leo VI had united his daughter 
to a Frank prince, a cousin of Bertha (of Tuscany), to whom came later a great 
misfortune.[17] That unfortunate Prince could only be Louis III, whose mother 
Irmingardis was a first cousin of Berta de Tuscia and who was blinded on 21 July 905.
[18] This betrothal occurred shortly before the fall of Taormina to the Arabs, and was 
part of extended diplomatic activities meant to strengthen Byzantine alliances with the 
western powers to preserve Byzantine territory in southern Italy.[19]

The question of whether the betrothal was ever followed up by an actual marriage is 
still a matter of some controversy.[16] Louis fathered a son called Charles-
Constantine,[13] who would become Count of Vienne. Charles' mother is not named in 
any sources. There has been modern speculation, proposed by Previté-Orton and 
championed by Christian Settipani, that she was Anna,[20][1] the daughter of Leo VI 
and Zoe Zaoutzaina, based both upon the documented betrothal, as well on the 
onomastic evidence, stating that Charles-Constantine's name points to a Byzantine 
mother.

Detractors of the theory point out that when Anna was born, however, she was the 
daughter of a concubine who later became Empress. Her father, at the time of Charles' 
birth was the reigning Emperor, therefore the silence of primary sources works against 
this theory. In addition Liutprand of Cremona, makes no mention of this, and it would 
have been very interesting to him, given that he was a thorough gossip, had been 
ambassador to Constantinople and devoted several chapters to the misadventures of 
Louis in Italy with no mention of these Byzantine connections. René Poupardin 
believed that Constantine was not a baptism name, but Settipani disagrees. Richer 
specifically stated that Charles' ancestry was tainted with illegitimacy and mentioned 
nothing of his mother's supposed illustrious Byzantine parentage.

Christian Settipani challenges that theory by stating that the only reason why René 
Poupardin made him a bastard of Louis III was solely based on a passage by Richerius 
claiming that Charles Constantine (...) was from a royal race, but which nobility had 
been vilified by a bastard ancestry remounting to his great-great-grandfather, proving 
nothing about Charles-Constantine's mother.[21] Such a union would also account for 
the mention of Greek merchants in Louis’ privilege of 921.[16]

In 914, Louis entered a second union, which would then be either his first or second 
marriage, by marrying Adelaide, daughter of Rudolph I of Upper Burgundy, likely 
mother of Rudolph, the other documented son of Louis the Blind.[20]

Parents
OF PROVENCE Boso II (ABT  841 - 11 Jan  887)
____ Ermengard ( 843 - 2 Jun  896)

Siblings
____ Louis III Beronides "the Blind" (ABT  883 - 28 Jun  928)

Marriage To OF BYZANTIUM Anna (EST  898 - )
    m.  

Notes
his first

Parents
____ Leo VI "the Philosopher" (1 Sep  866 - 12 May  912)
ZAOUTZAINA Zoe (ABT  855 - May  899)

Children by OF BYZANTIUM Anna EST  898 - 
OF VIENNE Charles Constantine (ABT  915 - AFT Jan  962)

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