Defeated family rivals and became mayor of the palace for all Franks; defeated a Muslim invasion of Gaul

at Tours or Poitiers in 732; ruled with no Merovingian king from 737. Conquered the Lombards 774, Saxons 785, Avars 796, and part of Spain 801; crowned emperor at Rome by Pope Leo III in 800; recognized as emperor of the Franks by the Eastern Roman Empire 812; defender of the Church and patron of learning; outlived all his sons but one.

Charles Martel 741

Carloman 754

Pepin the Short 751768

Together with his brother he succeeded their father as mayor of the palace; later deposed the last Merovingian king to become the first Carolingian king of the Franks in 751; helped the Pope against the Lombards and issued the Donation of Pepin in 756, founding the Papal States. At first king of Aquitaine; associated as emperor by father in 813 but still had himself crowned by Pope in 816; effectively the sole heir of Charlemagne, but his projects to divide his lands among his four sons by two marriages led to civil war. Defeated by his brothers in 842, he had to agree to the partition at Verdun in 843, keeping the imperial title and the Middle Frankish Kingdom (with Italy).

CAROLINGIAN KINGS AND EMPERORS

LEGEND: Kings and Emperors of the Franks (emperors in bold) Kings in the Middle Frankish Kingdom and Italy from 843 Kings in Lorraine Kings in Burgundy Kings in the West Frankish Kingdom (France) from 843 Kings in Aquitaine Kings in the East Frankish Kingdom (Germany) from 843

Charles I the Great (Charlemagne) 768814

Carloman I 768771

Charles 811 Deposed and blinded by his uncle Louis the Pious, who reclaimed Italy in 817.

Pepin 810

Louis I the Pious 814840

King of the East Frankish Kingdom (future Germany) from 843.

King of the West Frankish Kingdom (future France) from 843; briefly emperor and king of Italy 875877.

Bernard 818

Lothar I 840855

Pepin I 838

Louis II the German 843876

Charles II the Bald 843877

Gisella Eberhard of Friuli

Louis II 855875

Lothar II 855869

Charles 855863

Pepin II 864:

Carloman II 876880

Louis III 876882

Charles III the Fat Louis II the Stammerer 876887 888 877879

Charles the Child 866

Berengar I 888924

Ermingarde Boso of Provence 879887 Louis III the Blind 887928

Bertha Theobald of Arles

Ruler of Germany and (from 896) Italy, he was the last Carolingian emperor in the male line of descent.

Arnulf 887899

Louis III 879882 King of Italy 879, of all Germany 882, and France 884, he reunited almost all of Charlemagnes empire, but was unable to curb the depredations of the Vikings and was replaced by Arnulf.

Carloman II 879884

Charles III the Simple Gisella 898922 929 Adalbert I of Ivrea

Hugh 924947

Zwentibold 899900

Ratold 896 The last Carolingian king of Germany.

Louis IV the Child 899911

Louis IV of Overseas 936954

Berengar II 950962

Briefly emperor and king of Italy before being captured and blinded by Berengar I.

Lothar II 947950

Lothar II 954986

Adalbert 975

NOTE: The color coding is often simplified, as Carolingian monarchs frequently ruled more than one component of the Frankish empire.

Before and after his reign (in 888898 and 922936) France was ruled by elected kings from the Robertian (future Capetian) family. On the extinction of the German Carolingians in 911, he became king in Lorraine, but he was bullied into turning over Normandy to the Viking chieftain Rollo.

Louis V the Sluggard 986987 The last Carolingiandescended king of Italy.

The last Carolingian king of France.