Charles (825/830 – 4 June 863) was the second son of

Pepin I of Aquitaine Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine (French: ''Pépin''; 797 – 13 December 838) was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine. Pepin was the second son of Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye. When his father assigned t ...

and Engelberga. He lived at the court of his uncle Lothair until 848, when, hearing of the deposition of his brother, he set out in March 849 with a band of followers to claim the Aquitainian realm. He was captured by Vivian,

count of Maine The capital of Maine was Le Mans. In the thirteenth century it was annexed by France to the royal domain. Dukes of Maine (''duces Cenomannici'') * Charivius (fl. 723) – appears as ''dux'' in a document of 723. Controlled twelve counties and ...

at the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

and sent to

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a series of civil wars during t ...

. He was put in the monastery of Corbie as either a monk or a deacon. He escaped in 854 to recruit an army to fight for his brother. He had little success and fled to the court of

Louis the German Louis the German (German language, German: ''Ludwig der Deutsche''; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German language, German: ''Ludwig II. von Deutschland''), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 8 ...

, who made him the

archbishop of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

and

archchancellor An archchancellor (, ) or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries. The Car ...

on 8 March 856. He made a respectable bishop and died on 4 June 863 and was buried in St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz.

Sources

*''Dictionnaire de Biographie Française''. Roman d'Amat and R. Limousin-Lamothe (ed).

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 1967. {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles Bishops in the Carolingian Empire Frankish warriors 9th-century births 863 deaths Archbishops of Mainz 9th-century archbishops Burials at St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz Escapees from monasteries