Italy and the Holy Roman Reich

Southern Italy Series

-----Italy and the Holy Roman Empire-----

In 840 Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, died. Civil war broke out between his sons over control of the Frankish Empire. At Verdun [link] in 843 they agreed to partition the Empire into three parts: West, Middle and East Francia.

At the same time Viking raiders, Magyar hordes and Muslim pirates were constantly attacking and raiding the Empire. In 827 Muslim armies landed in Sicily. Then in 840 Muslim pirates took the port of Bari, converting it into a pirate stronghold. In 846 Muslim pirates from Tunis sacked the Vatican.

In 884 Charles the Fat briefly reunited the Empire, but the relentless attacks of the Vikings only continued. This culminated in the 885 siege of Paris which was defeated by Odo, the count of Paris. After the death of Charles in 888, Odo succeeded him as the king of West Francia. In exchange for defending Paris from future Viking attacks, some Vikings were allowed to settle in northern France. They would come to be known as the Normans.

The Muslim pirates continued to raid across the Mediterranean, capturing Fraxinetum in 890. By 965 all of Sicily was theirs. Separated from the Byzantines, the Sardinians went their own way by establishing Giudicati to deal locally with the issue of Muslim pirate attacks.

East Francia continued to be ruled by the descendents of Charlemagne until 911 when Louis the Child died. Not long after in 919 Henry the Fowler, duke of Saxony, became king of East Francia. He was succeeded by his son Otto I who invaded Italy in 952 and defeated the Magyars [link] in 955.

In order to keep power in East Francia out of the hands of rebellious dukes, Otto began to give it to the Church in the form of parcels of land to bishops and archbishops whom he could appoint at will.

In 962 Otto was crowned Emperor by Pope John XII, thus beginning the Holy Roman Empire.

But the Pope later feared the power of the Emperor and began to conspire against him. Upon hearing of the treachery the Emperor returned to Rome and appointed a new Pope. But Pope John refused to back down and caused a city riot. The Emperor returned in 964 and restored order by telling the people of Rome that no man could become Pope without the Emperor’s consent.

His son Otto II succeeded him until 983, followed by his grandson Otto III.

Southern Italy Series

500 BC [link] Origins
264 BC [link] The Punic Wars
115 AD [link] The Roman Empire
405 [link] East and West
526 [link] Collapse of the West
565 [link] Reconquest
572 [link] Lombard Invasion
751 [link] Lombard Italy
814 [link] Charlemagne’s Empire
1000 Italy and the Holy Roman Empire
1095 [link] The Norman Conquest
1154 [link] The Kingdom of Sicily
1250 [link] Hohenstaufen Italy
1280 [link] Anjou Sicily
1300 [link] War of the Vespers
1400 [link] Black Death
1492 [link] Renaissance Italy
1559 [link] Italian Wars
1715 [link] Habsburg Italy
1780 [link] Bourbon Italy
1799 [link] Revolutionary Italy
1812 [link] Napoleonic Italy
1860 [link] United Italy

2/19/12 EDIT:
map base source [link]
map base created by Citypeek [link]