CHARLES III

born Sept. 17, 879 died Oct. 7, 929, Pronne, Fr. byname Charles The Simple, French Charles Le Simple king of France (893922), whose authority came to be accepted by Lorraine and who settled the Northmen in Normandy but who became the first Carolingian ruler of the western kingdom to lose his crown. The posthumous son of Louis II the Stammerer, Charles was too young to assume the throne on the death of his half-brother, Carloman, in 884 or that of his cousin, Charles the Fat, in 888. On Jan. 28, 893, however, he was crowned king by Fulk, archbishop of Reims; and, although he renounced his rights after civil war in 897, the death of King Eudes in the following year brought him general recognition as king. Charles was strongly under the influence of Robert, brother of the dead Eudes. It was Robert's victory against the Northmen at Chartres in 911 which paved the way for the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte later that year, by which Charles ceded territory, in the area later known as Normandy, to the Viking leader Rollo and his men; in return, Rollo became a Christian and Charles's vassal. The Normans who had such an impact on Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries were the final product of this settlement. In 911 also, the magnates of Lorraine (Lotharingia) accepted the authority of Charles on the death of the last Carolingian king of the East Franks, Louis the Child. Charles's preoccupation with Lotharingian affairs and councillors alienated the nobles of Neustria, however, and in 922 they elected Robert king. Charles killed Robert in battle in 923 but was soon taken prisoner by Herbert, count of Vermandois, who used him for his own gain against Rudolf, Robert's son-in-law and the new king. born 839, Bavaria? died Jan. 13, 888, Neidingen byname Charles The Fat, French Charles Le Gros, German Karl Der Dicke Frankish king and emperor, whose fall in 887 marked the final disintegration of the empire of Charlemagne. (Although he controlled France briefly, he is usually not reckoned among the kings of France). The youngest son of Louis the German and great-grandson of Charlemagne, Charles became king of Swabia on his father's death in 876; in 879, on the resignation of his sick brother Carloman (died 880), he took over the kingdom of Italy. He was crowned emperor by Pope John VIII in 881. Saxony fell to Charles on the death of his brother Louis the Younger (882), and Charles became king of all the East Franks. Then, on the deaths of the West Frankish kings Louis III (882) and Carloman (884), Charles reunited (885) under his rule the empire of Charlemagne with the exception of Provence, where the usurper Boso had set up a kingdom for himself. Charles, afflicted by illness, was listless in his duties; he failed to help the Pope against the Saracens and the expansionist dukes of Spoleto; and, although he led armies against the Vikings in the Netherlands (881) and at Paris (886), on both occasions he bought off the invaders. His incompetence and the ambition of his nephew Arnulf finally provoked a rising in East Francia, where Arnulf took over the government (Frankfurt, November 887). born 1345 died Feb. 17, 1386, Buda byname Charles Of Durazzo, Italian Carlo Di Durazzo, Hungarian Kroly Durrazzi king of Naples (138186) and king (as Charles II) of Hungary (138586). A leading figure of the Hungarian branch of the Angevin dynasty, he was an astute politician who won both of his thrones by triumphing over rival claimants. Charles was educated at the court of Louis I of Hungary. In 1369 he married his cousin Margaret, daughter of Charles of Durazzo and Mary of Naples, thus becoming an heir to the Neapolitan throne. Margaret's aunt, the childless queen Joan I of Naples, initially recognized Charles as heir to the throne but later adopted Louis, duc d'Anjou, as her heir. When Pope Urban VI named Charles king of Naples (1381), Charles and Margaret seized Naples and imprisoned Joan, whom Charles ordered killed a year later. Louis of Anjou then named himself king of Naples and invaded southern Italy, but his death in September 1384 left Charles master of Naples. With the death of Louis I of Hungary in 1382, Charles claimed the throne of Hungary over Louis's 10-year-old daughter, Maria. He was crowned king of Hungary in 1385, aided by those at the Hungarian court hostile to Maria. He was later assassinated by order of Louis's widowed queen, Elizabeth. born 1361 died Sept. 8, 1425, Olite, Navarre byname Charles The Noble, Spanish Carlos El Noble, French Charles Le Noble king of Navarre (13871425), eldest son of Charles II the Bad. Unlike his father, he pursued a consistent policy of peace both with Castile (which in gratitude restored certain districts to Navarre) and with France. By the treaty of Paris (1404) Charles not only renounced the Navarrese claims to Champagne but also ceded Cherbourg (which he had recovered from the English in 1393) and the countship of vreux to Charles VI of France in exchange for Nemours, which was raised from a countship to a peerage-duchy for him. By his marriage (1375) with Leonor of Trastmara, Charles had nine children, all of whom died early except his daughter and successor Blanche of Navarre. born Jan. 20, 1716, Madrid died Dec. 14, 1788, Madrid king of Spain (175988) and king of Naples (as Charles VII, 173459), one of the enlightened despots of the 18th century, who helped lead Spain to a brief cultural and economic revival. Additional reading Sir Charles Alexander Petrie, King Charles III of Spain; An Enlightened Despot (1971), a recent biography; Richard Herr, The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain (1958), an account of the political, socioeconomic, and cultural achievements of the reign; John Lynch, Spanish Colonial Administration, 17821810 (1958), includes an account of the colonial reforms of Charles III; V. Rodrguez Casado, La poltica y los polticos en el reinado de Carlos III (1962), a political analysis by a Spanish expert on the reign.