LOUIS V

born 967 died May 21/22, 987 byname Louis le Fainant (Louis the Do-Nothing) king of France and the last Carolingian monarch. Crowned on June 8, 979, while his father Lothair was still alive, he shortly afterward married Adelaide, widow of tienne, Count of Gvaudan of Aquitaine, and was established as king in Aquitaine. His frivolity, however, and his rejection of his wife, who finally ran away, brought him into discredit. Sole king on his father's death in 986, he disregarded the advice of his mother, Queen Emma, and Archbishop Adalbero of Reims, who wanted him to seek friendship with the German king Otto III. Just as he was about to have the Archbishop tried for treason, Louis died as the result of a hunting accident. His unpopular uncle Charles of Lower Lorraine, the only surviving member of the Carolingian dynasty, was passed over in favour of Hugh Capet as Louis's successor, thus initiating the Capetian line of French monarchs.