Charles the Bald

Charles was born 13 June 823, the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith, which made him Charlemagne's grandson and a late, destabilizing addition to the succession. His father's reign dissolved into civil wars over how to divide the empire. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun ended the fighting and handed Charles the western third — West Francia. He held it for thirty-four years. In 875 he added Italy, then the Carolingian imperial title. He died 6 October 877, emperor of a fraction of what his grandfather had ruled.