Arnulf of Carinthia (c. 850 – 8 December 899) was King of East Francia since 887, King of Italy since 894, and Emperor since 896. Initially, he was the Duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia in late 887. He also ruled Lotharingia, and tried to impose suzerainty over West Francia, and rule over Burgundy and Italy. In 894, he invaded Italy and took Pavia, but soon returned to East Francia. Upon invading Italy again, he was crowned Emperor on 22 February 896 in Rome by Pope Formosus, but soon returned again to East Francia. He died on 8 December 899 at Ratisbon, in Bavaria. He was the last member of the Carolingian dynasty from the male line to rule in Italy as both King and Emperor, despite his rule being contested by his rivals Lambert of Italy and Berengar I of Italy.
Arnulf was the illegitimate son of Carloman of Bavaria and Liutswind. After Arnulf's birth, Carloman married before 861, a daughter of Count Ernst, who died after 8 August 879. As it is mainly West-Frankish historiography that speaks of Arnulf's illegitimacy, it is quite possible that the two women are actually the same person, Liutswind, and that Carloman married Arnulf's mother, thus legitimizing his son.
Arnulf was granted the rule over the Duchy of Carinthia, a Frankish vassal state and successor of the ancient Principality of Carantania by his father, after Carloman reconciled with his own father, King Louis the German, and was made king in the Duchy of Bavaria.
Arnulf spent his childhood in Mosaburch or Mosapurc, which is widely believed to be Moosburg in Carinthia. Moosburg was a few miles away from one of the imperial residences, the Carolingian Kaiserpfalz at Karnburg, which had been the residence of the Carantanian princes. Arnulf kept his seat here, and from later events it may be inferred that the Carantanians, from an early time, treated him as their own duke. Later, after he had been crowned King of East Francia, Arnulf turned his old territory of Carinthia into the March of Carinthia, a part of the Duchy of Bavaria.
After Carloman was incapacitated by a stroke in 879, Louis the Younger inherited Bavaria, Charles the Fat was given the Kingdom of Italy, and Arnulf was confirmed in Carinthia by an agreement with Carloman. However, Bavaria was already governed by Arnulf during the summer and autumn of 879 while his father arranged his succession. He was also granted "Pannonia", in the words of the Annales Fuldenses, or "Carantanum", in the words of Regino of Prüm. The division of the realm was confirmed in 880 after Carloman's death.
When Engelschalk II of Pannonia in 882 rebelled against Margrave Aribo and ignited the Wilhelminer War, Arnulf supported him and accepted his and his brother's homage. This ruined Arnulf's relationship with his uncle, Emperor Charles the Fat, and put him at war with Svatopluk of Moravia. Pannonia was invaded, but Arnulf refused to give up the young Wilhelminers. Arnulf did not make peace with Svatopluk until late 885, by which time the Moravian ruler was loyal to the emperor. Some scholars see this war as destroying Arnulf's hopes of succeeding Charles the Fat.
Arnulf took the leading role in the deposition of Charles the Fat. In November 887, a Diet was meeting at Tribur. Supported by nobles from eastern parts of the Empire, Arnulf seized the opportunity and deposed the ailing Emperor. In the same time, Arnulf was elected and proclaimed as king. Charles agreed to this involuntary retirement, but not without first chastising his nephew for his treachery and asking for a few royal villas in Swabia on which to live out his final months, which Arnulf granted him.
Charles died at the very beginning of 888, and since Arnulf was elected king only by the nobles of East Francia, several questions arose regarding the rule over other regions of the Carolingian Empire. During the spring of 888, Arnulf was staying at Regensburg, where he received nobles and envoys of eastern Franks, Alamanns, Bavarians, Thuringians, Saxons, and the neighboring Slavs, but regions of West Francia, Burgundy, and Italy remained out of his scope, electing their own rulers.
During 889, he held Diets at Forchheim and Frankfurt, trying to secure acceptance among nobles for his sons Zwentibold and Ratold, who were born to him outside of wedlock, and also receiving envoys from Normans and Slavs. In the same year, Arnulf organized an expedition against the Obotrites, a Polabian Slavic tribe, but without success, and thus the conflict continued up to 895, when a peace agreement with the Obotrites was reached.
Like many rulers of the period, Arnulf was heavily involved in ecclesiastical disputes. In 895, at the Diet of Tribur, he presided over a dispute between the episcopal sees of Bremen, Hamburg, and Cologne over jurisdictional authority, which saw Bremen and Hamburg remain a combined see, independent of the see of Cologne.
Arnulf was more a fighter than a negotiator. In 890, he was successfully battling Slavs in Pannonia. In early/mid-891, Vikings invaded Lotharingia and crushed an East Frankish army at Maastricht. Terms such as "Vikings", "Danes", "Northmen" and "Norwegians" have been used loosely and interchangeably to describe these invaders. In September 891, Arnulf repelled the Vikings and essentially ended their attacks on that front. The Annales Fuldenses report that there were so many dead Northmen that their bodies blocked the run of the river. After this victory, Arnulf built a castle on an island in the Dijle river.
Interventions in West Francia and Burgundy
Arnulf's policies towards West Francia and Burgundy were marked by various challenges. Upon receiving news of deposition and death of emperor Charles, nobles of West Francia were faced with several choices. Since Carolingian prince Charles was still a child, some magnates gave their initial support to duke Guy of Spoleto, a relative of the Carolingian dynasty, who came from Italy in order to claim the West Frankish throne, but majority opted for count Odo of Paris. He was crowned king of West Francia in February 888 in Compiègne, while Guy was crowned king in Langres in March 888, trying to gain rule over Lotharingia, including Upper Burgundy. Failing to achieve those goals, Guy soon left for Italy, while a group of nobles from Upper Burgundy met at Saint-Maurice and elected local duke Rudolph as king of those Burgundian regions.
Coronations of Guy and Rudolph were conducted without Arnulf's consent, thus initiating long rivalries, that continued for years, while Odo took different approach, recognizing the superiority of Arnulf's position and formally accepting the suzerainty of Arnulf.
In May 889, the queen-dowager Ermengard of Provence arrived to the court of Arnulf at Forchheim, making a submission on behalf of her young son Louis. In August 890, at the regional Diet of Valence, local nobles and bishops from Lower Burgundy and Provence elected Louis as king in those regions, with Arnulf's consent.
In 893, Arnulf switched his support from Odo to young prince Charles the Simple after being persuaded by Fulk, Archbishop of Reims, that it was in his best interests. Arnulf then took advantage of the following fighting between Odo and Charles in 894, harrying some territories of West Francia. At one point, Charles the Simple was forced to flee to Arnulf and ask for his protection. His intervention soon forced Pope Formosus to get involved, as he was worried that a divided and war-weary West Francia would be easy prey for the Vikings.
In 895, Arnulf summoned both Charles and Odo to his residence at Worms. Charles's advisers convinced him not to go, and he sent a representative in his place. Odo, on the other hand, personally attended, together with a large retinue, bearing many gifts for Arnulf. Angered by the non-appearance of Charles, he welcomed Odo at the Diet of Worms in May 895 and again supported Odo's claim to the throne of West Francia.
At the same assembly he crowned his illegitimate son Zwentibold as the king of Lotharingia, including Upper Burgundy, but the Burgundian possessions were out their reach, since those lands were ruled by local kings, Rudolph and Louis.