LEGEND
Obv: + GRΛTIΛ D–I REX legend with beaded circle, four part Karolus monogram within inner beaded circle. Rev: + CINOMΛNIS CIVITAS, cross pattée; quadrate O in legend, all with beaded circle borders.

Charles le Chauve (the Bald) was the King of West Francia from 843 – 877 AD. He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, from the second wife of Louis the Pious and at a time when his two elder brothers were already adults with their own subkingdoms. In 838 Pippin I of Aquitaine died, and Louis the Pious and his wife managed to install Charles the Bald as the new king of Aquitaine. At the Assembly of Worms in 839 the empire was re-divided like this: Charles the Bald was given the western part of the empire, Lothar the central and eastern part, while Louis the German was keeping only Bavaria. Louis the Pious died in 840 and his son Lothar claimed the whole empire, but was defeated by the alliance between Charles and Louis the German. In August of 843 AD, they signed the Treaty of Verdun, and divided the Empire in three: the Francia Occidentalis (West Frankland) for Charles, Francia Orientalis (East Frankland) for Louis, while Lothar was given the central part, soon to be conquered and divided by his two brothers. Following these events, Charles signed a treaty with King Pippin II of Aquitaine in 845 AD whereby he recognized him as king of Aquitaine. Charles reclaimed Aquitaine after Pippin II upset the Aquitanians by his alliance with the Vikings. In 855 AD, following his grandfather Charlemagne, Charles the Bald recreated the kingdom of Aquitaine (without Gothia), and he gave the crown to his son Charles the Child. In 866, Charles the Child died and Charles then made his other son, Louis the Stammerer, the new king of Aquitaine. Now, the central state of France was rapidly losing authority. Charles was unsuccessful at containing the Vikings and local populations had to rely on their local counts to resist the Vikings, and the counts soon became the main source of authority, challenging the central authority of Charles in Paris. In 875, Pope John VIII crowned him Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy, but in 877, Charles the Bald had to give in: he signed the Capitulary of Quierzy, which allowed counts to be succeeded by their sons when they died. This proved to be the founding stone of feudalism in Western Europe. Charles II died just four months later.

DOCUMENTATION
Value: Denier. Metal: AR Silver. Weight: 1.76 grams. Mint: Cinomanis (Le Mans). Date: 864-877 AD.
Attribution: Depeyrot 559; M&G 905; MEC 1, 872-874; Prou 420-2, 425-7; Gariel plate 30, 129; Coin Galleries, November 1988, 654. Photo Courtesy CNG.