...The Frankish Empire, the great realm united by Charlemagne that consisted of a large part of Western Europe, was partitioned after a three-year-long civil war between his grandsons (840-843), during which Charles the Bald allied himself with his half-brother Louis the German to dispute the inheritance of his brother Lothair I, the nominal Carolingian Emperor of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans (this had been Charlemagne's title, a title also used much later by the Holy Roman Emperors from Otto I and afterwards). Read full entry

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