Louis III of France

Who was Louis III of France?

Louis III was the King of France, still then called West Francia, from 879 until his death. The second son of Louis the Stammerer and his first wife, Ansgarde, he succeeded his father to reign jointly with his younger brother Carloman II, who became sole ruler on Louis's death. His short reign was marked by military success.

Louis was born while his father was still just King of Aquitaine and his grandfather, Charles the Bald, was ruling West Francia. Some doubts were raised as to their legitimacy, since their parents had married secretly and Ansgarde was later repudiated at Charles' insistence. When Charles and then the elder Louis died within two years, some nobles advocated electing the younger Louis as sole king, but another party favoured each brother ruling a separate sphere of the country. In September 879 Louis was crowned at Ferrières. In March 880 at Amiens the brothers divided their father's kingdom, Louis receiving the northern part, called Neustria or sometimes simply Francia.

One of Charles the Bald's most trusted lieutenants, Duke Boso had renounced his allegiance to both brothers and had been elected King of Provence. In the summer of 880 Carloman and Louis marched against him and captured Mâcon and the northern part of Boso's realm. They united their forces with those of their cousin Charles the Fat, then ruling Germany and Italy, and unsuccessfully besieged Vienne from August to November. In 881 Louis achieved a momentous victory against Viking pirates, whose harassments had been ongoing since his grandfather's reign, at the Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu. Within a year of the battle an anonymous poet had celebrated it and the king, for both his prowess and piety, in the Old High German short poem Ludwigslied.