Louis the Stammerer

Who was Louis the Stammerer?

Louis the Stammerer was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. During the peace negotiations between his father and Erispoe of Brittany, Louis was betrothed to an unnamed daughter of Erispoe in 856. It is not known if this was the same daughter who later married Gurivant. The contract was broken in 857 upon Erispoe's murder.

He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor. In the French monarchial system, he is considered Louis II.

Twice married, he and his first wife, Ansgarde of Burgundy, had two sons: Louis and Carloman, both of whom became kings of France, and two daughters: Hildegarde and Gisela, who married Robert, Count of Troyes.

With his second wife, Adelaide of Paris, he had one daughter, Ermentrude – who was the mother of Cunigunde, wife of the Count Palatine Wigerich of Bidgau; they were the ancestors of the House of Luxemburg —, and a posthumous son, Charles the Simple, who would become, long after his elder brothers' deaths, king of France.