Louis V of France

Louis V
Coronation of Louis V the 14th-century Grandes chroniques de France
Reign	2 March 986 – 21 May 987
Coronation	June 979, Rheims
Predecessor	Lothair
Successor	Hugh Capet
Born	c. 967
Died	21 May 987 (aged 20)
Spouse	Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou
House	Carolingian
Father	Lothair of France
Mother	Emma of Italy

Louis V (c. 967 – 21 May 987) was the King of Western Francia from 986 until his premature death. He died childless and was the last monarch in the Carolingian line.

The son of King Lothair and his wife Emma, a daughter of Lothair II of Italy, Louis was born c. 966–67. Louis was crowned in June 978 but did not actually assume power until Lothair's death in 986. Louis V was the last Carolingian King of Western Francia and reigned in Laon from 2 March 986 until his own death, at the age of 20, in 987. It may be because he reigned for only one year that medieval biographers awarded him the title qui nihil fecit — "who did nothing".

He married Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou in 982 in Brioude, where they were immediately crowned King and Queen of Aquitaine. The couple was mismatched (Louis was fifteen years old and Adelaide was forty or more and on her third marriage) and they had no children together. In less than a year, the marriage had ended.

He inherited a battle between his father's line of elected kings (which had been interrupted twice by the Robertian kings and once by the Bosonid family), and the house of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. As defender of Rome, Otto had the power to name the clergy in Carolingian territory, and the clergy he had named were not supporting the Carolingians.

One particular foe was Adalberon, archbishop of Reims whom Otto I had elevated to the powerful archbishopric of Reims. During Lothair's time, Adalberon had tried to negotiate an alliance between the two houses; but the deal had gone bad, and Lothair had tried him for treason in 986. Lothair died at around the same time. Louis V inherited the throne; Lothair's widow, Emma, married a descendant of Otto I; and Louis V received Adalberon again.

Louis died on 21 May 987 from a fall while hunting near the town of Senlis, Oise He had reopened the case against Adalberon of Reims for treason, but his accidental death ended the matter. He left no legitimate heirs, so his uncle Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was nominated as the hereditary successor to the throne. But the clergy, including both Adalberon and Gerbert (who later became Pope Sylvester II), argued eloquently for Hugh Capet, who was not only of royal blood but had proven himself through his actions and his military might. Capet was elected to the Frankish throne and Adalberon crowned him, all within two months of Louis V's death. Thus the Carolingian dynasty ended and the Capetian began.

Ancestry

Family of Louis V of France

16. Louis the Stammerer               8. Charles the Simple                       17. Adelaide of Paris               4. Louis IV of France                             18. Edward the Elder               9. Eadgifu of England                       19. Ælfflæd               2. Lothair of France                                   20. Otto I, Duke of Saxony               10. Henry the Fowler                       21. Hedwiga of Franconia               5. Gerberga of Saxony                             22. Dietrich, Count in Westphalia               11. Matilda                       23. Reinhild               1. Louis V of France                                         24. Theobald of Arles               12. Hugh of Italy                       25. Bertha of Lotharingia               6. Lothair II of Italy                             13. Alda                       3. Emma of Italy                                   28. Rudolph I of Burgundy               14. Rudolph II of Burgundy                       29. Guilla of Provence               7. Adelaide of Italy                             30. Burchard II, Duke of Swabia               15. Bertha of Swabia                       31. Regelinda

Further reading

• Gwatkin, H.M., Whitney, J.P. (ed) et al. The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III. Cambridge University Press, 1926.
• Funck-Brentano, Frantz. National History of France. New York : AMS Press, 1967.

Preceded by Lothair	King of Western Francia 986–987	Succeeded by Hugh Capet
Preceded by Ranulf II	King of Aquitaine 986–987	Succeeded by Hugh Capet