Charles of Provence

Charles was the youngest son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours.

[1] By the Treaty of Prüm (19 September 855) his father divided Middle Francia between his three sons: the eldest, Louis, received Italy and the emperorship; Lothair II received Lotharingia (modern Lorraine, the Low Countries, and Upper Burgundy); and the youngest, Charles, received Lower Burgundy with Provence.

[2] Charles was only a child when his father died; and the governance of his realm was undertaken by his tutor, Count Girart de Roussillon, whose wife had been a sister-in-law of Lothar I. Girart was a vigorous regent, defending the kingdom from the Northmen, who raided up the Rhone as far as Valence.

After receiving an appeal for intervention from the count of Arles, he invaded Provence, but only reached Macon, being restrained by Hincmar of Rheims.

However, when Charles died, his elder brother Louis also claimed Provence, so the realm was divided between the two: Lothair received the bishoprics of Lyon, Vienne and Grenoble, to be governed by Girart; Louis received Arles, Aix and Embrun.