Louis << LOO ee or lwee >> I (778-840), also called Louis the Pious, succeeded his father, Charlemagne, as ruler of a vast European empire in 814. The empire, based in present-day France, also included large parts of what are now Germany and Italy as well as other areas. Charlemagne had built and expanded the empire by conquering much of western Europe.
Louis was born in Chasseneuil, France. He was unable to pursue further expansion because of Viking and Muslim raids, internal revolts, and divisions among the nobility. In 830, a civil war broke out over how the empire should be divided among Louis’s four sons. During the struggle, Louis was removed from the throne temporarily, from 833 to 834. Civil war, Louis’s indecisiveness, and other problems gradually weakened government authority and helped cause the empire to break apart after Louis’s death on June 20, 840.
See also Charlemagne; Verdun, Treaty of.
