Arnulf of Carinthia | |
---|---|
Holy Roman Emperor | |
Reign | 22 February 896 – 8 December 899 |
Predecessor | Lambert |
Successor | Louis the Blind |
King of Italy | |
Reign | 894–899 |
Predecessor | Lambert |
Successor | Louis the Blind |
King of East Francia | |
Reign | 887–899 |
Predecessor | Charles the Fat |
Successor | Louis the Child |
Born | c. 850 |
Died | 8 December 899 Ratisbon, Duchy of Bavaria, East Francia (now Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany) |
Burial | St. Emmeram's Basilica, Ratisbon |
Spouse |
Ota Oda of West Francia Vinburge |
Issue |
Louis the Child Ratold of Italy Zwentibold Glismut of Carinthia Hedwig of Carinthia |
House | Carolingian |
Father | Carloman of Bavaria |
Mother | Liutswind |
signum manus (890) |
Arnulf of Carinthia (c. 850 – December 8, 899) was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle, Emperor Charles the Fat, became the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from February 22, 896 until his death at Regensburg, Bavaria.
Arnulf was the illegitimate son of Carloman, King of Bavaria, and his wife Liutswind, who may have been the sister of Ernst, Count of the Bavarian Nordgau Margraviate in the area of the Upper Palatinate, or perhaps the burgrave of Passau, according to other sources. After Arnulf's birth, Carloman married, before 861, a daughter of that same Count Ernst, who died after 8 August 879. As it is mainly West-Franconian historiography that speaks of Arnulf's illegitimacy, it is quite possible that the two females are actually one and the same person and that Carloman married Arnulf's mother, thus legitimizing his son.
Arnulf was granted the rule over the Duchy of Carinthia, a Frankish vassal state and successor of the ancient Principality of Carantania by his father Carloman, after Carloman reconciled with his own father, king Louis the German and was made king in Duchy of Bavaria.
Arnulf spent his childhood in Mosaburch or Mosapurc, which is widely believed to be Moosburg in Carinthia, a few miles away from one of the Imperial residences, the Carolingian Kaiserpfalz at Karnburg (Krnski grad), which had been the residence of the Carantanian princes. Arnulf kept his seat here and from later events it may be inferred that the Carantanians, from an early time, treated him as their own Duke. Later, after he had been crowned King of East Francia, Arnulf turned his old territory of Carinthia into the March of Carinthia, a part of the Duchy of Bavaria.