The 834–835 Conflict Between Louis the Pious and Lothair I

By 834, tensions between Emperor Louis the Pious and his eldest son, Lothair I, reignite over the issue of inheritance, particularly regarding Charles the Bald, Louis' son from his second marriage to Judith of Bavaria. This renewed dynastic struggle leads to yet another period of civil war within the Carolingian Empire.

Lothair’s Defeat and Withdrawal to Italy (835)

• Lothair had previously led the rebellion against his father, culminating in the Field of Lies (833) and Louis’ temporary deposition.
• However, support shifts back to Louis in 834, and Lothair is forced into retreat.
• In 835, after suffering military defeats and losing the support of the nobility, Lothair withdraws to Italy, where he dedicates himself solely to governing his Italian lands.
• He never again directly challenges his father’s authority, focusing instead on strengthening his rule in the Kingdom of Italy.

Aftermath: A Brief Restoration of Stability

• Louis the Pious fully regains control of the empire, seemingly securing the succession of Charles the Bald alongside his other sons, Louis the German and Pepin of Aquitaine.
• A general reconciliation ceremony is held in 835, where former rebels, including key bishops, are restored to favor.
• However, dynastic tensions persist, and following Louis’ death in 840, Lothair will once again assert his claim to imperial overlordship, leading to the Battle of Fontenay (841) and the eventual Treaty of Verdun (843), which permanently divides the Carolingian Empire.

Lothair’s defeat in 835 marks the end of his immediate challenge to Louis the Pious, but it is only a temporary resolution—the empire remains fragile, with underlying tensions that will lead to its ultimate partition after Louis’ death.

The celebration of All Saints is fixed at November 1 and made an obligation throughout the Frankish Empire.

Danish Vikings raid the Thames island of Sheppey in 835.

Presian, who succeeds Malamir in 836 as Khan of Bulgaria, may have been young and inexperienced at the time of his accession, and state affairs may have been dominated by the minister (Kavkhan) Isbul, as under Presian's uncle Malamir.

Caliph al-Mu'tasim, in response to the problems caused by the Abbasids’ Khorasanian troops and their commanders in their treatment of the populace, transfers the capital in 836 from Baghdad to …

…Samarra, situated on the left bank of the Tigris River about sixty-eight miles (one hundred and ten kilometers) to the northwest.

Here, al-Mu'tasim builds extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from Central Asia and Iran (most famously the Turks, as well as the Khurasani Ishtakhaniyya, Faraghina and Ushrusaniyya regiments) or North Africa (like the Maghariba).

Although quite often called Mamluk slave soldiers, their status is quite elevated; some of their commanders bear Sogdian titles of nobility.

Pratihara monarch Ramabhadra III, who had inherited the Gurjaran throne from his father in 833, dies three years later, having in that time lost much of the empire his father had forged.

His son Bhoja succeeds him as king.

Duke Mislav, who in 835 had succeeded Vladislav as the Duke of Littoral Croatia, rules from Klis Fortress in central Dalmatia.

A pious ruler, he builds the Church of Saint George in Putalj (on the slopes of the hill Kozjak).

He is chiefly known for signing a treaty in 839 with Pietro Tradonico, doge of the Venetian Republic, that leads to the growth of Croatian sea power, as Mislav models Croatian ships after those built by the Neretvians and Venetians.

Unlike his predecessor, Mislav maintains good relations with the neighboring coastal cities of Dalmatia.

Bodo, a Carolingian nobleman and Christian deacon, converts to Judaism, marries a Jewish woman and moves to Saragossa, where he tries to influence his family to convert also.

This strengthens the arguments of Archbishop Agobard and others who are trying to persuade Emperor Louis to return to former anti-Jewish policies.

The election of Pietro Tradonico as Doge of Venice in 836 breaks the power of the Participazio.

An illiterate, he is forced to sign all state documents with the signum manus.

A warrior, not an administrator, he fights the Saracens of Bari and Taranto, who had earlier defeated Venice in the Battle of Sansego, on an island south of Pola.