Louis

Louis (893-911), surnamed the “Child,” king of the Franks, son of the emperor Arnulf, was born at Ottingen, designated by Arnulf as his successor in Germany in 897, and crowned on the 4th of February 900. Although he never received the imperial crown, he is sometimes referred to as the emperor Louis IV. His chief adviser was Hatto I., archbishop of Mainz; and during his reign the kingdom was ravaged by Hungarians and torn with internal strife. He appears to have passed his time in journeys from place to place, and in 910 was the nominal leader of an expedition against the Hungarians which was defeated near Augsburg. Louis, who was the last of the German Carolingians, died in August or September 911 and was buried at Regensburg.

See Regino von Prüm, “Chronicon,” in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Band i. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826); E. Dümmler, Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reichs (Leipzig, 1887-1888); O. Dietrich, Beiträge zur Geschichte Arnolfs von Kärnthen und Ludwigs des Kindes (Berlin, 1890); and E. Mühlbacher, Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (Innsbruck, 1881).

(A. W. H.*)