CHARLES III., THE FAT (832-888), Roman emperor and king of the West Franks, was the youngest of the three sons of Louis the German, and received from his father the kingdom of Swabia (Alamannia). After the death of his two brothers in succession, Carloman (881) and Louis the Young (882), he in herited the whole of his father's dominions. He was crowned emperor at Rome by Pope John VIII. (Feb. 881). On his return to Germany he led an expedition against the Norsemen of Fries land, but instead of engaging with them he preferred to make terms and paid them tribute. In 88o the death of Carloman brought into his possession the west Frankish realm, and in 885 he got rid of his rival Hugh of Alsace, an illegitimate son of Lothair II. In spite of six expeditions into Italy, he did not succeed in pacifying the country, nor in delivering it from the Saracens. He was equally unfortunate in Gaul and in Germany against the Norsemen, who in 886-887 besieged Paris. The emperor appeared before the city with a large army (Oct. 886), but contented himself by buying the retreat of the invaders at the price of a heavy ransom, and his permission for them to ravage Burgundy without his interfering. On his return to Alamannia the general discontent showed itself openly and a conspiracy was formed against him. He was deposed by an assembly which met at Frankfurt or at Tribur (Nov. 887), and died in poverty at Neidingen on the Danube (Jan. 18, 888) .
See E. Dummler, Geschichte des Ost f rankischen Reiches, vol. iii. (Leipzig, 1888) ; W. Stubbs, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, edit. A. Hassall, ch. iv. (1908) .