Provence (Boso)

This article is about the specific polity Provence (Boso) and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.

If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics

Boso of Provence claimed Kingship of Provence at the death of Louis the Stammerer of West Francia.

Establishment

October 879: In April 879, Louis the Stammerer died, leaving two adult sons, Louis III of France and Carloman II. Boso joined with other western Frankish nobles and advocated making Louis III of France the sole heir of the western kingdom, but eventually both brothers were elected kings. Boso renounced allegiance to the brothers and in July claimed independence by claiming the title Dei gratia id quod sum: by the Grace of God, that is what I am. He also claimed that his imperial father-in-law had named him as his heir. On 15 October 879, the bishops and nobles of the region around the rivers Rhône and Saône assembled in the Synod of Mantaille. They elected Boso King and successor to Louis the Stammerer, the first non-Carolingian king in Western Europe in more than a century.

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. Frankish Partitions

The Frankish Kingdom was partitioned and reuinited several times as the Frankish rulers used to divide their territories equally among their heirs. This lead also to a number of wars and revolts.

1.1.Secession of Provence

When West Frankish Emperor Louis the Stammerer died, Provence seceded.

1.2.Frankish Invasion of Provence

After Louis and Carloman divided West Francia after their father's death, the brothers invaded Provence which had seceded.

January 881: After Louis and Carloman divided their father's realm at Amiens in March 880, the two brothers joined to march against Boso. They took Mâcon and the northern parts of Boso's realm. Then uniting their forces with those of Charles the Fat, they unsuccessfully besieged Vienne from August to November.

February 881: After Louis and Carloman divided their father's realm at Amiens in March 880, the two brothers joined to march against Boso. They took Mâcon and the northern parts of Boso's realm. Then uniting their forces with those of Charles the Fat, they unsuccessfully besieged Vienne from August to November.

2. Hungarian invasions of Europe

The Magyars (or Hungarians) successfully conquered the Carpathian Basin (corresponding to the later Kingdom of Hungary) by the end of the ninth century, and launched a number of plundering raids thoughout Europe.

January 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees.

February 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees. The Magyars then left the raided territories.

January 920: In 919, after the death of Conrad I of Germany, the Magyars raided Saxony, Lotharingia and West France.

February 920: End of the 919 Magyar raid in Saxony, Lotharingia and West France.

January 927: In 926, the Hungarians ravaged Swabia and Alsace, campaigned through present-day Luxembourg and reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean.

February 927: In 926, the Hungarians ravaged Swabia and Alsace, campaigned through present-day Luxembourg and reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean. After the raid, the Magyars left the occupied territories.

3. Unification of the two Burgundies

The merger of the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy under King Rudolf II led to the establishement of the Kingdom of Arles.

January 934: After the reverses suffered by Hugh, in recent years, the Italian nobles went to Burgundy to recall King Rudolf in Italy but, having learned of it, Hugh of Arles sent his messengers to offer the King of Burgundy, Rudolf II, all the territories he had governed in Provence, on the condition that Rudolph never set foot again in Italy. Rudolf accepted and thus, in that year, the kingdom of Arles or the two Burgundies originated from the union of Transjurana Burgundy and Provence.

4. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

January 890: Fraxinetum was the site of a 10th-century fortress established by Muslims at modern La Garde-Freinet, near Saint-Tropez, in Provence. According to Liudprand of Cremona, in about 889 a ship carrying twenty adventurers from Pechina, near Almería, in what was then Al-Andalus, anchored in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in Provence. They were called muwallad, that is, converts to Islam who spoke both Latin and Arabic. They built a tiny stone fortification and protected their outposts by cultivating thorny bushes.