Holy Roman Empire Association - HREA

This list includes all Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, whether or not they styled themselves Holy Roman Emperor.  There are some gaps in the tally. For example, Henry the Fowler was  King of Germany but not Emperor; Emperor Henry II was numbered as his  successor as German King. The Guideschi follow the numeration for the  Duchy of Spoleto. At times, two people claimed the title. These are  denoted by the Rival next to their names. Most Holy Roman  Emperors were also Kings of Germany, and this is noted next to them  also. Interregnum means "between Kings". Traditional historiography  claims a continuity between the Carolingian Empire and the Holy Roman  Empire. This is rejected by some modern historians, who date the  foundation of the Holy Roman Empire to 962, whereas the Holy Roman  Empire Association holds the traditional historiography view. 

Louis the Pious (778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemagne and Hildegard,  he became the sole ruler of the Franks after his father's death in 814,  a position which he held until his death, save for the period 833–34,  during which he was deposed.

During  his reign in Aquitaine, Louis was charged with the defence of the  Empire's southwestern frontier. He conquered Barcelona from the Muslims in 801 and asserted Frankish authority over Pamplona and the Basques south of the Pyrenees in 812. As emperor he included his adult sons,  Lothair, Pepin, and Louis, in the government and sought to establish a  suitable division of the realm among them. The first decade of his reign  was characterised by several tragedies and embarrassments, notably the  brutal treatment of his nephew Bernard of Italy, for which Louis atoned  in a public act of self-debasement.

In  the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons, only  exacerbated by Louis's attempts to include his son Charles by his second  wife in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a high note,  with order largely restored to his empire, it was followed by three  years of civil war. Louis is generally compared unfavourably to his  father, though the problems he faced were of a distinctly different  sort.

Louis the German (German: Ludwig der Deutsche; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German: Ludwig II. von Deutschland), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the Pious, emperor of Francia, and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye, he received the appellation Germanicus shortly after his death, when East Francia became known as the kingdom of Germany.

After protracted clashes with his father and his brothers, Louis received the East Frankish kingdom in the Treaty of Verdun (843). His attempts to conquer his half-brother Charles the Bald's West Frankish kingdom in 858–59 were unsuccessful. The 860s were marked by a severe crisis, with the East Frankish rebellions of the sons, as well as struggles to maintain supremacy over his realm. In the Treaty of Meerssen he acquired Lotharingia for the East Frankish kingdom in 870. 

On the other hand, he tried and failed to claim both the title of Emperor and Italy. In the East, Louis was able to reach a longer-term peace agreement in 874 after decades of conflict with the Moravians. His rule shows a marked decline in creation of written administration and government documents, a trend that would continue into Ottonian times.

Charles the Fat (13 June 839 – 13 January 888), also known as Charles III,  was the Carolingian Emperor from 881 to 888. The youngest son of Louis  the German and Hemma, Charles was a great-grandson of Charlemagne and  was the last Carolingian to rule over a united empire. Over  his lifetime, Charles became ruler of the various kingdoms of  Charlemagne's former Empire. Granted lordship over Alamannia in 876  following the division of East Francia, he succeeded to the Italian  throne upon the abdication of his older brother Carloman of Bavaria who  had been incapacitated by a stroke. Crowned Emperor in 881 by Pope John  VIII, his succession to the territories of his brother Louis the Younger  (Saxony and Bavaria) the following year reunited East Francia. Upon the  death of his cousin Carloman II in 884, he inherited all of West  Francia, reuniting the entire Carolingian Empire.

The reunited Empire would not last. During a coup led by his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia in November 887, Charles was deposed in East Francia, Lotharingia, and Italy.  Forced into quiet retirement, he died of natural causes in January 888,  just a few weeks after his deposition. The Empire quickly fell apart  after his death, never to be restored, with the Empire splintering into  five separate successor kingdoms. Usually considered lethargic and inept – he is known to have had repeated  illnesses and is believed to have suffered from epilepsy – he twice  purchased peace with Viking raiders, including at the famous siege of Paris in 886. Nevertheless, contemporary opinion of him was not nearly so negative as modern historiographical opinion.

Lambert (Italian: Lamberto; c. 880 – 15 October 898) was the King of Italy from 891, Emperor, co-ruling with his father from 892, and Duke of Spoleto and Camerino (as Lambert II) from his father's death in 894. He was the son of Guy III of Spoleto and Ageltrude, born in San Rufino. He was the last ruler to issue a capitulary in the Carolingian tradition. 

 Lambert was preoccupied in thwarting the attempts of both Arnulf of Carinthia and Berengar of Friuli to take Italy for themselves during his reign. Early on, Adalbert II of Tuscany rallied to his cause, menacing Berengar in Pavia. By January 895, Lambert could take up residence in the royal capital. In that same year, his cousin Guy IV conquered the Principality of Benevento from the Byzantines. Despite the urging of Fulk of Rheims on his behalf, Lambert found himself abandoned by the Pope, who feared the increased power of the Spoletan house. In September, an embassy arrived in Regensburg beseeching Arnulf's aid. In October, Arnulf undertook his second campaign into Italy. He crossed the Alps quickly and took Pavia, but then he continued slowly. While Lambert refused to offer battle, Arnulf was garnering support among the nobility of Tuscany. Even Adalbert joined him. Finding Rome locked against him and held by Ageltrude, Arnulf took the city by force on 21 February 896, freeing the pope. Arnulf was there crowned King and Emperor by Pope Formosus, who declared Lambert deposed. Arnulf marched on Spoleto, where Ageltrude had fled to Lambert, but Arnulf suffered a stroke and had to call off the campaign. That same year, Formosus died, leaving Lambert once again in power.

Louis the Blind (c. 880 – 5 June 928) was king in Provence and Lower Burgundy from 890 to 928, and also king of Italy from 900 to 905, and also the emperor between 901 and 905, styled as Louis III. His father was king Boso, from the Bosonid family, and his mother was Ermengard, a Carolingian princess. In 905, he was blinded and lost Italy, retreating to his remaining domains in Provence and Lower Burgundy. In historiography, he is styled as King of Provence, or King of Burgundy. 

Born c. 880, Louis was the son of Boso, the usurper king of Provence, and Ermengard, a daughter of Emperor Louis II. Upon Boso's death on 11 January 887, Louis was still a child, and under guardianship of his mother. Instead of unilaterally proclaiming her son as the new king in regions previously held or claimed by his father, she decided to improve Louis′ claims, and thus approached her relative, the emperor Charles the Fat. In May, Ermengard traveled to Charles′ court with Louis, and received confirmation of family estates. Charles also adopted Louis, and put both mother and son under his protection.

In 899, Louis III was betrothed to Anna of Constantinople, the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and his second wife, Zoe Zaoutzaina. The evidence for this is a letter by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos in which he testifies that Leo VI had united his daughter to a Frank prince, a cousin of Bertha, to whom came later a great misfortune. Louis lived out his days until his death in obscurity, and through his life he continued to style himself as Roman emperor. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law in 928.