Abstract
Abstract The Carolingian civil war of 840‐843 is often defined by two major events, the indecisive but costly Battle of Fontenoy (841) and the Treaty of Verdun (843), which ended the conflict. The nachleben of Verdun has been the subject of painstaking scrutiny in the context of the formation of new polities out of the formerly unified Carolingian Empire. Arguably, however, Fontenoy may have impacted the minds of contemporaries even more than Verdun, because the division of kingdoms among royal sons was traditional Frankish practice. The present study examines the effect of Fontenoy upon royal campaign strategies through an analysis of the ways in which Carolingian kings, authors, and churchmen justified battle-seeking or battle-avoidance strategies. The study investigates four major conflicts: the Battle of Fontenoy and its aftermath; the invasion of Charles the Bald’s kingdom by Louis the German in 858; the invasion of Lothar II’s erstwhile middle kingdom by Charles the Bald after the death of Lothar in 869; and the Battle of Andernach in 876.
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