Charles the Younger (c. 772 – 4 December 811) (French: Charles le Jeune) was the son of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne and his wife Queen Hildegard. Charlemagne's second son, Charles gained favour over his older, possibly illegitimate half brother Pepin. Charles was entrusted with lands and important military commands by his father. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III, and during this ceremony Charles was anointed a king. Charles was designated as the heir of the bulk of Charlemagne's lands but predeceased his father, leaving the empire to be inherited by his younger brother Louis the Pious.
Life
Charles was born in 772 or 773 to the Frankish king Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard. Charles was Charlemagne's second son, having an older half-brother named Pepin, called Pepin the Hunchback. In 774, as Charlemagne was besieging Pavia, capital of the Lombard Kingdom, he sent for Hildegard and his sons to join the army at the camp outside the city. Charlemagne conquered the city by June 774, becoming king of the Lombards in addition to being king of the Franks. Charlemagne and his family returned north to Francia by July or August. There is little recorded of the rest of Charles' childhood. It is known that Charlemagne had all his children educated in the liberal arts, and his sons received training in riding, combat, and hunting.
In 781, Charlemagne and Hildegard brought their younger children, including their sons Carloman and Louis to Rome, leaving Pepin and Charles in Francia. In Rome, Pope Adrian I baptized the children, and in the process Carloman was renamed Pepin, now sharing a name with his half-brother. The newly renamed Pepin and Louis were also then anointed and crowned, Pepin appointed king of the Lombards and Louis king of Aquitaine. The two new kings, still young children, were sent to their new kingdoms to be raised by regents and advisors in their own courts. Italy and Aquitaine were additions to Charlemagne's realm, and it is possible that in assigning them to his younger sons, Charlemagne intended the core Frankish kingdom to be a split inheritance between Charles and the elder Pepin.
Charles received his first command as he came of age in 784, leading an army in Westphalia during a campaign of the Saxon Wars. From then on, Charles "gained continual prominence a his father's deputy" and he would continue to be given army commands in Saxony. In 789, Charlemagne granted Charles rule of "the kingdom west of the Seine," corresponding to the Duchy of Maine in Neustria. It was proposed that Charles wed Ælfflæd, daughter of King Offa of Mercia and forge an alliance between the Franks and the Anglo-Saxon king. Offa was amenable, but insisted that Charles' sister Bertha also be married to his own son. Charlemagne was insulted by this, and the marriage did not occur. Charlemagne declared a blockade on all trade from England, which lasted three years until a treaty negotiated by Alcuin of York was agreed to.