fact of history that the Carolingian intellectual achievement was at its height when the Carolingian Empire was itself falling apart. Book production and education require wealth and some sort of political stability; by the later ninth century both were in increasingly short supply.

When the aged Charlemagne finally died, in 814, prospects still looked bright. There was only one heir, Louis the Pious, so the empire would remain united; Louis's nephew Bernard had taken the kingship of Italy after his father Pippin's death, but would remain under imperial overlordship. Louis's clerical advisers, notably Benedict of Aniane, saw the opportunity to continue church reforms; in 816 the Rule of St Benedict was proclaimed the sole rule for monks in the empire. But seeds of future trouble were already present. When Louis had come to Aachen he had exiled some of Charlemagne's closest advisers, including two cousins. When in 817 it was decided that Louis's eldest son Lothar would become emperor on his father's death, and that the two other sons, Louis 'the German' and Pippin 'of Aquitaine', would be kings within his empire, there was a revolt, led by Bernard of Italy, who had not been mentioned in the succession document: this was put down by Louis, who had Bernard blinded. Any discontent that arose could now centre around Lothar, who had already been crowned emperor; it came to a head in 822, when Louis was forced to undergo penance and to recall his cousins to court. But the crucial event was the birth in 823 of a son to Louis's second wife. Louis was determined that this son, Charles ('the Bald'), would share in his inheritance; the three other sons naturally considered any change in the 817 arrangements as an attack on their own position. From the late 820s until the end of his life in 840 Louis was in continual struggle with one or more of his sons, being deposed by a council of bishops at one point. The conflicts of loyalty which arose inevitably weakened the prestige of the crown, and encouraged the aristocracy to place their own survival above the health of the kingdom. Bitter civil war followed Louis's death as well, until, by the treaty of Verdun in 843, Charlemagne's empire was split by Lothar I, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald into three kingdoms.

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