Circumstances of Louis the Pious’ War with the Bulgarians in 827–829

Abstract

After a 30-year peace concluded by Bulgarian Khan Omurtag with Byzantine Emperor Leo V the Armenian in 815, the khan turned his attention to the conflicts in the borderlands with the Frankish state. Special occasion for interference to matters of the neighboring country ruled at that time by Louis the Pious was offered by a Slavic uprising of 819–822, headed by Duke Ljudevit Posavski. However, as attempts to resolve the conflict between the Bulgarians and Franks through negotiation, made by Omurtag in 824 or 825, failed, in 827 the Bulgarians invaded — to the detriment of Frankish interests — the lands of Pannonian Slavs, deposed local dukes and subjected the people to the local administration being a tool in their hands. In response, in 827 the Franks organized an expedition against the Bulgarians, headed by Emperor Louis the Pious’ son, Louis the German.

But the operations against the Bulgarians could not succeed at that time, for the Frankish kingdom was too weak after Louis the Pious issued an edict (Orinatio Imperii, 817) regulating the imperial succession. Under the edict, the main part of the Frankish territory together with the title of emperor went to Louis’s eldest son Lothair I, who was also given the kingship of Italy. Lothair’s brothers,Pippin and Louis, were to be kings in their dependent kingdoms, but only after their father’s death. Once a year they had to come to the emperor’s court to discuss the most important matters concerning common good and preservation of peace. Without the emperor’s consent they could not declare war or make peace, and they could independently negotiate only in less important matters. They had to inform Lothair about everything what was happening in the borderlands of their kingdoms. In return they could expect military supportin fight against foreign peoples. But the edict failed to stabilize the situation; on the contrary, it caused many internal conflicts between the members of the emperor’s family and their political parties.

In 830 a rebellion broke out in the state of Franks, called “loyal revolution”, which led to hostile actions of Louis’ sons Pippin and Louis against their father. The thorny issue was regulations of the Orinatio Imperii. The internal fights of the 830s weakened the Frankish state so much that it was unable to successfully withstand actions of the hostile neighbors, including the Bulgarian state.