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- For the Duke of Burgundy (956-965), please see Odo, Duke of Burgundy.
Odo (or Eudes I) (c. 860 – 1 January 898) was King of Western Francia (888 - 898). He was a son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, and is sometimes referred to as duke of France and also as count of Paris. His family is known as the Robertians.
History
Odo was the eldest son of Robert the Strong, Duke of the Franks and Marquis of Neustria, belonging to the branch known as the Robertians. After his father's death in 886 Odo inherited his father's title of Marquis of Neustria. In 866, King Charles the Bald assigned this title to Hugh the Abbot. Between 882 and 883, Odo was made Count of Paris and in September 886, he was invested Marquis of Neustria following the death of Count Henry in the siege of Paris. He was also lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours. Following the death of Hugh the Abbot on May 12, 886, Odo became Marquis of Neustria.
For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of the Normans at the Siege of Paris, Odo became the chosen king by the western Franks, following the removal of emperor Charles the Fat. He was crowned at Compiègne in February 888 by Walter, Archbishop of Sens. Before going to Rheims to receive the crown of Western Francia, he sought his presenceclarification needed at Worms in order to place himself under Arnulf protection (August 888).1
He continued to battle against the Normans, whom he defeated at Montfaucon, but was soon involved in a struggle with powerful nobles, who supported the claim of Charles, to the Frankish throne.
In 889 and 890 Odo granted special privileges to the County of Manresa in Osona. Because of its position on the front line against Moorish aggression, it was given the right to build towers of defence called manresanas or manresanes. This privilege was responsible for giving Manresa its unique character separate from the rest of Osona for the next two centuries.citation needed
To gain prestige and support, Odo paid homage to the Eastern Frankish King Arnulf of Carinthia. In 894 Arnulf declared for Charles. After a conflict which lasted for three years, Odo was compelled to come to terms with his rival, and to surrender a district north of the Seine to him. Odo died in La Fère on 1 January 898
Family
Odo married Théodrate of Troyes and had two known sons, Arnulf (born probably about 885) and Guy (born probably about 888), neither of whom lived past the age of fifteen.
Notes
- ^ Gwatking, H. M., Whitney, J. P., et al. Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III—Germany and the Western Empire. Cambridge University Press: London, 1930.
References
A Romantic image (1883) of Eudes regaining Paris by riding through the besiegers
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