Children's War

The Children's War is the name given by historians to the war between the elected Kings of the Romans (as they were never crowned as Holy Roman Emperor) from the Agilofing dynasty and their Carolingian rival, the later Emperor Charles the Younger. The war is so named because after the death of the first Agilofing Emperor, the electors crowned his young son Tassilo as King of the Romans. The revolt of the Carolingian King holding all the personal dominions and crowns of his father Louis the Pious against the rule of the Emperor presented a great challenge to his rule, as young Charles commanded more levies than the legitimate Emperor. The civil war raged for 3 years and ended with the convention of the electors at Charles's Gelrian capital of Nijmegen, who declared the last election illegitimate and crowned the young Charles II King of the Romans. Historians have unanimously agreed that the electors were forced at swordpoint to do so.

Origins
At the early death of Louis the Pious, the Holy Roman Empire faced a succession crisis. The Emperor had ordered the electors in his will to elect his young son, Charles II Karling, as Holy Roman Emperor. The electors, however, refused to elect a boy as Emperor, and instead elected the King Odilo Agilofing of Bavaria. Many historians perceive this as a sign of slumbering disaffection that had been simmering throughout the rule of Emperor Louis with the dominant position of the Carolingian dynasty within the Empire and an attempt to free the Empire from Carolingian rule.

However, the royal titles held by Emperor Louis to the kingdoms of the Franks, Frisians and Lombards did pass to his son, as the electors were powerless to prevent the traditional practice of inheritance within the constituent parts of the Empire. This left Charles II without an Imperial crown, but still ruling the vast majority of the Empire.

History records that upon being told that the electors had refused to elect him, the prodiguously strong child ordered his regent to "fight the bad men and give me my Crown back". The regentess, the former Empress and mother to Charles's half-sisters Enda the Heavenly, was so impressed that she duly acceded to her charge's demand, fired all on the Council who disagreed and produced documents charging the electors with irregularities in the election of the new Emperor, declaring a war for the Imperial Crown. While this story is likely to have been embellished a bit, historians are puzzled as to the causes of the Children's War. Neither the regentess, who was no blood relation of the young King, nor the councillors, particularly had a reason to press the claim as the power of their charge was unsurpassed anyway. Some speculate that Enda wanted to press the King to agree to an agnatic-cognatic succession law when he reached his majority, but others regard this as unlikely. Many historians agree, therefore, that there must be some truth hidden in the story about the boy king's demand for his Crown, and speculate that Charles's abilities must have inspired his guardians to press his claim.

Conduct of the War
When war was declared, the Holy Roman Empire split into two factions: the Agilofing faction consisting of the loyalist electors who had elected the Bavarian King as Emperor, and the Carolingian faction rising up largely due to their bonds of vassalage and loyalty to heirs of Charlemagne. The conduct of the war was not complex, as the large domains of the Carolingian claimant spanned the breadth of the Empire, dividing his opponent's domains in two, and he was able to command a larger number of troops including his grandfather's legendary retinue of knights. The council conducting the war rallied the troops to his capital of Nijmegen, then marched on Bruges, which fell to their advance quickly. Meanwhile, a revolt in Aquitaine was keeping the local levy troops preoccupied, and sucked troops from the Agilofing camp. When the Emperor marched north to confront his rival's armies, he was soundly defeated in a number of battles in Northern France. In 820, Emperor Odilo died of a heart attack (many speculate after hearing of a Karling victory), leaving the throne to his son, the child Emperor Tassilo.

The final battle of the war was again fought in the Duchy of Portois, after which a siege of Imperial loyalist holdings near Paris brought the Agilofing camp to his knees. The Carolingian forces seized Tassilo and forced him to abdicate, and the defeated electors were forced to assemble at Nijmegen to elect Charles II as King of the Romans and declare that Tassilo's election had been illegitimate and that he was in effect an anti-King. Humiliated by their defeat at the hands of a child and held at swordpoint, they agreed to do so, ending this brief interlude of non-Karling rule.

Legacy
Historians regard the Children's War as symbolic of the post-Charlemagne Holy Roman Empire. They note that it marked the first time the Holy Roman Empire's electoral system was put in action to elect a worthy claimant and guarantee able rule, but that this system was also stopped from functioning by the power of the Carolingian dynasty, which was still associated with the prestige of Charlemagne. Charles II, known as Charles the Younger, would inherit a fractured realm, where the vassals constantly were scheming to oust the Carolingians from power. One historian noted that the heirs of Charlemagne were now on a knife's edge: the main branch was almost extinct in the male line and depended on Charles II getting male heirs.