Battle of Fontenoy (841)
The Battle of Fontenoy was held on 25 June 841. The military conflict was the culmination of a whole series of disputes and battles that were fought between the descendants of Charlemagne in 830. Fontenoy is located in Burgundy southwest of Auxerre in the Yonne department today.
Course of the battle
The warring parties were on the one hand Emperor Lothar - Louis the Pious ( who was a year earlier deceased) eldest son - and grandson of Louis Pepin II, on the other hand, the younger sons of Louis the Pious, Charles the Bald and Louis the German. The latter emerged as the winner of the battle.
In the context of the battlefield, Bernhard had stopped by and Septimania awaited the result. He then sent his son William of Septimania to Charles the Bald, to inform him of the honor and his father's promise that he would urge Pepin II of Aquitaine to resign - a promise never to fulfill the Bernhard had in mind.
At the battle should have been involved on both sides thousands of armored cavalry and the 150,000 soldiers, of which have a total of 40,000 lost their lives. One of the fighters on Karl's side was Nithard, the short is in the second book of his "Four Books History " ( Historiarum Libri IIII ) information on this.
Importance
With the Battle of Fontenoy and two years later treaty of Verdun fell apart the unity of the Frankish Empire, which was previously a uniform multi-ethnic state, in several power ranges. These became the basis of major European nations. Many historians will look amazing in this battle, something like the turning point to the emergence of the German nation in the eastern kingdom (later Holy Roman Empire) and the French nation in the West Franks (later Kingdom of France ). In France, it is also called the First European battle.