Oaths of Strasbourg

Date: February 14, 842 • Location: Rome, Italy

Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.

Charles the Bald was king of West Francia (843–77), king of Italy (875–77) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–77). After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded, by the Treaty of Verdun (843), in acquiring the western third of the empire. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith.