ABSTRACT
In the northern sector, for instance, Abbot Hugh of St-Quentin surely played a key role in securing that abbey for Charles, while further south, the inclusion of the counties of Langres and Chalon in Charles's kingdom reflects the importance of Bishop Theutbald and Count Warin as Charles's consistent supporters since 840. When Charles and his brothers Lothar and Louis met up with their commissioners at Verdun in July 843, their aim was a short-term one. They worked within the constraints of dynastic politics and a royal family in constant process of reconstruction. Verdun was significant in what it did not say. Its most welcome silence, from Charles's standpoint, was evidently on Pippin of Aquitaine, whose claims Lothar agreed to drop, tacitly accepting Fontenoy's 'judgement'. The geographical boundaries of Charles's kingdom can, however, be reconstructed from later evidence. Some of the details of this boundary suggest the influence of individual magnates.
