ABSTRACT
Charles took a grip on some traditional heartlands of his dynasty. On the very day of his consecration, Charles made a grant to St-Arnulf, Metz, his father's burial-place, and consigned it to the abbacy of his son Carloman. Charles's choice of his second bride had obvious political advantages in the specific circumstances of October 869. The relationship between her and her aunt Theutberga had particular significance: one 'Lotharingian' queen was succeeding another. Charles in affirming Theutberga's queenly status underscored the illegitimacy of Hugh, son of Lothar II by Waldrada. The chamberlain Engelram received the lay-abbacy of Maroilles in Lotharingia. By the Treaty of Meersen, Charles gained much less than he had hoped for the previous autumn and Aachen eluded him. Charles's aggrandisement was considerable, therefore: sufficient to evoke new ambition in Carloman, the younger of his two surviving sons. Louis the Stammerer's situation in Aquitaine was already unenviable.
