Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald was a grandson of Charlemagne who became king of West Francia after the division of the Carolingian Empire and was briefly crowned emperor in 875. His reign was shaped by dynastic warfare, Viking attacks and efforts to maintain royal authority through alliances with bishops and nobles.

In Cecelia Holland’s The Angel and the Sword, Roderick’s path leads towards Paris during the Scandinavian assaults of the ninth century and into the service of rulers struggling to hold West Francia together under Charles the Bald.