Louis II
emperor of Franks
Also known as: Ludwig II
Louis II (born c. 822—died Aug. 12, 875, near Brescia, Lombardy) was a Frankish emperor (850–875) who, as ruler of Italy, was instrumental in checking the Arab invasion of the peninsula. The eldest son of the Frankish emperor Lothar I, who ruled the “middle realm” of what had once been Charlemagne’s empire, Louis took over the administration of Italy on his father’s behalf in 844 and was crowned king of the Lombards in Rome on...