Arnulf of Carinthia ( 850 – 8 December 899 ) was the Carolingian King of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from 22 February 896 until his death.

Arnulf was, according to most sources, the illegitimate son of Carloman, King of Bavaria, and his concubine Liutswind, perhaps of Carantanian origin, and possibly the sister of Ernst, Count of the Bavarian Nordgau Margraviate in the area of the Upper Palatinate, or perhaps the burgrave of Passau, as some sources say.

Arnulf was granted the Duchy of Carinthia, a Frankish vassal state and successor of the ancient Principality of Carantania, by his father Carloman, after Carloman had become reconciled with his own father Louis the German and was created King of Bavaria.

After Carloman was incapacitated by a stroke in 879, Louis the Younger inherited Bavaria, Charles the Fat was given the Kingdom of Italy and Arnulf was confirmed in Carinthia by an agreement with Carloman.

Bavaria, however, was ruled more or less by Arnulf.

Arnulf had in fact ruled Bavaria during the summer and autumn of 879 while his father arranged his succession and he himself was granted " Pannonia ," in the words of the Annales Fuldenses, or " Carantanum ," in the words of Regino of Prüm.

Pannonia was invaded, but Arnulf refused to give up the young Wilhelminers.

Arnulf did not make peace with Svatopluk until late 885, by which time the Moravian was a man of the emperor.

Arnulf, having distinguished himself in the war against the Slavs was elected by the nobles of the realm ( only the eastern realm, though Charles had ruled the whole of the Frankish lands ) and assumed his title of King of East Francia.

In 893, Arnulf switched his support from Odo to Charles the Simple after being persuaded by Fulk ( Archbishop of Reims ) that it was in his best interests.

At one point, Charles was forced to flee to Arnulf and ask for his protection.

Arnulf was not a negotiator, but a fighter.

In 893, a new pope, Formosus, not trusting the newly crowned co-emperors Guy and Lambert, sent an embassy to Omuntesberch, where Arnulf was holding a Diet with Svatopluk, to request Arnulf come and liberate Italy, where he would be crowned in Rome.

His march northward through the Alps was interrupted by Rudolph, King of Transjurane Burgundy, and it was only with great difficulty that Arnulf crossed the mountain range.

In the meantime, Lambert and his mother Ageltrude travelled to Rome to receive papal confirmation of his imperial succession, but Formosus, still desiring to crown Arnulf, was imprisoned in Castel Sant ' Angelo.

Arnulf was greeted at the Ponte Milvio by the Roman Senate who escorted him into the Leonine City, where he was received by Pope Formosus on the steps of the Santi Apostoli.

Arnulf only retained power in Italy as long as he was personally there.

With his return to Germany in 896, Arnulf found that his physical ill health meant he was unable to deal with the problems besetting his reign.

The characteristics they shared with many Merovingian female saints may be mentioned: Regenulfa of Incourt, a 7th-century virgin in French-speaking Brabant of the ancestral line of the dukes of Brabant fled from a proposal of marriage to live isolated in the forest, where a curative spring sprang forth at her touch ; Ermelindis of Meldert, a 6th-century virgin related to Pepin I, inhabited several isolated villas ; Begga of Andenne, the mother of Pepin II, founded seven churches in Andenne during her widowhood ; the purely legendary " Oda of Amay " was drawn into the Carolingian line by spurious genealogy in her 13th-century vita, which made her the mother of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, but she has been identified with the historical Saint Chrodoara ; finally, the widely-venerated Gertrude of Nivelles, sister of Begga in the Carolingian ancestry, was abbess of a nunnery established by her mother.

Arnulf took advantage of the problems in West Francia upon the death of Charles The Fat to secure the territory of Lorraine, which he converted into a kingdom for his son, Zwentibold.

Arnulf sent his son Zwentibold with a Bavarian army to join Berengar of Friuli.

In retaliation, Arnulf ordered his illegitimate son Zwentibold to ravage Burgundy.

Gerbert was a natural candidate for his succession, but Hugh Capet appointed Arnulf, an illegitimate son of Lothair instead.

* February 22 – A succession struggle erupts in Flanders between Richilde, widow of Baldwin VI and her brother-in-law Robert the Frisian, son of Baldwin V. Robert defeats Richilde and her nephew Arnulf III in the Battle of Cassel and is appointed count by King Philip.

The following year his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia, the illegitimate son of King Carloman of Bavaria, raised the standard of rebellion.

The Empire of the Carolingians was divided: Arnulf maintained Carinthia, Bavaria, Lorraine and modern Germany ; Count Odo of Paris was elected King of Western Francia ( France ), Ranulf II became King of Aquitaine, Italy went to Count Berengar of Friuli, Upper Burgundy to Rudolph I, and Lower Burgundy to Louis the Blind, the son of Boso of Arles, King of Lower Burgundy.

Through the marriage of his daughter Begga to Ansegisel, a son of Arnulf of Metz, the clans of the Pippinids and the Arnulfings were united, giving rise to a family which would eventually rule the Franks as the Carolingians.

Pepin, sometimes called Pepin II and Pepin the Middle was the grandson and namesake of Pepin I the Elder by the marriage of Pepin I's daughter Begga and Ansegisel, son of Arnulf of Metz. He was also the Grandfather of Pepin the short and Great-grandfather of Charlemange.

His illegitimate son by her, Arnulf, was granted the duchy of Carinthia.

Louis was the only legitimate son of the Emperor Arnulf and his wife, Ota, a member of the Conradine Dynasty.

Under the marriage agreement, if Baldwin and Adelaide had no children, the heir to the kingdom would be Roger II of Sicily, Adelaide's son by her first husband Roger I. Technically the marriage to Adelaide was bigamous because Arda was still alive in a monastery in Jerusalem, and it would later cause many problems both for Baldwin and Patriarch Arnulf, who had sanctioned it.

In 895 Arnulf appointed his illegitimate son Zwentibold King of Lotharingia.

Chlothachar later made his son Dagobert I king of Austrasia and he ruled with the help of his adviser Arnulf.

In Slovakia, the cross of Lorraine as a symbol of Lorraine is considered to have arisen when the Great Moravian king Svatopluk I " passed " it to Zwentibold of Lorraine, the godchild of Svatopluk and son of the emperor Arnulf of Carinthia.

* Arnulf ( r. 988 – 993 ), son of Dirk II

* Dirk III Hierosolymita ( r. 993 – 1039 ), son of Arnulf I

* Arnulf I the Great ( r. 918-964 ), son of Baldwin II, joinly with:

** Baldwin III ( r. 958-962 ), son of Arnulf I

* Arnulf II ( r. 964-988 ), son of Baldwin III

* Baldwin IV the Bearded ( r. 988-1037 ), son of Arnulf II

* Arnulf III ( r. 1070-1071 ), son of Baldwin VI, Count of Hainaut

Conrad the Younger was the son of Duke Conrad of Thuringia and his wife Glismut, probably akin to Ota, wife of the Carolingian emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and mother of the East Frankish king Louis the Child.

He died 10 September 918 at Blandinberg ( near Ghent ) and was succeeded by his eldest son Arnulf I of Flanders.