page_title: War of succession
section_title: Early Medieval Europe
hierarchical_section_title: War of succession / List of wars of succession / Europe / Early Medieval Europe
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Bataille de Fontenoy-en-Puisaye (841).
context_page_description: A war of succession or succession war is a war prompted by a succession crisis in which two or more individuals claim the right of successor to a deceased or deposed monarch. The rivals are typically supported by factions within the royal court. Foreign powers sometimes intervene, allying themselves with a faction. This may widen the war into one between those powers.
context_section_description: Lombard war of succession (661–662), after the death of king Aripert I of the Kingdom of the Lombards
  Lombard war of succession (668–669), after the death of king Perctarit of the Kingdom of the Lombards
  Twenty Years' Anarchy (695–717), after the deposition of emperor Justinian II of the Byzantine Empire
  Lombard war of succession (700–712), after the death of king Cunipert of the Kingdom of the Lombards
  Frankish Civil War (715–718) (nl), after the death of mayor of the palace Pepin of Herstal
  Lombard war of succession (756–757), after the death of king Aistulf of the Kingdom of the Lombards
  Carolingian wars of succession (830–842), a series of armed conflicts in the late Frankish Carolingian Empire about the (future) succession of emperor Louis the Pious
  War of the Northumbrian succession (865–867), between king Osberht and king Ælla of Northumbria; their infighting was interrupted when the Great Heathen Army invaded, against which they vainly joined forces
  Serbian war of succession (892–897), after the death of prince Mutimir of Serbia
  Svatopluk II rebellion (895–899?), after the death of duke Svatopluk I of Great Moravia
  Æthelwold's Revolt (899–902), after the death of king Alfred the Great
  War of the Leonese succession (951–956), after the death of king Ramiro II of Léon
  (historicity contested) Olga's Revenge on the Drevlians (945–947), after the Kievan Rus' Drevlian vassals assassinated Igor of Kiev. Initially, the Drevlian prince Mal offered to marry Igor's widow Olga of Kiev and thus succeed him, but Olga appointed herself as regent over her young son Sviatoslav, made war on the Drevlians and destroyed their realm. The historicity of the events as described in the main document on the conflict, the Primary Chronicle, is contested, and the war is described as 'legendary' with a mix of fact and fiction.
  Kievan war of succession or Russian Dynastic War (972–980) after the death of king Sviatoslav I of Kiev
  War of the Leonese succession (982–984), continuation of the last Leonese war of succession
caption: Fontenoy confirmed the partition of Francia between emperor Louis the Pious's three sons.
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