b. abt 0855
d. 5 Aug 0890, Age: 35
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3Ranulf II (also spelled Rannoux, Rannulf, Ramnulf, and Ranulph) (850 – 5 August 890) was
Count of Poitou from 866 and
Duke of Aquitaine from 887. On the death of
Charles the Fat in 888, he styled himself King of Aquitaine and did so until 889 or his death, after which the title fell into abeyance.
He may have been selected as a temporary king by the Aquitainian nobles, for they accepted
Odo of France after his death. Only the
Annales Fuldenses definitively give him this title. He is recorded to have taken custody of
Charles, the young son of
Louis the Stammerer and he certainly did not recognise Odo as king. He appeared in the
Annales Vedastes in 889 with the title dux maximae partis Aquitaniae: "duke of the major part of Aquitaine." He founded the
viscountcy of Thouars at about that time, part of larger movement to creat viscounts with powers over regional fortresses to man them against the
Vikings.
Ranulf was a son of
Ranulf I and Bilichild of Maine. He married an Ermengard (died 935) and by her had a son,
Ranulf III, who succeeded him in Poitiers. His illegitimate son
Ebalus succeeded him in Aquitaine and, upon the death of Ranulf III, in Poitiers too.