Basic Facts:
Known for: accused of poisoning her own son
Occupation: queen consort
Dates: ~945 - after 986
About Emma, Queen of Franks:
Emma was married to Lothaire, King of the Franks. Mother of King Louis V of the Franks, Emma is alleged to have poisoned her son in 987. After his death, Hugh Capet succeeded to the throne, ending the Carolingian dynasty and beginning the Capetian.
From the entry on Louis V in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (emphasis added):
LOUIS V. (967-987), king of France, succeeded his father Lothair in March 986 at the age of nineteen, and finally embroiled the Carolingian dynasty with Hugh Capet and Adalberon, archbishop of Reims. From the absence of any important event in his one year's reign the medieval chroniclers designated him by the words "qui nihil fecit," i.e. "le Faineant" or "do-nothing." Louis died in May 987, his mother Emma being accused of having poisoned him. He had married Adelaide, sister of Geoffrey Grisegonelle, count of Anjou, but had no issue. His heir by blood was Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, son of Louis IV., but the defection of the bishops and the treason of Adalberon (Ascelinus), bishop of Laon, assured the success of Hugh Capet.
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