at the end of the ix. century the carolingian empire of charlemagne was long gone, in its place remained three kingdoms (west francia, east francia, kingdom of italy), led by kings of carolingian bloodline, which disputed the supremacy among them. arnulf of carinthia, the son of the east francian king carloman, who became german king in 887, wanted to recreate the carolingian empire, thus in 894, as result of his italian campaign, became king of italy, and in 896 he was even crowned as holy roman emperor at rome by the pope. to his goals in italy he was helped by berengar of friuli, the grandson of charlemagne, who after 898 started to see himself more worthy for the title of emperor, because he considered himself as a truer carolingian than arnulf, considering the latter to be an illegitimate son of carloman.