Epithet (#137)
Many people in history carry an additional attribute with their name, like Alexander the Great. The linguistic term for this sort of nickname is epithet (de: Epitheton).
It's especially useful to distinguish all those emperors called Charles, because there's a lot of them.
Probably the most famous: Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great.
But epithets aren’t always so flattering. For example Charles the Bald (de: Karl der Kahle), holy Roman Emperor from 823-877, who was the grandson of Charlemagne.
Not so flattering either: Charles the Fat, king of different European parts then known as the Carolingian Empire and Charles the Simple, king of West Francia from 989 until 922.
Charles the Good, popular Count of Flanders, was murdered in 1127 while praying in church.
And then there's Charles the Lame, king of Naples from 1254 - 1309. I haven't found out why he's got this nickname. He did however get his wife pregnant more than 14 times. At least his sex life couldn't be that lame after all...
And because I don't want you to mix up epithet with epitaph, that's gonna be tomorrow's fact.