Division of the Carolingian Empire under theTreaty of Verdun (843)
Lothair was born in 795, to Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye. His father was the son of the reigning Emperor, Charlemagne. Little is known of Lothair's early life, which was probably passed at the court of his grandfatherCharlemagne. In 814, the elderly emperor died, and left his sole surviving legitimate son Louis the Pious as successor to his vast empire. The next year, Lothair would be sent to govern Bavaria for his father, the new emperor.[2] In 817, Louis the Pious[2] drew up hisOrdinatio Imperii.[4] In this, Louis designated Lothair as his principal heir and ordered that Lothair would be the overlord of Louis' younger sons Pippin of Aquitaine (who was 20) and Louis the German (who was 13), as well as his nephew (Lothair's cousin)Bernard of Italy. Lothair would also inherit their lands if they were to die childless. Lothair, aged 22, was then crowned joint emperor by his father atAachen.[2] At the same time, Aquitaine and Bavaria were granted to his brothers Pippin and Louis, respectively, as subsidiary kingdoms.[4] Following the death of Bernard, brought on by his plotting against and blinding by Louis the Pious, Lothair also received the Kingdom of Italy.[citation needed] In 821, Lothair marriedErmengarde (d. 851), daughter ofHugh theCount of Tours.[2]
In 822, he assumed the government ofItaly, and at Easter, 5 April 823, he was crowned emperor again byPope Paschal I, this time atRome. In November 824, Lothair promulgated a statute, theConstitutio Romana, concerning the relations of pope and emperor, which reserved the supreme power to the secular potentate, and he afterwards issued various ordinances for the good government of Italy.[2]
On Lothair's return to his father's court, his stepmotherJudith won his consent to her plan for securing a kingdom for her sonCharles, a scheme which was carried out in 829,[2] when the young prince was givenAlemannia as king.[citation needed] Lothair, however, soon changed his attitude and spent the succeeding decade in constant strife over the division of the Empire with his father. He was alternately master of the Empire, and banished and confined to Italy, at one time taking up arms in alliance with his brothers and at another fighting against them, whilst the bounds of his appointed kingdom were in turn extended and reduced.[2][5]
Division of the Carolingian Empire under theTreaty of Prüm (855)
The first rebellion began in 830. All three brothers fought their father, whom they deposed. In 831, their father was reinstated and he deprived Lothair of his imperial title and gave Italy to Charles. The second rebellion was instigated byAngilbert II, Archbishop of Milan in 833, and again Louis was deposed in 834. Lothair, through the loyalty of the Lombards and later reconciliations, retained Italy and the imperial position through all remaining divisions of the Empire by his father.[5][6]
Denier of Lothair I, struck inDorestad (Middle Francia) after 850Medallion presumed to be of Lothair, from the binding of theLothair Psalter in the British Library
When Louis the Pious was dying in 840, he sent the imperial insignia to Lothair, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire. He was 45 years old when his father died. Negotiations with his brother Louis the German and his half-brother Charles, both of whom resisted this claim, were followed by an alliance of the younger brothers against Lothair.[3] A decisive battle was fought atFontenay-en-Puisaye on 25 June 841, when, in spite of his[2] and his allied nephewPepin II of Aquitaine's[citation needed] personal gallantry, Lothair was defeated and fled to Aachen. With fresh troops he began a war of plunder, but the forces of his brothers were too strong, and taking with him such treasure as he could collect, he abandoned his capital to them.[2][clarification needed] He met with the leaders of theStellinga inSpeyer and promised them his support in return for theirs, but Louis and then the native Saxon nobility put down theStellinga in the next years.[citation needed]
Peace negotiations began, and in June 842 the brothers met on an island in theSaône. They agreed to an arrangement which developed, after much difficulty and delay, into theTreaty of Verdun, signed in August 843. By this, Lothair received the imperial title as well as northern Italy and a long stretch of territory from theNorth Sea to theMediterranean, essentially along the valleys of theRhine and theRhône; this territory includes the regionsLorraine,Alsace,Burgundy, andProvence. He soon ceded Italy to his eldest son,Louis, and remained in his new kingdom, engaging in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the Northmen (asVikings were known in Frankish writings) and theSaracens (as those loyal to the various Fatimids, Umayyads and Abbasides are known in Frankish writings).[2][6]
In 845 the count of Arles,Fulcrad, led a rebellion inProvence. The emperor put it down and the count joined him in an expedition against the Saracens in Italy in 846.[7][8]
In 855 he became seriously ill, and despairing of recovery renounced the throne, divided his lands among his three sons, and on 23 September entered the monastery ofPrüm, where he died six days later. He was buried at Prüm, where his remains were found in 1860.[2] It was atPrüm that Lothair was most commemorated.[9]
^Reuter, Timothy (1992).The Annals of Fulda. Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories. Vol. II. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 24.
Legend: → ≡ "father of", · ≡ "brother of" Begga, the daughter of Pepin I, married Ansegisel, the son of Arnulf of Metz, and was the mother of Pepin II.
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