LOTHAIR II, FRANKISH KING

Reigned: 855–869; d. Piacenza, Italy; the second oldest son of Emperor lothair i, and brother of Louis II and Charles of Provence. When his father's kingdom was divided (855), Lothair II received the northern part, between Frisia and the Jura mountains, which included aachen. At the death of his brother Charles, Lothair received half of the latter's realm as well. This kingdom of Lothair subsequently came to be known as Lotharingia. Lothair's reign was marked by continual tension with his uncles, Charles the Bald and Louis the German, who sought, among other things, to take advantage of his marital difficulties. Those difficulties arose from the childless state of his marriage to Theutberga, daughter of Hubert, lay-abbot of St Maurice-in-Valais, and more specifically, from the serious question that the absence of a legitimate heir opened with regard to the royal succession. From 857 until the end of his reign, Lothair sought to annul his

marriage to Theutberga in favor of an earlier, less formal arrangement (Friedelehe ) with a certain Waldrada, by whom he had a son, Hugh (b. 860). A synod held at Aachen annulled his marriage to Theutberga on the basis of incest, thereby permitting Lothair to marry Waldrada in 862. Lothair' plans almost immediately aroused the opposition of Archbishop hincmar of reims, who rejected the annulment as fundamentally inconsistent with Christian morality and with the responsibilities of a Christian king. It also violated canon law which had come to strongly favor legitimate marriage (muntehe ) over any form of combinage. This dispute is particularly noteworthy because of the involvement of the papacy. Pope nicholas i joined with Hincmar in condemning Lothair's illegal divorce. After a synod held at Metz (863) failed to resolve the matter in an acceptable fashion, Nicholas went so far as to suspend from office the archbishops of Cologne and Trier. In 865, Lothair was forced to return to Theutberga, though this in no way hindered his efforts to proceed with his original plan. Under Nicholas's successor, Pope hadrian ii, Lothair was readmitted to communion, a hopeful sign which was voided soon by his own death. In 867, Lothair had traded territory to his uncle, Louis the German, in return for recognition of his plans for the succession. In spite of this agreement, the deceased king's uncles proceeded to divide his realm between them, without regard for the claims of his natural son or his surviving brother (Louis II). As Lothair's brother had also failed to produce an heir, the end of the middle kingdom was a foregone conclusion.

Bibliography: r. kottje, "Kirchliches Recht und päpstlicher Autoritätsanspruch. Zu den Auseinandersetzungen ueber die Ehe Lothars II." Aus Kirche und Reiche. Studien zu Theologie, Politik und Recht im Mittelalter ed. h. mordek (Sigmaringen 1983) 97–103. e. hlawitschka, Vom Frankenreich zur Formierung der europäischen Staaten-und Völkergemeinschaft, 840–1046 (Darmstadt 1986) 80–81. p. richÉ, The Carolingians: A Family who Forged Europe tr. m. i. allen (Philadelphia 1993) 177–78.

[d. a. warner]