Emma of Italy
Encyclopedia
Emma was the daughter of Lothair II of Italy
Lothair II of Italy
Lothair II , often Lothair of Arles, was the King of Italy from 948 to his death. He was of the noble Frankish lineage of the Bosonids, descended from Boso the Elder...

 (also called Lothair of Arles) and Adelaide of Italy
Adelaide of Italy
Saint Adelaide of Italy , also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was the second wife of Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor...

 (also called Adelaide of Burgundy, Saint Adelaide), who would later become Holy Roman Empress. She was the last Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...

 Queen Consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

 of Western Francia
Western Francia
West Francia, also known as the West Frankish Kingdom or Francia Occidentalis, was a short-lived kingdom encompassing the lands of the western part of the Carolingian Empire that came under the undisputed control of Charlemagne's grandson, Charles the Bald, as a result of the Treaty of Verdun of...

 (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) by virtue of her marriage to Lothair of France
Lothair of France
Lothair , sometimes called Lothair IV, was the Carolingian king of West Francia , son of Louis IV and Gerberga of Saxony.-Regency:...

; her son, Louis V of France
Louis V of France
Louis V , called the Indolent or the Sluggard , was the King of Western Francia from 986 until his early death...

, was the last Carolingian King.

Born around 948, Emma was the daughter of Lothair of Arles, titular King of Italy, and Adelaide of Burgundy, the heiress to the title. Her paternal grandfather was Hugh of Arles
Hugh of Italy
Hugh of Arles was King of Italy from 924 until his death. He was a Bosonid. During his reign, he empowered his relatives at the expense of the aristocracy and tried to establish a relationship with the Byzantine-Roman Empire...

, Regent of Arles; her maternal grandparents were Rudolf II, King of Upper Burgundy and Bertha of Swabia
Bertha of Swabia
Bertha of Swabia was Queen consort of Burgundy. She was the daughter of Burchard II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Regelinda.In 922, she was married to Rudolph II of Burgundy. Adelaide of Italy was their common daughter...

. Rudolf and Hugh had originally contested for the title and lands of the Kingdom of Italy; Hugh had become King of Italy, but was forced to buy peace with Rudolf by giving him Arles (Lower Burgundy). Emma's parents had been married as part of the Peace.

Emma's father was poisoned when she was a young girl, in 950, by his political rival, Berengar of Ivrea. Berengar attempted to marry Emma's mother, an heiress of the Kingdom, to his own son; she defied him, however, and married Otto the Great of Germany instead, becoming mother to future Emperor Otto II
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...

.

In 965, Emma was married to the King of Western Francia, Lothair. They had one child, Louis V of France (b.967).

In 977, Emma was accused by her brother-in-law, Charles of Lower Lorraine
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Charles of Lorraine was the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony and younger brother of King Lothair. He was a sixth generation descendant of Charlemagne...

, of infidelity with Ascelin, Bishop of Laon. The Queen and Bishop were exonerated by the Synod of Sainte-Macre, led by Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, and Charles was forced to flee Western Francia. Emma, to ensure her son's succession, then persuaded Lothair to crown him as associated King; Lothair did so, but refused to let him have any real power.

Emma's marriage to Lothair was marked by hostilities between her husband and her half-brother, Emperor Otto II, each invading the other's territories, and attempting to destabilise each other, often through the intermediary of Lothair's brother, Charles (who as Duke of Lower Lorraine was a vassal of the Emperor). The final years of their marriage, however, from 980 onwards, saw peace between Lothair and his in-laws; when Otto II died, he was even advanced as guardian of the young King.

Lothair died on 2 March 986, and their young son Louis became King. However, he promptly drove Emma and Bishop Ascelin of Laon from the Court, accusing them of having poisoned Lothair. Louis then died on 22 May 987, without an heir. In the following months, her brother-in-law Charles seized the royal capital of Laon and declared himself King; Hugh Capet, Duke of the Franks, was elected and crowned King by the agencies of Adalberon on 3 July 987. In the resulting conflicts, Ascelin betrayed Charles to Hugh Capet, as a result of which the last Carolingian was imprisoned in Orleans. Emma's doings following the death of her son are unclear; she is believed to have died in a Burgundian convent.

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