Lothair , sometimes called
Lothair IV, was the
CarolingianThe Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
king of West Francia (10 September
954-Europe:* King Máel Coluim I of Scotland is killed in battle against the Highlanders. He is succeeded by Indulf I of Scotland.* Chateau Chinon is built by Theobald I of Blois.* On the death of Eric Bloodaxe, Edred becomes the first king of all England....
– 1 March
986-Europe:* March 2—Louis V becomes King of the Franks.* Sweyn Forkbeard becomes King of Denmark* Håkon Sigurdsson of Norway defeats the Danish invasion force at Hjørungavåg-Asia:* Emperor Ichijō succeeds Emperor Kazan on the throne of Japan....
), son of
Louis IVLouis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus , reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954...
and
Gerberga of SaxonyGerberga of Saxony was a daughter of Henry the Fowler, king of Germany, and Matilda of Ringelheim.She married first Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. They had four children:...
.
Regency
He succeeded his father in 954 at the age of thirteen and crowned at Rheims on 12 November 954 .He was at first under the guardianship of
Hugh the GreatHugh the Great was duke of the Franks and count of Paris, son of King Robert I of France and nephew of King Odo. He was born in Paris, Ile-de-France, France. His eldest son was Hugh Capet who became King of France in 987. His family is known as the Robertians.Hugh's first wife was Eadhild,...
,
Duke of the FranksThe title dux et princeps Francorum, or duke and prince of the Franks, was the title adopted by Pepin of Heristal after his epoch-making victory at the Battle of Tertry in 687...
and
Count of ParisCount of Paris was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. Eventually, the count of Paris was elected to the French throne...
, who had been an adversary to his father but nonetheless was appointed
guardianA legal guardian a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
of the king's estates, though not as regent for the young king who assumed his royal dignities at thirteen. This gave the young Lothair the opportunity to come to know his guardian's heir, the sixteen year old
Hugh CapetHugh Capet was the first King of France of the eponymous Capetian dynasty from his election to succeed the Carolingian Louis V in 987 until his death.-Descent and inheritance:...
, before his father's death in 956; Capet later became king and founder of the
Capetian DynastyThe Capetian dynasty is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of Hugh Capet of France in the male line. King Juan Carlos of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg are members of this family, both through the Bourbon branch of the dynasty.-Name origins and...
.
The beginning of his reign was occupied with wars against the vassals, particularly against the duke of
NormandyNormandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is situated along the English Channel coast of Northern France between Brittany and Picardy and comprises territory in northern France and the Channel Islands.Normandy is divided between French and British...
, and it should be made clear that the monarch of
Western FranciaWest Francia or the West Frankish Kingdom 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 843.The Frankish Empire, the great...
was more a ceremonial title, more of a first among equals status, than that state which would represent the later centralized authority meant by monarchies of later historical epochs.
In 955, Lothair and Hugh together took
PoitiersPoitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région...
by siege. Hugh died soon after and Lothair mediated between his son, the aforementioned Hugh Capet and the younger
Otto HenryEudes-Henry , called the Great, was Count of Autun, Avallon, and Beaune and Duke of Burgundy from 965 to his death...
. The king gave Capet Paris and the ducal title, but invested Otto with the
Duchy of BurgundyThe Duchy of Burgundy was a feudal territory in Medieval Europe. It roughly conforms to the modern Bourgogne, although it grew to have considerable possessions in the Low Countries as well...
in 960. With young Hugh the new count of Paris et al., Lothair, now only fifteen, came under the guardianship of his maternal uncle
Bruno, archbishop of CologneBruno the Great or Bruno I was Archbishop of Cologne, Germany, from 953 until his death, and Duke of Lotharingia from 954. He was the brother of Otto I, king of Germany and later Holy Roman Emperor....
.
Military conflicts
In 962,
Baldwin III of FlandersBaldwin III of Flanders The Young was count of Flanders together with his father Arnulf I.He died before his father and was succeeded by his infant son Arnulf II, with his father acting as regent until his own death....
, son, co-ruler, and heir of
Arnulf IArnulf LeVieux, Count of Flanders , called the Great, was the third count of Flanders.Arnulf was the son of count Baldwin II of Flanders and Ælfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great...
died and Arnulf bequeathed Flanders to Lothair. On Arnulf's death in 965, Lothair invaded Flanders and took many cities, but was eventually repulsed by the supporters of
Arnulf IIArnulf II of Flanders was Count of Flanders from 965 until his death. He was the son of Baldwin III of Flanders and Mathilde Billung of Saxony, daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony-History:...
. He temporarily remained in control of
ArrasArras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
and
DouaiDouai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some 40 km from Lille and 25 km from Arras, Douai is home to one of the region's most impressive belfries.The population of the metropolitan area, including...
.
Lothair, when thirty-seven, seems to have conceived the design of recovering
LorraineLorraine is a historical area in present-day northeast France. Some of the main cities are Metz, Nancy and Verdun.-Lotharingia:Lorraine was originally an independent kingdom. It was created in 843, when the Carolingian empire was divided between the three sons of Louis the Pious...
, once held by his family. He attempted to precipitate matters by a sudden attack, and in the spring of 978 nearly captured the emperor
Otto IIOtto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Education, first years of reign:...
at
AachenAachen is a historic spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the medieval Kings of Germany...
. He took the imperial capital itself and even reversed the direction of the brazen eagle sitting atop the palace. Otto took his revenge in the autumn by invading France. He penetrated as far as
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, devastating the country through which he passed (
SoissonsSoissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about 100 kilometres northeast of Paris...
,
ReimsThe city of Rheims , in English and in French, lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in north-eastern France 129 km east-northeast of Paris....
, and
LaonLaon is the capital city of the Aisne department, part of Picardie in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village where the Remis had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae...
), but failed to take the town, and was eventually forced to retreat with heavy loss across the
AisneAisne is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River.- History :Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Île-de-France, Picardie, and Champagne.Most of the...
, as Hugh Capet and through him, other key nobles supported Lothair.Peace was concluded in July 980 at Margut-sur-Chiers on the Chiers on the frontier of the two kingdoms,and in 983 Lothair was even chosen guardian to the young
Otto III, Holy Roman EmperorOtto III was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected king of Germany in 983 on the death of his father Otto II.-Early years:...
when Otto II died on 7 December 983. Around 980, however, Lothair quarrelled with Hugh Capet, who, at the instigation of
Adalberon, archbishop of ReimsAdalberon was the archbishop of Reims, chancellor of Kings Lothair and Louis V of France.Upon the death of Louis V, in 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac addressed the electoral assembly at Senlis in favour of Hugh Capet, to replace the Carolingian monarch. Adalberon pleaded:Capet was elected...
, became reconciled with Otto III, despite the defeat of his father with Capet's help.
In early January 985, he invaded the duchy of Lorrain, besieged Verdun in March and made several prisoners: Count Godefroy I, (brother of Adalberon Reims), Frederick (son of Godfrey I), Siegfried of Luxembourg (uncle Godfrey) and Thierry, Duke of Upper Lorraine (nephew of Hugh Capet).
Returning to Laon, he forced the Archbishop of Rheims to keep a garrison in Verdun to prevent the city from being taken over by the Ottonian. He also requires written to the archbishops of Trier, Mainz and Cologne, he is the true king of the Carolingian.Lothair began to suspect that the Archbishop of Rheims, friendly Ottonian and Hugh Capet, playing a double game When asked to destroy the fortifications around the monastery of Saint-Paul de Verdun.
Adalberon, archbishop of ReimsAdalberon was the archbishop of Reims, chancellor of Kings Lothair and Louis V of France.Upon the death of Louis V, in 987, Adalberon and Gerbert of Aurillac addressed the electoral assembly at Senlis in favour of Hugh Capet, to replace the Carolingian monarch. Adalberon pleaded:Capet was elected...
refuses, claiming that his soldiers, hungry, no longer able to keep the city. Furious, Lothar wants to bring justice to condemn.He convened a meeting at Compiègne for May 11 985, on the pretext that the priest had placed his nephew Adalberon on the seat of Verdun without his consent .Alerted, Duke Hugh Capet Compiegne march with 600 men and dispersed the meeting. Lothair could not afford an open war with Hugh Capet, as he would find himself caught between two fronts. He is therefore free the prisoner Lorraine withheld, but I. Godfrey prefers to stay in prison rather than give in Mons, the Hainaut and Verdun, over his son would be expelled from the bishopric.For cons, the Duke Thierry of Upper Lorraine, nephew of Hugh Capet, was released.
The rest of Lothair's reign was dominated by internal troubles which distracted him from important peripheral affairs. In 985, when the caliph of Córdoba,
Al-MansurAbu Aamir Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abi Aamir, Al-Hajib Al-Mansur
أبو عامر محمد بن عبد الله بن أبي عامر الحاجب المنصور , better known as Almanzor, was the de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus in the late 10th to early 11th centuries...
, sacked
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
, Lothair offered no assistance to the
Count Borrel IIBorrell II was Count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 945 and Count of Urgell from 948.Borrell is first seen acting as count during the reign of his father Marquis Sunyer in 945 at the consecration of the nunnery church of Sant Pere de les Puelles in Barcelona, and succeeded Sunyer along with...
upon receiving his envoys at
VerdunVerdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
. This caused the final rift between the Hispanic March and the French crown during the reign of his successors.
Towards the end of his reign, Lothair's power seemed markedly less than that of Hugh Capet. In a letter of March or April 985, Gerbert of Aurillac wrote to the Archbishop Adalberon that "Lothair is king of France in name alone; Hugh is, however, not in name but in effect and deed." Gerbert goes on to suggest that if Adalberon wishes to free his father, held captive by Lothair, he need only warm up to Hugh by arranging an advantageous marriage alliance with Otto III. Lothair died a year after this, on 1 March 986.
Marriage and children
Lothair married
Emma of ItalyEmma was the daughter of Lothair II of Italy and Adelaide of Italy , who would later become Holy Roman Empress...
, daughter of
Lothair II of ItalyLothair 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 of Provence...
and
Adelaide of ItalySaint Adelaide of Italy, also called Adelaide of Burgundy was Holy Roman Empress and perhaps the most prominent European woman of the 10th century.-Life:...
. Her maternal grandparents were
Rudolph II of BurgundyRudolf II was king of Upper Burgundy , Lower Burgundy , and Italy . He was the son of Rudolf I, king of Upper Burgundy, and it is presumed that his mother was his father's known wife, Guilla of Provence...
and
Bertha of SwabiaBertha 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...
.
Lothair and Emma had a son who succeeded his father as
Louis VLouis V , called the Indolent or the Sluggard , was the King of Western Francia from 986 until his early death...
. Louis V held the office for only a single year.
Lothair also had a illegitimate son who became archbishop of Rheims, Arnulf.
Ancestry