Lothar II (Lorraine)

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Seal of Lothar II.

Lothar II (* around 835; † August 8, 869 near Piacenza ) from the Carolingian family was the Frankish king from 855 to 869 .

Life

Lothar was the second son of Emperor Lothar I and his wife Irmingard von Tours . Shortly before his death in 855, Lothar I divided his empire - the Lotharii Regnum or Middle Kingdom - between his three sons in the division of Prüm : The eldest son Ludwig received Italy and the title of emperor, Lothar II received Lotharingien (from which the later Lorraine emerged), including the Aachen residence , and the youngest son Karl was awarded Provence and Burgundy .

Lothar's life was primarily shaped by the childlessness of his wife. In 855 Lothar married Theutberga , daughter of Count Boso von Arles . However, since the marriage remained childless, Lothar separated from his wife in 860 in order to marry his mistress Waldrada in 862 , with whom he already had a son, Hugo . Although the Aachen synods of 860 and 862 approved the king's action, this led to a protracted dispute. Archbishop Hinkmar von Reims , a close advisor to Charles the Bald , denounced this decision in a memorandum at his instigation, whereupon Pope Nicholas I intervened in the matter.

After the divorce was recognized again (allegedly through bribery) at the synod of Metz in the presence of the papal legates in 862 , Ado von Vienne , at the time a teacher at the Prüm monastery school , went to Rome to lodge a complaint against it. The Pope revoked the decision and excommunicated the archbishops Gunthar of Cologne and Theutgaud of Trier , who had been the driving force at the synod of Metz. In 868 Pope Nicholas also excommunicated Waldrada.

Pope Hadrian II finally allowed Lothar to raise his matter personally in Rome. Lothar first traveled to Ravenna , where he assumed his brother, Emperor Ludwig II . However, this was indispensable in the theaters of war in southern Italy and sent messengers to inform him to leave the country and return home. Lothar traveled on to Benevento anyway , where he met his brother. Here he persisted until Empress Engelberga agreed to arrange a meeting with Pope Hadrian II and to accompany Lothar. The meeting with the Pope took place in July 869 on Monte Cassino . Pope Hadrian II refused to recognize Lothar's second marriage. He pointed out that this question could only be resolved by a major occidental council to which the Frankish bishops should also come to Rome. At the mass, Pope Hadrian II handed communion to Lothar II at his express request, whereby Lothar II was again accepted into the community of the church and his excommunication as a public sinner was reversed. However, Lothar had to assure the Pope beforehand that he had not met after Waldrada's excommunication. On the way back north, he stopped in Rome, where the Pope refused to give him a high mass in his honor. Nevertheless, there was a meal in the Lateran Palace , where gifts are exchanged. Lothar II set out happily from Rome. In Lucca , however, he was attacked by a fever that also raged among his followers. On the onward journey Lothar II died in Piacenza and was buried in the church of Sant'Antonino .

After Lothar's death, the Middle Kingdom was divided between Charles the Bald and Ludwig the German in the Treaty of Meersen in 870 . The plan and modalities of the division had already been drawn up in 867 in the Abbey of Sankt Arnulf ; The guarantors of this trade were Ludwig Hinkmar von Reims , Hinkmar von Laon and Odo von Beauvais , Charles Archbishop Liutbert von Mainz , Altfrid von Hildesheim and Witgar von Augsburg .

Theutberga became abbess of Sainte-Glossinde in Metz in the year Lothar died, she died before November 25, 875. Waldrada died after April 9, 868 as a nun in the Remiremont monastery .

progeny

from Waldrada:

  • Hugo (* before 863; † after 895 in the Prüm Abbey)
  • Gisela von Nivelles (also Gisla; * between 860 and 865; † between June 21 and October 26, 907)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The source for this is the Placentinae urbis ac nonnullarum nobilium tum in ea, tum per Italiam familiarum descriptio by Giovanni de'Mussis from the late 14th or early 15th century. Printed by Lodovico Antonio Muratori : Rerum Italicarum Scriptores , Volume 16, Milan 1730, Col. 571E: “Et etiam in dicta ecclesia requiescit Lotharius rex Galliae” ( digital copy ).
  2. ↑ Hans Grotz: inheritance against will. Hadrian II. (867-872) and his time , Vienna et al., Böhlau 1970, pp. 137 and 192–197
  3. ↑ Hans Goetting : Germania Sacra NF Vol. 20: The Dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of Mainz , Vol. 3: The Diocese of Hildesheim. The Hildesheim bishops from 815 to 1221 (1227) . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-11-010004-5 , p. 110.
predecessor Office successor
Lothar I. King of Lorraine
855–869 		Karl II. The Bald , in the western part
Ludwig II. The German , in the eastern part
personal data
SURNAME Lothar II
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Frankish king (855–869)
DATE OF BIRTH around 835
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 869
Place of death at Piacenza