Lothair revolted in 830, and again in 833 with the help of his brothers Louis the German
and Pepin. While their father emerged victorious and in 834 confined Lothair to Italy, the
remaining years of Louis’s reign saw continued political unrest.
Upon Louis’s death in 840, Lothair I proclaimed again the Ordinatio imperii and
turned against his surviving brothers, Louis the German and Charles. The power struggle
among those rulers led to the Treaty of Verdun (843), dividing the Carolingian territories
into separate kingdoms for Louis, Charles, and Lothair. This testified to the end of the
ideal of a united empire, though Lothair retained the imperial title.
Lothair was in conflict with one or both brothers most of the rest of his life. Upon his
death in 855, his lands were divided among his sons, Louis II (d. 875), Lothair II (d. 869),
and Charles of Provence (d. 863). Louis II alone was left the imperial crown, which he
had received in 850.
Celia Chazelle
[See also: CHARLES II THE BALD; LOUIS I THE PIOUS]
Ganshof, François L. The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy: Studies in Carolingian
History, trans. Janet Sondheimer. London: Longman, 1971, pp. 289–302.
McKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751–987. London:
Longman, 1983.
Nelson, Janet L. Charles the Bald. London: Longman, 1992.
Riché, Pierre. The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael I.Allen.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
LOTHAIR I
(941–986). The last significant Carolingian king, Lothair I was the son of Louis IV and
Gerberge, sister of the emperor Otto I. He succeeded his father in 954 with the support of
Hugues le Grand, who dominated the scene until his death in 956. Hugues’s place was
taken by Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, Lothair’s maternal uncle, who kept a balance
between the young king and his first cousin and greatest potential rival, Hugh Capet, the
son of Hugues le Grand. From Bruno’s death (965) until that of Otto I (973), Lothair kept
close ties to the German court.
The rest of his reign was occupied principally in attempts to gain control of Lorraine at
the expense of Otto’s successors. This policy was opposed by Archbishop Adalbero of
Reims and his factotum Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II), and they looked to
Hugh Capet, Lothair’s most powerful vassal, for support.
Lothair died in the midst of these tensions on March 2, 986, leaving his throne to his
young son, Louis V, whom he had taken care to have crowned in 978 during his own
lifetime.
R.Thomas McDonald
[See also: GERBERT OF AURILLAC; HUGH CAPET; HUGUES LE GRAND]
Richer. Histoire de France (888–995), ed. and trans. Robert Latouche. 2 vols. Paris: Champion,
1930 (Vol. 1); Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1937 (Vol. 2).
Halphen, Louis, and Ferdinand Lot. Recueil des actes de Lothaire et de Louis V. Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale, 1908.
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