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39-490: Lothair II (835 – 8 August 869) was the king of Lotharingia from 855 until his death in 869. He was the second son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours . He was married to Teutberga (died 875), daughter of Boso the Elder . For political reasons, his father made him marry Teutberga in 855. Just a few days before his death in late autumn of 855, Emperor Lothair I divided his realm of Middle Francia among his three sons,

78-447: A cession of lands and obtained the consent of the local clergy, such as Adventius of Metz , to the annulment and to his marriage with Waldrada, which took place in 862. A synod of Frankish bishops met at Metz in 863 and confirmed this decision, but Teutberga fled to the court of Charles the Bald, and Pope Nicholas I voided the decision of the synod. An attack on Rome by the emperor

117-714: A partition known as Treaty of Prüm . Lothair II received the Middle Francia territory west of the Rhine stretching from the North Sea to the Jura Mountains . It became known as Regnum Lotharii and early in the 10th century as Lotharingia or Lorraine (a designation subsequently applied only to the Duchy of Lorraine ). His elder brother Louis II received northern Italy and the title of Emperor , and his younger brother Charles received

156-452: A ruler's sons, rather than primogeniture (i.e., inheritance by the eldest son) which would soon be adopted by both Frankish kingdoms. Since Lotharingia combined lengthy and vulnerable land borders with poor internal communications as it was severed by the Alps , it was not a viable entity and soon fragmented. This made it difficult for a single ruler to reassemble Charlemagne's empire. Only Charles

195-758: The Franco-Prussian War , the northern portions of Lorraine were merged with Alsace to become the province of Alsace-Lorraine in the German Empire , which became French territory again after World War I . Today the greater part of the French side of the Franco-German border belongs to the Grand Est region of France . Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun ( French : Traité de Verdun , German : Vertrag von Verdun ), agreed in 10 August 843, divided

234-513: The Frankish Empire into three kingdoms between Lothair I , Louis II and Charles II , the surviving sons of the emperor Louis I , the son and successor of Charlemagne . The treaty was concluded following almost three years of civil war and was the culmination of negotiations lasting more than a year. It was the first in a series of partitions contributing to the dissolution of the empire created by Charlemagne and has been seen as foreshadowing

273-669: The Oaths of Strasbourg which declared Lothair unfit for the imperial throne, after which he became willing to negotiate a settlement. The meeting happened shortly before August 10, as confirmed by a contemporary letter. Each of the three brothers was already established in one kingdom: Lothair in the Kingdom of Italy ; Louis the German in the Kingdom of Bavaria ; and Charles II in the Kingdom of Aquitaine . After Lothair's death in 855, his eldest son, Louis II , inherited Italy and his father's claim to

312-536: The Treaty of Meerssen . Lothair II had some sons and probably three daughters, all by Waldrada, and all of whom were declared illegitimate: Lotharingia Lotharingia resulted from the tripartite division in 855 of the kingdom of Middle Francia, which itself was formed after the threefold division of the Carolingian Empire by the Treaty of Verdun of 843. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia

351-601: The Treaty of Ribemont . In November 887, Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat , who by 884 had succeeded to the thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in an attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king. The rule of Arnulf in East Francia

390-508: The church . During his reign, Louis the Pious divided the empire so that each of his sons could rule over their own kingdom under the greater rule of their father. Louis’ eldest son, Lothair I , was given the title of emperor but because of several re-divisions by his father and the resulting revolts, he became much less powerful. When Louis died in 840, Lothair I claimed overlordship over the entirety of his father's kingdom in an attempt to reclaim

429-510: The southern third of Lotharingia , Alsace-Lorraine , was traded back and forth between France and Germany from the 18th to the 20th century. In 1766, it passed to France after the death of Stanisław Leszczyński , who had acquired the region from the German Habsburgs by the Treaty of Vienna (1738) ending the War of Polish Succession (1733–1738). In 1871, Alsace-Lorraine became German, after

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468-442: The Fat achieved this briefly. In 855, the northern section became fragile Lotharingia, which became disputed by the more powerful states that evolved out of Francia Occidentalis (present day France ) and Francia Orientalis (present day Germany ). Generations of kings of France and Germany were unable to establish a firm rule over Lothair's kingdom. While the north of Lotharingia was then composed of independent countries ,

507-409: The German and West Francia Charles the Bald (who wanted to rule the whole of Lotharingia) agreed to divide Lotharingia between them with the 870 Treaty of Meerssen - the western half went to West Francia and the eastern half to East Francia. Thus, Lotharingia, as a united kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876, Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, but

546-471: The Great and Herbert II, Count of Vermandois at Attigny in 942. The weak Louis IV had no choice but to agree to Otto's continued suzerainty over Lotharingia. In 944, West Francia invaded Lotharingia, but retreated after Otto I responded with mobilization of a large army under Herman I, Duke of Swabia . In 953, Duke Conrad rebelled against Otto I, and was removed from power and replaced by Otto's brother Bruno

585-409: The Great , who finally pacified Lotharingia in 959 by dividing it into Lotharingia superior (Upper Lorraine or Southern Lorraine) under Frederick I , and Lotharingia inferior (Lower Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lotharingia) under Godfrey I . In 978, king Lothair of West Francia invaded the region and captured Aachen , but Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor , counterattacked and reached

624-507: The Imperial throne. Upper Burgundy and Lower Burgundy ( Arles and Provence ) passed to Lothair's third son, Charles of Provence . The remaining territory north of the Alps , which did not previously have a name, was inherited by Lothair's second son, Lothair II , and was then named Lotharingia (present day Lorraine ) after him. The division reflected an adherence to the old Frankish custom of partible or divisible inheritance amongst

663-694: The Latin term. In 817, Emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louis's three grown sons. A fourth son, Charles the Bald , was born to Louis's second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition from his adult sons, Lothair , Pepin , and Louis . A decade of civil war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis

702-538: The Pious in 840. The remaining three brothers made peace and divided the Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun . Lothair, as the eldest, kept the imperial title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. The logic of the division was that Lothair had the crown of the Kingdom of Italy , which had been his subkingdom under Louis the Pious , and that as emperor he should rule in Aachen ,

741-583: The West Franks, since their king Rudolph was weak and would interfere less in local affairs. In 939, Henry's son and successor, Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor , invaded Lotharingia, and at the Battle of Andernach defeated Gilbert who drowned trying to flee across the Rhine. The dukes of Lotharingia were thereafter royal appointees. Henry I, Duke of Bavaria was duke for two years, followed in 941 by duke Otto , who, in 944,

780-589: The capital of the first Carolingian emperor, Charlemagne , and in Rome , the ancient capital of emperors. Middle Francia (Latin Francia media ) thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome, and it has sometimes been called by historians the "Lotharingian axis". In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey , he divided his kingdom among his three sons with the Treaty of Prüm . To the eldest son, Louis II , went Italy, with

819-411: The fact that Lothair had no sons to inherit his lands. Lothair, whose desire for annulment was prompted by his affection for his mistress, Waldrada , put away Teutberga, but Hucbert took up arms on her behalf, and after she had submitted successfully to the ordeal of water , Lothair was compelled to restore her in 858. Still pursuing his purpose, he won the support of his brother, Emperor Louis II , by

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858-524: The formation of many of the modern countries of western Europe . The treaty was the first of the four partition treaties of the Carolingian Empire , followed by the Treaties of Prüm (855), Meerssen (870), and Ribemont (880). Following Charlemagne's death, Louis was made ruler of the Frankish Empire. Agobard , archbishop of Lyon, opposed the division of the empire, as he claimed that it would divide

897-448: The imperial title. To the youngest, Charles , still a minor, went Provence . To the middle son, Lothair II , went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom. When he died in 869, Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace . His uncles, king of East Francia Louis

936-562: The king of Lotharingia who ruled semi-independently until he was overthrown and killed by Reginar on August 13, 900. The kingdom then ceased to exist and became a duchy. The young king of East Francia Louis the Child appointed Gebhard to be the duke of Lotharingia in 903. His title was recorded in contemporary Latin as dux regni quod a multis Hlotharii dicitur : "duke of the kingdom that many call Lothair's". He died in 910 fighting Hungarian invaders . When non-Carolingian Conrad I of Germany

975-465: The modern Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish names for the province Lotharingen, Lothringen, and Lothringen respectively). The latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing , indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia (from the Latin suffix -ia , indicating a country) in the 10th century. Later French terms such as "Lorraine" and "Lothier" are derived from

1014-537: The power he had at the beginning of his reign as emperor . He also supported his nephew Pepin II's claim to Aquitaine , a large province in the west of the Frankish realm . Lothair's brother, Louis II , and his half-brother Charles II refused to acknowledge Lothair's suzerainty and declared war against him. After a bloody civil war, they defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 and sealed their alliance in 842 with

1053-567: The title Duke of Lothier (derived from "Lotharingia"). With the disappearance of a "lower" Lorraine, the duchy of Upper Lorraine became the primary referent for "Lorraine" within the Holy Roman Empire . After centuries of French invasions and occupations, Lorraine was finally ceded to France at the close of the War of the Polish Succession (1737). In 1766, the duchy was inherited by the French crown and became Lorraine . In 1871, after

1092-504: The victory of Prussia and its German allies over the French in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). In 1919, it became French again by the Treaty of Versailles (1919), following the French victory over the Germans in World War I (1914–1918). In 1940, Germany reannexed Alsace-Lorraine following Germany's conquest of France . Finally, in 1945, after World War II (1939–1945), Alsace-Lorraine

1131-483: The walls of Paris. In 980, Lothair renounced his rights to Lotharingia. Except for one brief period (1033–44, under Gothelo I ), the division was never reversed and the margraves soon raised their separate fiefs into duchies. In the twelfth century the ducal authority in Lower Lotharingia (or Lower Lorraine) fragmented, causing the formation of the Duchy of Limburg and the Duchy of Brabant , whose rulers retained

1170-577: The western parts of his father's domains, Burgundy and the Provence . On the death of his brother Charles in 863, Lothair added some lands south of the Jura to this realm, but except for a few feeble expeditions against the Norman pirates he seems to have done little for its government or its defense. Thirty-six of Lothair II's royal charters survive. Teutberga was not capable of bearing children and Lothair's reign

1209-451: The words of the pope, he had set out on the return journey, when he was seized with fever and died at Piacenza on August 8, 869 . His son, Hugh , by Waldrada, was declared illegitimate, so his heir was his brother, Louis II of Italy . As Louis was at that time campaigning against the Emirate of Bari , his kingdom was divided by and between his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German by

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1248-402: Was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia , so possession of them was a matter of great prestige as true claimant of Frankish imperial legacy. Lotharingia was known as regnum quondam Lotharii or regnum Lotharii ("kingdom [once] Lothair's") and its inhabitants Lotharii (from Lotharius ), Lotharienses (from Lothariensis ), or Lotharingi (which gives

1287-537: Was captured and imprisoned by Heribert II of Vermandois until his death in 929. In 923, king Henry the Fowler of East Francia used this opportunity and invaded Lotharingia (including Alsace ). In 925, Lotharingians under Gilbert elected Henry the Fowler to be their king. In 930, Gilbert's loyalty was rewarded and he received the prestigious hand of Henry's daughter Gerberga in marriage. On Henry's death in 936, Gilbert rebelled and tried to swap Lotharingian allegiance to

1326-439: Was chiefly occupied by his efforts to obtain an annulment of their marriage, and his relations with his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German were influenced by his desire to obtain their support for this endeavour. Although quarrels and reconciliations between the three kings followed each other in quick succession, in general it may be said that Louis favoured annulment, and Charles opposed it, while neither lost sight of

1365-595: Was defeated near Andernach by Louis's son, Louis the Younger . In 879, Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer , Charles's son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerer's young sons, Carloman II and Louis III , ceded western Lotharingia to Louis. The border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by

1404-661: Was elected king of East Francia in 911, Lotharingian nobles under the new duke Reginar voted to attach their duchy to West Francia, still ruled by the Carolingian dynasty. In 915, Charles the Simple rewarded him by granting him the title of margrave . Reginar was succeeded by his son Gilbert who used the title dux Lotharingiae : "duke of Lotharingia". When the West Franks deposed Charles in 922, he remained king in Lotharingia, from where he attempted to reconquer his kingdom in 923. He

1443-420: Was followed by Conrad . Lotharingia was turned into a junior stem duchy whose dukes had a vote in royal elections. While the other stem duchies had tribal or historic identities, Lotharingia's identity was solely political. King Louis IV of West Francia tried to maintain a claim to Lotharingia by marrying Gilbert's widow and Otto's sister Gerberga. In his turn, Otto I accepted homage from West Francia's Hugh

1482-517: Was initially opposed by Guy III of Spoleto , who became king of Italy, and by Rudolph I of Burgundy , who was elected king in the southern half of former Middle Francia - Upper Burgundy . Rudolph had intended to make himself king over the whole of Lothair II's former kingdom, but had to be content with Burgundia. Arnulf defeated the Vikings in 891 and dislodged them from their settlements at Louvain. In 895, he appointed his illegitimate son Zwentibold as

1521-424: Was without result, and in 865 Lothair, threatened with excommunication and convinced that Louis and Charles at their recent meeting had discussed the partition of his kingdom, again took back his wife. Teutberga, however, either from inclination or compulsion, now expressed her desire for an annulment, and Lothair went to Italy to obtain the assent of the new pope, Adrian II . Placing a favourable interpretation upon

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