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LOTHAIR I

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 17 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOTHAIR I . (795-855), See also:Roman See also:emperor, was the eldest son of the emperor See also:Louis I., and his wife Irmengarde. Little is known of his See also:early See also:life, which was probably passed at the See also:court of his grandfather See also:Charlemagne, until 815 when he became ruler of See also:Bavaria. When Louis in 817 divided the See also:Empire between his sons, Lothair was crowned See also:joint emperor at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle and given a certain superiority over his See also:brothers. In 821 he married Irmengarde (d. 851), daughter of See also:Hugo, See also:count of See also:Tours; in 822 undertook the See also:government of See also:Italy; and, on the 5th of See also:April 823, was crowned emperor by See also:Pope See also:Paschal I. at See also:Rome. In See also:November 824 he promulgated a See also:statute concerning the relations of pope and emperor which reserved the supreme See also:power to the See also:secular potentate, and he afterwards issued various ordinances for the See also:good government of Italy. On his return to his See also:father's court his step-See also:mother See also:Judith won his consent to her See also:plan for securing a See also:kingdom for her son See also:Charles, a See also:scheme which was carried out in 829. Lothair, however, soon changed his attitude, and spent the succeeding See also:decade in See also:constant strife over the See also:division of the Empire with his father. He was alternetely See also:master of the Empire, and banished and confined to Italy; at one See also:time taking up arms in See also:alliance with his brothers and at another fighting against them; whilst the See also:bounds of his appointed kingdom were in turn extended and reduced. When Louis was dying in 84o, he sent the imperial insignia to Lothair, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire. Negotiations with his See also:brother Louis and his See also:half-brother Charles, both of whom armed to resist this claim, were followed by an alliance of the younger brothers against Lothair.

A decisive See also:

battle was fought at See also:Fontenoy on the 25th of See also:June 841, when, in spite of his See also:personal gallantry, Lothair was defeated and fled to Aix. With fresh troops he entered upon a See also:war of See also:plunder, but the forces of his brothers were too strong for him, and taking with him such treasure as he could collect, he abandoned to them his See also:capital. Efforts to make See also:peace were begun, and in June 842 the brothers met on an See also:island in the See also:Saone, and agreed to an arrangement which See also:developed, after much difficulty and delay, into the treaty of See also:Verdun signed in See also:August 843. By this Lothair received Italy and the imperial See also:title, together with a stretch of See also:land between the See also:North and Mediterranean Seas lying along the valleys of the See also:Rhine and the See also:Rhone. He soon abandoned Italy to his eldest son, Louis, and remained in his new kingdom, engaged in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers, and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the See also:Normans and the See also:Saracens. In 855 he became seriously See also:ill, and despairing of recovery renounced the See also:throne, divided his lands between his three sons, and on the 23rd of See also:September entered the monastery of Prum, where he died six days later. He was buried at PrUm, where his remains were found in 186o. Lothair was entirely untrustworthy and quite unable to maintain either the unity or the dignity of the empire of Charlemagne. See " Annales Fuldenses "; See also:Nithard, " Historiarum Libri," both in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Bande i. and ii. (See also:Hanover and See also:Berlin, 1826 fol.); E. Muhlbacher, See also:Die Regesten See also:des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (See also:Innsbruck, 1881) ; E.

See also:

Dummler, Geschichte des ostfrdnkischen Reichs (See also:Leipzig, 1887—1888) ; B. See also:Simson, Jahrbucher des deutschen Reiches unter See also:Ludwig dem Frommen (Leipzig, 1874-1876).

End of Article: LOTHAIR I

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