Lothair II of Italy

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Lothair II (926/928-November 22, 950), often Lothair of Arles, was king of Italy from 947 to 950^[1]. He was of the noble Frankish lineage descended from Boso of Provence.

Although he held the Frankish title of King of Italy, he never succeeded in exercising power there. He was betrothed in 931 and married, 12 December 937, to the fifteen-year-old^[2] Adelaide, the spirited and intelligent daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy, King of Italy, and Bertha of Swabia.

Their marriage was part of a political settlement designed to conclude a peace between her father and his^[3]. The couple had a daughter, Emma of Italy, born as early as 948, who was married in 966 to the Carolingian Lothair of France.

Lothair's power in Italy was nominal. From the time of his successful uprising of the nobles in 945, Berengar of Ivrea, kept all real power and patronage in his hands. Lothair was perhaps poisoned by Berengar, who attempted to cement his usurped political power in Lombardy by forcing Lothair's widow to marry his son. Instead she entreated the protection of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, whom she married.

Lothair figures briefly in the vita of Adelaide written by Hroswitha of Gandersheim.

[edit] Note

^ He was co-king with his father from 931
^ Odilo of Cluny gives her age at her marriage as "in her sixteenth year."
^ In 933, Hugh of Arles ("Hugues de Provence") had given up his kingdom to his inveterate enemy Rudolph II, who merged the two kingdoms into a new Kingdom of Arles, but died in 937.

[edit] References

Pierre Riché, Les Carolingiens, une famille qui fit l'Europe, Paris, 1983, (in French) ISBN 2010097378
Jean-Charles Volkmann, Bien Connaître les généalogies des rois de France (in French) ISBN 2-87747-208-6
"Lothar koenig von Italien" Genealogical references (in German).