11 Facts About Lothair I

1.

On several occasions, Lothair I led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains.

2.

Lothair I was born in 795, to Louis the Pious and Ermengarde of Hesbaye.

3.

Lothair I's father was the son of the reigning Emperor, Charlemagne.

4.

The next year, Lothair I would be sent to govern Bavaria for his father, the new emperor.

5.

Lothair I soon changed his attitude and spent the succeeding decade in constant strife over the division of the Empire with his father.

6.

Lothair I was alternately master of the Empire, and banished and confined to Italy, at one time taking up arms in alliance with his brothers and at another fighting against them, whilst the bounds of his appointed kingdom were in turn extended and reduced.

7.

When Louis the Pious was dying in 840, he sent the imperial insignia to Lothair I, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire.

8.

Lothair I met with the leaders of the Stellinga in Speyer and promised them his support in return for theirs, but Louis and then the native Saxon nobility put down the Stellinga in the next years.

9.

Lothair I soon ceded Italy to his eldest son, Louis, and remained in his new kingdom, engaging in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the Northmen and the Saracens.

10.

Lothair I was buried at Prum, where his remains were found in 1860.

11.

Lothair I married Ermengarde of Tours in 821, who died in 851.