(Painting of Lothar I, c. 9th century CE, [Public Domain] via Creative
Commons)
After the reign of Louis the
Pious, ruler of the late Charlemagne’s realm from 814 until 840 CE, the vast
Carolingian empire split into three domains ruled by Louis’ surviving sons. The
west of the empire went to Charles the Bald, the east fell to Louis the German
and the center (known as Lotharangia) was controlled by Lothar I.
When Lothar arranged a
marriage between his son, Lothar II (c. 835-869 CE) and a woman named
Theutberga in 855, no one could have known just how scandalous the marriage
would become. Almost immediately, Lothar II became unhappy with his position as
a married man. As soon as 857 CE, after about two years of marriage, he was
determined to divorce Theutberga.
Yet, divorce was, and remains,
a controversial and taboo subject in the Catholic Church. Divorce was possible,
but there were strict rules and regulations that a person needed to meet in
order to successfully petition for a marriage to be nullified. Despite the poor
odds, Lothar II decided to ruthlessly pursue the divorce.
In 857 CE, Lothar II
unleashed a brutal, slanderous and shameless smear campaign against his wife
that would even impress the best attack-ad politicians of today. He held
nothing back—Theutberga was accused of incest with her brother, sodomy and even
infanticide. Lothar II worked with local church officials to ensure that his
wife’s guilt or innocence would be determined by a divine trial. If she, or a
champion, could survive a trial of boiling water, then her innocence would be
proven. If the wounds sustained in the trial festered and caused death, she
would be deemed guilty. According to some reports, the trial may have involved
scooping a rock from the bottom of a cauldron of boiling water, using only a
bare hand. Whatever the case, Theutberga or her champion miraculously completed
the trial without major injury and was found not guilty of Lothar II’s
accusations. Suffice it to say, Lothar did not receive his divorce.
Nevertheless, the king of
Lotharangia was determined to rid himself of Theutberga. His next major attempt
to end his marriage occurred in 863 CE, when he was feeling strong after
inheriting the regions around Vienne and Lyon, following the death of his
brother, Charles of Provence. That year, Lothar II worked with the bishops of
Lotharangia to secure a divorce from his wife. In particular, the synod of Metz
(in 863 CE) gave their support to the king. Yet, not all churchmen condoned the
divorce—in fact, the highest-ranking member of the clergy personally acted to
make sure King Lothar II’s marriage would remain intact. Pope Nicholas I
overturned the decision made by the synod of Metz and even removed two of the
leading Lotharangian archbishops, named Günther and Theutgaud, from their
positions in the church. Lothar II eventually bent under Papal pressure and was
forced to resume his marriage with Theutberga.
When Pope Nicholas I died in
867 CE and was succeeded by Pope Adrian II, King Lothar II was still pressing
for a divorce. Now he had a new tactic to end his marriage—he voiced his belief
that Theutberga was barren and incapable of giving birth to heirs. In 869 CE,
Lothar II personally traveled to Rome, hoping to win over the new pope to his
cause. After receiving a fairly neutral response from the pope (the matter
would be deliberated), King Lothar II left Rome and began his journey back to
Lotharangia. Yet, he would never make it home. Lothar II died on the road,
still without any legitimate heirs. In the end, his kingdom of Lotharangia was
split between his relatives, Charles the Bald and Louis the German.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
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