Lothair II (The Saxon) OF LORRAINE (827-869)

	Seal of Lothair II		Lothair Crystal in the British Museum		Lothair Crystal in the British Museum, Photo by Dana Otstott Shear 2012.		Lothair Crystal in the British Museum, Photo by Dana Otstott Shear 2012.

Name:	Lothair II (The Saxon) OF LORRAINE 1
Sex:	Male
Nickname:	"The Saxon"
Father:	Lothair I OF ITALY (795-855)
Mother:	Ermengarde OF TOURS ( -851)

Individual Events and Attributes

Birth	0827
Occupation	frm 23 Sep 0855 to 8 Aug 0869 (age 27-42)	King of Lotharingia or Lorraine
Group/Caste Membership		Carolingian Dynasty
Death	8 Aug 0869 (age 41-42)	Piacenza

Additional Information

Death

Cause: fever

Marriage

Spouse	Waldrada ( - )
Children	Bertha OF LORRAINE (863-925)
Marriage	0862 (age 34-35)

Individual Note 1

Lothair II (835 – August 8, 869) was the second son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. He was married to Teutberga, daughter of Boso the Elder. He is the namesake of the Lothair Crystal, which he probably commissioned, and of the Cross of Lothair, which was made over a century after his death but incorporates a rock crystal bearing his name and image from his seal.

 

Upon his father's death in 855, he received as his kingdom a 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 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.

 

Lothair's reign was chiefly occupied by his efforts to obtain a divorce from his wife Teutberga, a sister of Hucbert, abbot of St Maurice (d. 864) and daughter of the Bosonid Boso the Elder, and his relations with his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German were influenced by his desire to obtain their support for this endeavor. Although quarrels and reconciliations between the three kings followed each other in quick succession, in general it may be said that Louis favoured the divorce, and Charles opposed it, while neither lost sight of the fact that Lothair had no sons to inherit his lands. Lothair, whose desire for the divorce was prompted by his affection for his mistress, Waldrada, put away Theutberga, 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 a cession of lands and obtained the consent of the local clergy to the divorce 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 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 a divorce, and Lothair went to Italy to obtain the assent of the new pope, Adrian II. Placing a favourable interpretation upon the words of the pope, he had set out on the return journey, when he was seized with fever and died at Piacenza on the August 8, 869. He left, by Waldrada, a son Hugh who was declared illegitimate, and his kingdom was divided between his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German by the Treaty of Meerssen.

 

Illegitimate children:

Hugh (c.855-895), Duke of Alsace

Gisela (865-908), married Godfrid, Duke of Frisia

Bertha (c.863-925), married Theobald of Arles, brother of Theutberga, and then Adalbert II of Tuscany

Ermengarde (d. 90?)

 

SOURCES:

Hincmar, "Opusculum de divortio Lotharii regis et Tetbergae reginae," in Cursus completus patrologiae, tome cxxv., edited by J. P. Migne (Paris, 1857–79)

M. Sdralek, Hinkmars von Rheims Kanonistisches Gutachten uber die Ehescheidung des Königs Lothar II (Freiburg, 1881)

E. Dummler, Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reiches (Leipzig, 1887–88)

E. Muhlbacher, Die Regenten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern (Innsbruck, 1881)²

Individual Note 2

The Lothair Crystal (also known as the Lothar Crystal or the Susanna Crystal) is an engraved gem from Lotharingia in North-West Europe, showing scenes of the biblical story of Susanna, dating from 855-869.[1] The Lothair Crystal is an object in the collection of the British Museum.

 

Description

The original element of the work is a circular disk of clear quartz ("rock crystal"), measuring about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. This is engraved in intaglio with eight scenes depicting the story of Susanna and the Elders, related in the Book of Daniel (but regarded as part of the Apocrypha by Protestants).[2] Susanna is first shown being falsely accused and condemned for adultery by the elders. Daniel intervenes to question the elders, uncovers their false witness and engineers their execution by stoning. In the final scene, Susanna is declared to be innocent. The scenes are accompanied by brief inscriptions in Latin drawn from the Vulgate Bible.[1][3]

 

The engravings on the crystal are executed in the energetic and distinctive early mediæval Rheims style which originated in manuscript drawings such as those in the Utrecht Psalter.[1] The crystal is surrounded by a 15th century gilt-copper mount with a foliage border,[3] which was once attributed to Saint Eligius (d. 660), the patron saint of goldsmiths.[4]

 

Dating

The crystal is inscribed LOTHARIVS REX FRANCORVM IVSSIT ("Lothair, King of the Franks, caused [this to be made]"[5]), apparently Lothair II, or "Lothar" in German.[1] The elder Lothair styled himself imperator (emperor), whereas the younger man only called himself rex (king), as does the owner of the crystal; it is therefore probable that it was created in Lothair II's time, probably around the middle of the 9th century, making it a late example of Carolingian art.[3]

 

History

Nothing is known of the history of the Lothair Crystal prior to the 10th century. Around this time, it was pawned between a Count and the Canon of Rheims – in exchange for a horse. The Canon then denied possession of the crystal.[6] It was later discovered to be in his possession when the canon was smoked out of the cathedral when it was set alight. In penance, he founded Waulsort Abbey (in modern Belgium), where the crystal was held until the 18th century. During part of this period, it was utilised by the abbots to fasten their copes during mass.

 

In 1793, revolutionary French forces sacked Waulsort and threw the crystal into the Meuse river, reputedly cracking it in the process.[1] In the 19th century it was stolen and stripped of its jewels.[6] It reappeared in the hands of a Belgian dealer, who claimed it had been retrieved from the river bed and sold it to a French collector for twelve francs. It passed to the British Liberal politician Ralph Bernal, who paid £10 for it.[7] In 1855 it was acquired by Augustus Wollaston Franks on behalf of the British Museum in an auction of Bernal's collection at Christie's for £267.[3][8][6]

 

The Lothair Crystal was Object 53 in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 programme A History of the World in 100 Objects, chosen and presented by the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor.

 

Interpretation

The crystal is one of a small number of Carolingian engraved gems created for the circles around the court, although its form does not closely resemble any of the others. A gem with his portrait that was probably Lothair's personal seal was set a hundred years after his death into the processional Cross of Lothair in Aachen Cathedral.[9] A number of interpretations have been advanced for the crystal's function as well as its meaning and significance to the Lotharingian court; its meaning is unclear and it has been the subject of ongoing controversy among scholars.[10]

 

The subject matter of the crystal suggests that it was meant to be shown at court as a symbol of the king's role in the dispensation of justice.[1] Its design may be an allusion to the breastplate of justice worn by the Kohen Gadol (the Jewish High Priest).[4] Under this interpretation, the crystal may have been an attempt to show visually the ruler's responsibility to provide justice, using a biblical parallel to exhort him to uphold the ideal of wise rule exemplified by the just kings of the Old Testament. Alternatively, the subject of the crystal symbolises an idealised relationship between Church and state, with Susanna representing the Church being protected from her enemies by the just decisions of the ruler.[10]

 

Valerie Flint has argued that the crystal is related to the acrimonious divorce of Lothair and his wife Theutberga, whom he accused of committing incest and practicing abortion. It depicts the vindication of a wife falsely accused of a sexual crime, and the type of rock crystal from which it is made was used by the Franks as an amulet. Flint suggests that the crystal was designed in 865, when Lothar had a temporary reconciliation with his wife, to serve both as a reproach to the king for his conduct and as a charm to protect the royal couple against evil.[11]

 

NOTES:

1 a b c d e f British Museum. "Lothair Crystal". A History of the World in 100 Objects. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lothar,_or_susanna_crystal.aspx. Retrieved 4 June 2010.

2 Brown, Louise Fargo; Carson, George Barr (1971). Men and centuries of European civilization. Ayer Publishing. p. 127b. ISBN 9780836921007.

3 a b c d British Museum. "The Lothair Crystal". British Museum catalogue. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=59031&partid=1&searchText=lothair+crystal&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx¤tPage=1. Retrieved 4 June 2010.

4 a b Kemp, Martin, ed (2000). The Oxford history of Western art. Oxford University Press US. p. 94. ISBN 9780198600121.

5 "Lothair Crystal". A History of the World. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/4jY66b8hQumUbeudll4R_w. Retrieved 16 June 2010.

6 a b c Francis, Sir Frank, ed (1971). Treasures of the British Museum. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0 500 20119 6.

7 Banham, Joanna; Harris, Jennifer (1984). William Morris and the Middle Ages: a collection of essays, together with a catalogue of works exhibited at the Whitworth Art Gallery, 28 September-8 December 1984. Manchester University Press ND. pp. 65–66. ISBN 9780719017216.

8 "Franks, Augustus Wollaston." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 4 June 2010 .

9 Lasko, Peter, Ars Sacra, 800-1200, Penguin History of Art (now Yale), p. 49, 1972 (nb, 1st edn.) ISBN14056036X; Image

10 a b Nees, Lawrence (2002). Early medieval art. Oxford University Press. pp. 239–41. ISBN 9780192842435.

11 Rider, Caroline (2006). Magic and impotence in the Middle Ages. p. 35. ISBN 9780199282227.

[edit] External linksBritish Museum page on the Lothair Crystal

"A History of the World - Object: Crystal engraved with images from the Biblical story of Susanna, made for the Medieval King Lothair". BBC and British Museum. 22 September 2008. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/4jY66b8hQumUbeudll4R_w. Retrieved 17 June 2010.

 

This article is about an item held in the British Museum. Object reference: M&ME 1855,1201.5.

 

SOURCES:

Kornbluth, Genevra Alisoun (1995), Engraved gems of the Carolingian empire, Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN 9780271014265

Caygill, Marjorie (2001), The British Museum A-Z companion, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, ISBN 9781579583033³

Sources

1	Weis, Frederick Lewis & Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals". p 141, 145-16.

2	"Wikipedia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_II.

3	Ibid. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lothair_Crystal&oldid=456510034.