The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855–869, by Charles West

Charles West tackles the fall of the kingdom of Lothar II (b. 835, r. 855–869) through a collection of translations and commentary, mainly focusing on the king’s drawn-out attempt to divorce his queen, Theutberga. Lothar ruled a kingdom sometimes referred to as ‘Lotharingia’, from the contemporary Latin Lotharii regnum (the kingdom of Lothar), consisting of parts of modern-day eastern France, western Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, eastern Belgium and northern Switzerland. The translations are superb, combining readability with commentary and footnotes that encourage the reader to interrogate the original Latin. While the divorce case is of great interest, it also provides West with a prism through which to view Carolingian political culture. Examination of the rhetoric around the divorce case shows that dynastic harmony was a Carolingian ideal (p. 85), that assemblies could confer and challenge royal legitimacy (pp. 87–8) and that Carolingian rulers invoked divine support before battle (pp. 165–6). At the centre of this was the Carolingian ecclesia (the Christian community of the Carolingian polity). West explores the model of the two ordines (orders) of sacerdotal and royal authority which, as recent work by scholars such as Mayke de Jong and Steffen Patzold has shown, were jointly expected to guide the realm to salvation.

West opens with a discussion of a diploma of immunity from early in Lothar II’s reign, granted to an otherwise-unknown Winebert and accompanying the latter’s donation of his property to the monastery of St-Arnulf in Metz. In the analysis of this diploma, West argues that Lothar II acted as a typical Carolingian ruler prior to his divorce case. Carolingian kings presented themselves as figures of continuity, in a legitimate line of Frankish kings. West uses this single document to comment on issues ranging from the association of specific spaces with dynastic memory and legitimacy (p. 14) to the debate over the early medieval state (p. 13). His discussion of the so-called ‘Quierzy letter’, written in 858, covers a similarly wide range. The letter was addressed by the bishops of the west Frankish kingdom to Louis the German, who had invaded the kingdom, and offers firm admonition and advice on rulership to Louis. West points out that queenship does not feature in the letter (pp. 19–21). Therefore, West suggests that the articulated model of queenship in later Carolingian texts, such as Sedulius Scottus’s De rectoribus christianis (On Christian Rulers) (c.870), occurred in response to Lothar’s divorce case. Through Pope Nicholas I’s letter to the Frankish bishops, West convincingly demonstrates the power that Waldrada, Lothar’s sometimes-recognised second wife, held in the kingdom. Pope Nicholas referred to Waldrada’s influence over Lothar in disparaging terms, probably as an attack on the king. West also explores Theutberga’s agency despite the dismal circumstances in which she found herself, commenting on the ‘strength of character’ (p. 135) it must have taken to resist Lothar’s demand that she should enter a monastery. Later, Lothar managed to coerce Theutberga into co-operating in his attempts to dissolve the marriage (p. 154).

The book also covers material culture, from manuscript decoration to coinage. West includes the coronation portrait from the Sacramentary of Metz, showing the crown descending from heaven onto a king flanked by two bishops (pp. 179–82). Visual representations like these underscore how manuscripts communicated far more than simply the texts they contained. His treatment of material culture also includes one of Lothar II’s coins. Lothar II minted relatively few coins and West suggests that their rarity may imply Lothar’s desire to be seen as a successor of his father, as Lothar I’s coins continued in circulation (p. 18). This welcome discussion of material culture encourages historians who focus on texts to broaden their definition of Carolingian political culture.

West’s coverage continues after the end of Lothar II’s reign. He uses the Metz oath to show that Lothar’s kingdom continued to be perceived as a cohesive political community even after the king’s death (pp. 168–70). Oaths were important for political communication, social unity and correct legal procedure alike, and textual records of these events were often used to construct a particular view of the oath’s meaning. Lothar II’s elites expected to be addressed as a group. Pope Hadrian II’s intervention in the succession also emphasised the coherence of Lothar’s old kingdom (pp. 174–5). While Lotharingia as a polity disappeared, a sense of ‘Lotharingian’ identity persisted long after Lothar II’s death. The name persists to this day in the historic French region of Lorraine.

Through this collection of both well-studied and less-well-known sources, West engagingly expands an episode of Carolingian dynastic drama into an exploration of Carolingian political culture. In doing so, he exposes the modus operandi not only of early medievalists but also of historians more generally. While being approachable for a wider audience, West’s translations and discussions take the reader through how a historian can understand and unpick both the divorce case and the broader Carolingian world. The book actively challenges teleological interpretations of the ‘fall of the Carolingian empire’ and the ‘formation of Europe’, showing how complex and fluid the mid-ninth-century Frankish world was. West’s choice of a range of sources and interpretations will be useful to both Carolingian specialists, to students and to historians of other periods and places.