The Book of Emperors: A Translation of the Middle High German Kaiserchronik

XL. Lothair I

336 to speak, a mature man known for his virtues or who had displayed noble conduct in his youth. Older men were expected to display honor and virtue; young men to maintain good behavior. Thus the two ages of man made themselves welcome and praiseworthy at Louis’s court. In King Louis’s time Christendom rejoiced far and wide; indeed the ruler busied himself looking for what deeds of honor he might perform in a manner that would be worthy service to God. He ordered children of the noblest families to be taught the sublime and rich Imperial Law, so that they would be able to give wise counsel. Mindful of his own noble birth, he declined to take fees or gifts from poor people. He judged the people well as the Imperial Law directed. He would give good advice himself to a rich man whom need was oppressing. He would order the wisest of his men to come to his chamber, where base-born men had to stand and wait at the door—those were men he did not recognize. Louis judged the Empire with great wisdom. He was compassionate in dealing with evil, he was constant in his treatment of good people, and God’s service was dear to him. He was beloved of all his people. For the sake of God, he loved the poor. In court proceedings he would accept neither silver nor gold. It is a fact that he held the Empire for thirty-seven years and twelve days more. That lord departed from us resting in his great goodness. XL Lothair I Lothair I (r. 840–855) was the eldest son of Louis I, “the Pious,” who made him joint emperor with himself in 817. Lothair, however, spent most of the 830s in conflict with his father over who ruled what. When Louis I died in 840, Lothair claimed the whole empire for himself, which was disputed by his younger half-brother, Charles the Bald, and his younger brother, Louis the German. In Lothair 337 843, the quarrel among the brothers was settled with the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the Empire into three portions. Charles received the western part, which developed into the Kingdom of France. Louis received the eastern part, which, very roughly, became Germany. Lothair received the title of sole emperor and the “Middle Kingdom,” reaching from the Netherlands through AlsaceLorraine into Italy. “Lorraine” is in fact the French and English adaptation of the Germanic “Lotharingen (Lothair’s land).” Lothair continued to be involved in alternating conflicts and periods of cooperation with his brothers. Eventually he turned Italy over to his son, Louis II. When he sensed that he had a fatal illness, he entered a monastery, where six days later he died. While he did some fighting in Bavaria, as presented below, there is no record of any Herman or Otto in roles of opposition to him. when Louis departed from this world he left a worthy son named Lothair. The princes would not stop demanding that they continue to maintain their honor through choosing him for their ruler. Lothair was a worthy hero and soon he convoked a council at Regensburg. There was one Duke Otto among the Bavarians who chose not to attend the council, saying that he had authority over his lands—or else what was his sword good for? That duke took up arms and assembled a great army. The Bavarians all confirmed that they would never leave him and that those who should desert would find that they never again could gain land on Bavarian soil, neither fiefs nor land of their own. King Lothair and his men were well aware that things were taking place against him in the empire. Now hear a strange story: When he entered the land of the Bavarians, the duke readied his flag and entrusted it to Margrave Herman to carry. Many of the men dear to the king were slain, and the king was forced to depart without a victory. The king ordered messengers to ride from the Rhine to the Rhone, and so messenger was flying after messenger. Burgundians and Swabians rose in revolt, but the wisest of the duke’s counselors told him he could not hold out against the Empire. He would have to evacuate the land. The 338 invaders began ravaging the land with fire. The king commanded greater forces as he...