The Historians' History of the World 07

The time-serving clergy of Lorraine, with Archbishop Thietgand of Trèves and Günther of Cologne at their head, were venal enough to grant a divorce on the ground of these calumnious reports at a synod held at Aachen in the year 860, and to condemn the queen to do penance in a nunnery. Lothair thereupon celebrated his nuptials with Waldrada with great pomp. But both his uncles, Charles the Bald and Ludwig were adverse to the divorce, because if Lothair left no legitimate issue they would be the heirs to his kingdom. At the instigation of Charles the Bald Hincmar, the learned and disputatious archbishop of Rheims, published a pamphlet exposing the whole tissue of falsehoods which had been invented to Thietberga’s disadvantage and vehemently impugning the proceedings of the synod of Aachen. The unhappy queen escaped from her nunnery and threw herself upon the protection of Charles; she also appealed to the pope for help. The papal chair was at that time occupied by Nicholas II, a mighty prince of the church, who gladly embraced the opportunity thus offered of summoning a king before his judgment-seat. He sent legates to Lorraine to inquire into the king’s matrimonial affairs at a Frankish synod. But the legates were not proof against bribery, and at a synod at Metz in the year 863 they pronounced in favour of the king.

Nicholas, learning of the corruptibility of his agents, condemned the conclusions of the synod of Metz in a Lateran synod and deposed the archbishops of Trèves and Cologne. A lengthy and repulsive controversy on the subject of the royal divorce ensued in Lorraine, finding an echo even in the chambers where the women sat spinning. Lothair was forced to bow to the pope’s will, and his consort Thietberga returned to his court. But he presently began to live with Waldrada again, although he could not procure the church’s sanction to a divorce and a marriage with his mistress. This scandalous quarrel, which kept the mind of all the western world in a state of agitation, was still dragging its length along when Nicholas II died in 867. Lothair hoped that he might gain his end with the new pope Adrian II, and with the object in view he undertook a journey to Italy in 869. At his interview with the pope he swore, to the horror of all pious souls, an oath notoriously false, declaring that in recent years he had avoided all commerce with Waldrada. But the new pope, who held the king in profound contempt on account of his corrupt morals, also refused to grant the divorce, and could be brought to promise no more than that he would inquire into the matter once again in a synod which he would summon to meet at Rome. Lothair died of a raging fever on his homeward way, and his devout contemporaries saw in his death the divine judgment on his crime. His children were not recognised by the law, and his dominions therefore passed to the other monarchs who were of kin to him. His brother, the emperor Ludwig II, was childless, so that Ludwig the German and Charles the Bald were the only heirs whom it was necessary to take into account.

LUDWIG AND CHARLES DIVIDE LOTHAIR’S POSSESSIONS (870 A.D.)

[870 A.D.]

At the time of Lothair’s unlooked for decease the king of the East Franks was engaged in a war against the Slavs. His eldest son, Carloman [or Carlmann], had for years been warring on Ratislaw, prince of Moravia, and had gained some successes. The Czechs also frequently made excursions into Bavaria at this period, carrying the inhabitants of the country away into captivity. Ludwig therefore resolved to attack the Czechs all along the line in one great campaign. In the August of 869 his armies were equipped and ready to march against the foe. His second son, Ludwig the Younger, was to attack the Sorbs, he himself in concert with his son Carloman was to reduce the Moravians to subjection once more. At this juncture he suddenly fell sick of a serious malady at Ratisbon; and his third son, Charles, as yet untried in arms, led the army to join Carloman in his stead. The war was conducted with success at all points. The Sorbs were compelled to submit. The German warriors attacked the Moravians behind their apparently impassable earthworks, burned many places to the ground, and returned home laden with spoil.