First Council of Aachen In 860, Lothair summoned a small council at Aachen with Archbishops Gunther of Cologne and
Theutgaud of Trier, Bishops
Franco of Liège and Adventius of Metz, Abbots Heigel of
Prüm and Odelingus of Inden, and a few other, close but unnamed supporters of the king. He then brings Teutberga, who confesses to comitting incest with Hucbert and declares, according to the bishops, that she is unworthy to remain married. Despite being questioned repeatedly, she remained "steadfastly in her confession." In their contemporary address to Archbishop Hincmar, the Lotharingian bishops recounted Teutberga's confession as such: :(Chapter 6.) “With God and my conscience as my witnesses”, she said, “and my confessor also as a witness, I shall stray neither to the right nor to the left in any respect in what I say and confess about myself, saying nothing except what is truthful. I recognise and know this about myself”, she said, “I am not worthy to remain in the marital bond (coniugalis copula). And I present to you here as a witness this bishop Gunther, to whom I have confessed. He knows that I am not worthy.” And she turned to this bishop, and pleading, said, “I ask, bishop, that you make your co-brothers understand, as you know best, that the matter is just as I bore witness about myself.” :The bishop replied to her, “It would be good”, he said, “that you yourself should reveal to my co-brothers what still remains hidden, so that they might hear what they should judge upon from your own lips.” But she said, “What need is there that I should say anything other than what you know? For the sake of God, you do it, you tell them my necessity, so that all of you, together with my lord (senior) [Lothar], might give me permission to do what I want to. Since even for the whole world, I am unwilling to lose my soul [Mark 8:36]. And so I ask you, for the sake of God and the ministry which you took on, do not deny what I demand for the salvation of my soul.” :(Chapter 7.) Then we bishops asked as a test, whether if her request were to be granted, she would later make some complaint or prepare a trap. To this she replied without constraint: “Through the faith which I nourish, I promise to you in the presence of God that I shall never in eternity make an accusation, either directly or through any cunning.” :(Chapter 8.) What we finally learned from our co-brother [Gunther] about this matter, while he grieved, anguished, lamented and sorrowed greatly that he had ever been aware of this confession, these things we shall tell our brothers and co-bishops face to face, according to the licence given us. So that, as we said in the beginning, they might understand the evidence (argumenta) of this hitherto hidden matter, and then everyone, with one counsel and agreement, might dispel error and raise up truth. The
Annales Bertiniani asserted without hedging that Lothair coerced Teutberga into the confession: :Lothar hated his queen, Theutberga, with irreconcilable loathing, and after wearing her down with many acts of hostility, he finally forced her to confess before bishops that she had had sodomite intercourse with her brother Hubert. For this crime, she was immediately condemned to penance and shut away in a convent. Further, not all in Lotharingia supported the council; possibly due to the 860 council, Heigel of Prüm defected to Charles the Bald, who rewarded him with the abbey of
Flavigny, and later made him archbishop of
Sens. Teutberga fled to Charles as well, likely having to escape, or alternatively having been let go by Lothair, as she was no longer important. An intentionally anonymous–and importantly unconvinced by Lothair–aristocratic party from Lotharingia canvassed a number of bishops for their opinions on the matter, and one of those to respond, partially to secure his own position, was Hincmar of Reims. As part of their aforementioned address to Hincmar, the bishops posited to him a booklet of questions. He wrote his response, the
De divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae, around February to April in the first part. Seven more questions were sent individually in response, and around August to October, Hincmar wrote the second part of his
De divortio in response to these. The final product was neither fully for, nor against, Lothair.
Second council and marriage to Waldrada Immediately after finding safety, Teutberga and her family retracted her confession and appealed to
Pope Nicholas I. Two of Lothair's bishops also travel to Rome to refute "malicious lies" about Lothair and attain papal approval for the divorce. With his relationship with Charles the Bald cooling, Lothair formed an alliance with Louis the German. Louis' eldest son, Carloman, rebelled against his father, and his relations lost their lands in East Francia and Lotharingia, forcing Carloman's supporters to seek shelter with Charles. With a considerably larger body of aristocratic supporters, Charles felt confident to try and conquer Lower Burgundy, still ruled by the young and epileptic Charles of Provence. This broke the peace between the three kings. Lothair met with Louis in person and the two kings composed a letter to the Pope asking him to rebuke Charles the Bald. A record of the meeting survives in the
Liber Memorialis of Remiremont, dated to December 861. It kept a list of names at the meeting. The first two,
Domnus Lotharius rex and
Domnus Hludovicus rex, are thought to be the "lord king Lothair" and "lord king Louis" respectively. After a gap, another list of names follows: Bertra, Rotrude, Hugh, Emma, Waldrada, Doda, Ermengard, and another Ermengard. Not all these names can be exactly identified, but it shows that Lothair brought with him Waldrada and their son
Hugh. A list of 50 or so men's names follows, among them Walter, likely the same supporter of Lothair. The situation suddenly turned in 862; Carloman and Louis reconciled, while Charles' daughter Judith eloped with
Baldwin of Flanders. The occidental king exiled the couple, forcing them to seek refuge with Lothair. Charles' sons
Louis the Stammerer and
Charles the Child also married without the approval of their father, causing a falling out. The Second Council of Aachen assembled on 29 April 862, before the reply of the Papacy, which was now encumbered by multiple requests. Lothair adopted a similarly penitential attitude to the first council, pleading with all the assembled bishops of the realm as a young man separated from his wife and unable to practice celibacy, and begging for permission to remarry. As expected, the bishops gave their assent. Lothair's plea is recorded in a text labeled
The Booklet of Complaint: :For you know that I was brought up from infancy and childhood among women, and that I desired to reach the harbor of legitimate marriage, for the good of chastity and to avoid the wickedness of indecency. I am not unaware that whatever goes beyond licit union should be considered the wickedness of fornication and harmful pollution. I know that a concubine is not a wife, and I do not wish to have what is illicit, but what is licit. :You therefore, mindful of my youth, consider what I should do, to whom neither is a wife conceded, nor a concubine permitted. It is known to you that the Apostle says,
I wish the younger ones to marry, to procreate children [1 Tim. 5:14]. And
Who cannot contain himself, let him marry. For it is better to marry than to burn [1 Cor. 7:9]. And again,
Let everyone have his own wife for fear of fornication [1 Cor. 7:2]. And the Apostle Matthew: “God blessed marriage, and permitted love to rule in the bodies of men.” :Therefore I speak straightforwardly, and I confess that I am not at all able to endure without any conjugal union. And in truth I wish to be separated from all fornication
according to the inward man [Romans 7:22]. And now, my dearest ones, we suppliantly beg your Sanctity and beg for the love of Him who redeemed us, that in the kindness of love and devoted fidelity, you will not delay from coming to the aid of our body and soul in peril, for the utility of the holy church of God and the kingdom committed to us: so that we may equally rejoice and exult in the Lord, both in our prosperity and in our most prompt devotion toward you. The Lotharingian bishops, particularly the accounts of Adventius and Gunthar, argued for their decision that the status of women and men were different, and thus though women were not allowed to remarry after putting away their husband, a man who did so because of adultery could. Lothair married Waldrada, but a lengthy treatise on marriage was written in response to the council which dismantled its arguments. It asserted that Lothair was not allowed to remarry even after putting away his wife for fornication, and further that as the incest was done before Lothair and Teutberga's marriage, he had no case against her. Another dissenter was Hincmar, who maintained that though Lothair could remarry if the case against Teutberga was established, it was not done so in a proper manner. The correspondences of his councillors show that Lothair for a moment considered a private confession around February 863, but ultimately regained his confidence. Lothair and Louis the German met with Charles at the Summit of
Savonnières in November of 862, where each king promised to maintain the peace as established at
Koblenz in 860. Charles read out his grievances against Lothair to a small circle of West Frankish nobles, but was prevented from doing so to a wider assembly. After this and promising to redress these issues, Lothair, due to the aid of Louis, was able to secure a kiss of peace.
Death of Charles Lothair's brother Charles died on 24 January 863 after a prolonged illness, and Charles' handlers had made Lothair his heir since 858. However, Emperor Louis contested this succession plan, and as a result both kings invaded Provence, seeking to occupy it and win over its magnates as quickly as possible. Ultimately a partition took place where Lothair received the
Lyonnais and the
Viennois, and lordship over
Gerard of Roussillon, who continued to govern for Lothair. In May, Lothair publicly honored Charles' memory by making a donation to the convent of St. Pierre in
Lyon. In the diploma, Waldrada is listed alongside Lothair and his wife, and their son Hugh's presence demonstrates that he was being groomed as heir. To historian Charles West, the incident acts as a high-point in Lothair’s reign, where things seemed to have been going his way, and when he held confidence that the issue of his marriage was mostly resolved. == Later years ==