By the time of his succession in 840, Lothair would have been in his mid forties having been born about 795. A man of this age coming to the throne might have been expected to rule sensibly but Lothair seems to have been the quarrelsome type and would spend the first three years of his sole rule bickering with his remaining brothers. Louis the German had been born at some point in the first decade of the 800s. Their younger half brother Charles born in 823. Lothair's first port of call was to demand oaths of loyalty from noblemen all over Francia and to threaten execution for those reluctant to do so. He succeeded in his aim and then, unsurprisingly given his actions during the reign of his father, he then set his sights on snatching the lands held by his brothers.
Having feigned friendly relations with his half brother Charles in Aquitaine, Lothair made no such effort with Louis the German and laid siege to one of his strongholds, eventually forcing the garrison there to flee. There was a brief stand off between the two before the situation calmed down. Alarmed at what he heard, Charles attempted to broker peace between Lothair and Louis, playing on the promises they had made their father on his death bed. But loyalty was not Lothair's strong point and, after the brief skirmishes of 840, the situation would worsen in 841 and both sides would pay a heavy price. Characteristically, Louis the German doesn't seem to have been too different to Lothair. They and Pepin had risen against their father in unison and so it should have been no surprised to anybody that war would break out between the two. Charles, on the other hand, seems to have been the most level headed of the trio, at least in his earlier years.
When civil war was beginning to look inevitable, he was the one that attempted to mediate between the other two, pledging his loyalty to Lothair if his rights and lands were acknowledged. However, that was all to no avail and he too was forced into action when direct threats were made to his mother and the pledges of loyalty he had received were proved false as key noblemen switched their allegiance to Lothair who could now see plenty of opportunity to expand his kingdom and snatch power from his brothers. Despite successfully rescuing his mother from potential harm, Charles now found himself in trouble. Lothair had now decided to harass him and with the help of Pepin, the son of Lothair's brother of the same, surrounded Charles. Much like the scene with Louis, Lothair found himself in a stand off with Charles' men who were quite willing to fight him although Charles himself sought a peaceful resolution, something Lothair would not agree to unless he would benefit substantially.
Although a temporary truce was agreed, Lothair still had designs on stealing Charles' lands and sent some of his new allies, who had crossed over from Charles' camp, into Aquitaine to reap havoc. Lothair's next move in 841 was to gather a large army and march on Louis who, like Charles' previously, found himself in a great dilemma and completely outnumbered. His situation was only made worse by some of his men either defecting or fleeing. The only pragmatic solution for him at this point was to retreat, which he did so, to Bavaria. In May of 841, Charles sought yet again to reach some sort of agreement with Lothair but, showing his treacherous side again, Lothair failed to show up at the agreed meeting place. Envoys did arrive from Louis seeking an alliance with Charles against their bullying older brother. Despite last ditch attempts to prevent a battle, the inevitable finally happened and the combined forces of Charles and Louis faced off against Lothair at Fontenoy which would prove to be the bloodiest in the entire history of the Franks.
After hours of vicious fighting, Lothair and his men fled and although both sides sustained heavy losses, Louis and Charles won the day. The defeat at Fontenay may have humbled other rulers but it didn't deter Lothair and, after initially gathering his forces, or what remained of them, and pursuing Louis, he then had a change of plan and went after Charles. Although Fontenay had been a major success for Louis and Charles in purely military terms, it had very little impact on them politically and Charles only real benefit in the aftermath of the battle was a few defectors from Lothair's camp crossing over to Charles, giving a small boost to his depleted ranks. Once more Charles resorted to diplomacy and trying to reason with Lothair, urging him to adhere to the wishes of their father and the division of the kingdom. Charles must have known this was a largely futile act and there was another stand off between the two sides near Paris in late 841. This time it was Lothair who tried negotiating and offered Charles the region west of the Seine except Aquitaine. Charles was sensible enough to realise this was total fully and trusting Lothair by this point would be completely ridiculous and he rejected the offer and again referred back to what Louis the Pious had arranged for on his deathbed.
As he had well and truly proved, Lothair's diplomatic skills were sorely lacking and after ignoring offers from Saxony for a potential alliance in his struggle with Charles and Louis, he pushed the Saxons into the arms of his rivals and gave him a greater problem than he already had. The tide seemed to be turning against the Frankish king and he narrowly escaped the clutches of Louis and Charles when he had to make a hasty retreat from Sinzig and left Francia altogether with only a few men to escort him. Louis and Charles headed to the capital at Aachen where now they had to have urgent discussions to resolve an escalating crisis. Lothair, rather then backing down from his aim of snatching his brothers land, had decided it better to abandon his kingdom and duty of governance altogether.
In 843, the unrest was finally put to bed with the Treaty of Verdun. Lothair continued as king of Middle Francia, and effectively made Holy Roman Emperor, Louis became king in the east while Charles ruled over the west, including overlordship of their nephew Pepin who received Aquitaine. After the agreement was reached, the three went their separate ways. Lothair to Aachen, Charles to make an advantageous marriage and Louis to his new kingdom in the East. In 844, Lothair sort to ensure that, as Holy Roman Emperor, the right to choose the next Pope would be his and sent diplomats to the current pope to law down the law. The discussions went well but relations between the Empire and the papacy would be a long and complicated one for centuries to come. In October of that year, Lothair, Louis and Charles met and swore loyalty to each other. The Treaty of Verdun, now that the lines of territory had been drawn, seems to have restored some brotherly affection between the three of them. However, the following year, 845, disaster befell Charles in his western kingdom as the Vikings sailed up the River Seine, possibly led by the semi legendary Ragnor Lothbrok, causing death and destruction on the way as they headed straight for Paris. They were appeased only after they had received a substantial pay off from Charles but, as anybody who knows even the slightest detail about Viking history could tell you, this was not a tactic that would keep them away forever.
Despite Lothair uniting with his brothers in condemning the Viking attacks on the Frankish kingdoms and threatening to wage war on them, this proved to be as useless as paying the Danes off as the men from the North were not exactly adverse to a battle. Throughout the empire, there was further trouble in Italy as Lothair's son Louis, who had been made king when he travelled to Rome for talks with the pope, found himself attacked by Muslim invaders. Lothair was obliged to send in his own forces in 848 to regain territory that the Muslims had taken. Also that same year, Lothair and Charles seem to have nearly come to blows again, perhaps the pressure of dealing with invaders from the North and East put a strain on relations, but this time managed to come to terms again without much ado. In keeping with tradition, Lothair had his son, Louis, crowned co emperor by Pope Leo IV, which would have been a huge boost to his moral given the challenges he, his father and the empire were facing. Lothair now resorted to a similar tactic that Charles had employed against the Danish invaders and bribed them. Rather than financial though, he offered them land to settle in which, in the following century, would occur again when Normandy "land of the Norsemen" would be given to the Danes. With relations now good between Charles and Lothair , the one remaining family member to still be causing grief was Pepin, their nephew and Charles, after discussions with Lothair, had him sent off to a monastery. In 853, Lothair became godfather to Charles daugher. A decade on from Verdun, the relations between these two in particular was unrecognisable. There did seem to come an element of mistrust between Louis the German and the other two, although it would simmer down.
In Autumn 855, sensing that death was coming for him, Lothair entered a monastery and took on the life of a monk for his remaining days and weeks. When he died in late September, he must have been a weary man. Aged about 60, he had seen a lot of despair and trouble in Europe, a lot of which he had caused himself. Repeated rebellions and fallings out with his father and then brothers distracted him from his duty of governing. While his father and grandfather had ruled dutifully, establishing their authority where others wished to undermine, Lothair had spent too long trying to overreach himself, acting opportunistically against Charles and Louis. However, after Verdun and becoming Emperor, he does seem to have become a better ruler, using diplomacy better. It is unfortunate for him, that his time as Emperor coincided with the Viking raids becoming stronger and more devastating. As he lay dying, Lothair may have wondered if he hadn't been so quarrelsome in his early years, he could have left a lasting legacy. The Vikings put paid to that.
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