Editing Lothair I (section)

== Division of the kingdom ==
[[File:Vertrag von Prüm.svg|thumb|right|220px|Division of the Carolingian Empire under the [[Treaty of Prüm]] (855)]]

The first rebellion began in 830. All three brothers fought their father, whom they deposed.  In 831, their father was reinstated and he deprived Lothair of his imperial title and gave Italy to Charles. The second rebellion was instigated by [[Angilbert II, Archbishop of Milan]] in 833, and again Louis was deposed in 834. Lothair, through the loyalty of the Lombards and later reconciliations, retained Italy and the imperial position through all remaining divisions of the Empire by his father.<ref name=jong>{{cite web |url= https://www.academia.edu/15388945 |title= The Penitential State. Authority and Atonement in the Ages of Louis the Pious (814–840) – 1. Louis the Pious – A boy who became a king|publisher=  Academia | author=Mayke de Jong  | access-date= 25 January 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Riche1993">{{cite book|author=Pierre Riche|title=The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tcjy7bCmFL0C|year=1993|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0-8122-1342-4}}</ref>

[[File:Karolingische denier Lotharius Dorestad.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Denier of Lothair I, struck in [[Dorestad]] ([[Middle Francia]]) after 850]]
[[File:Medallion of Lothair, from the Lothaire Psalter.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Medallion presumed to be of Lothair, from the binding of the [[Lothair Psalter]] in the British Library]]

When Louis the Pious was dying in 840, he sent the imperial insignia to Lothair, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire. He was 45 years old when his father died. Negotiations with his brother Louis the German and his half-brother Charles, both of whom resisted this claim, were followed by an alliance of the younger brothers against Lothair.<ref name="KiblerZinn1995">{{cite book|author1=William W. Kibler|author2=Grover A. Zinn|title=Medieval France: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC&pg=PA1065|year=1995|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-8240-4444-2|pages=1065–}}</ref> A decisive battle was fought at [[Battle of Fontenay (841)|Fontenay-en-Puisaye]] on 25 June 841, when, in spite of his<ref name=eb11 /> and his allied nephew [[Pepin II of Aquitaine]]'s{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} personal gallantry, Lothair was defeated and fled to Aachen. With fresh troops he began a war of plunder, but the forces of his brothers were too strong, and taking with him such treasure as he could collect, he abandoned his capital to them.<ref name=eb11 />{{Clarify|date=June 2011}} He met with the leaders of the ''[[Stellinga]]'' in [[Speyer]] and promised them his support in return for theirs, but Louis and then the native Saxon nobility put down the ''Stellinga'' in the next years.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

Peace negotiations began, and in June 842 the brothers met on an island in the [[Saône]]. They agreed to an arrangement which developed, after much difficulty and delay, into the [[Treaty of Verdun]], signed in August 843. By this, Lothair received the imperial title as well as northern Italy and a long stretch of territory from the [[North Sea]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], essentially along the valleys of the [[Rhine]] and the [[Rhône]]; this territory includes the regions [[Lorraine]], [[Alsace]], [[Burgundy]], and [[Provence]]. He soon ceded Italy to his eldest son, [[Louis II of Italy|Louis]], and remained in his new kingdom, engaging in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the Northmen (as [[Vikings]] were known in Frankish writings) and the [[Saracens]] (as those loyal to the various Fatimids, Umayyads and Abbasides are known in Frankish writings).<ref name=eb11 /><ref name="Riche1993"/>

In 845 the count of Arles, [[Fulcrad]], led a rebellion in [[Provence]]. The emperor put it down and the count joined him in an expedition against the Saracens in Italy in 846.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reuter |first=Timothy |authorlink=Timothy Reuter |title=The Annals of Fulda |series=Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories |volume=II |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1992 |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |authorlink=René Poupardin |last=Poupardin |first=René |title=Le royaume de Provence sous les Carolingiens (855–933?) |year=1901 |location=Paris |publisher=É. Bouillon |pp=3-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/leroyaumedeprove00poupuoft}}</ref>