alternatehistory.com

Firstly, for those of you unfamiliar with Lothair II, here's his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothair_II.

Long story short, Lothair II was the second son of Emperor Lothair I who ended up inheriting the lands stretching from the Frisian coast south to the Duchy of Lorraine (the Kingdom of Lotharingia). His primary claim to fame is his long and fruitless quest to divorce his infertile wife Teutberga and marry his mistress Waldrada, who bore him at least four children. He accused Teutberga of some rather sordid things (incest and sodomy at least) and set her aside, only for Teutberga's brother to intervene on her behalf and successfully pass an ordeal of boiling water, forcing Lothair to restore her.

He tried again by ceding some lands to his brother Louis II of Italy and asking his own realm's clergy to annul his marriage with Teutberga while allowing marriage to Waldrada. The Frankish bishops convened a synod and also confirmed Lothair's annulment and re-marriage, only for the Pope Nicholas I to intervene, reverse the synod's decision, and depose a couple archbishops. Lothair then waited for Nicholas I to die and (to heap further insult on the poor woman) forced or compelled Teutberga to ask for an annulment from the new Pope, Adrian II. Then, on the return trip from Rome to Aachen, he got feverish and died without legitimate heirs. This allowed his uncles, the kings of East and West Francia, to partition Lotharingia, which would remain divided between the French and German spheres of influence for over a millennium.

So, what if Lothair is able to get an heir in some manner? Whether it's Nicholas I not interfering, Hicibert failing the ordeal, Teutberga dying earlier than OTL, or even ASB's making Teutberga fertile before things went awry, a longer surviving Lotharingia would make for an interesting Europe- what do you all think it would look like going into the 10th century? Or beyond?
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