Theutberga of Lotharingia
Overview
Biography
(See also Genealogical Table(s): 1.)Theutberga was a daughter of Boso the Elder, a member of the Bosonide clan, a powerful and well connected force in Lotharingia/Lorraine. Her brother, Boso, married the daughter of emperor Louis II and empress Angelberga. Her sister, Richild, was married to Count Biwin, an Austrasian noble; their daughter, also Richild, became the second wife of Charles the Bald. Lothar II of Lotharingia married Theutberga to gain the support of her family, particularly her brother Hugobert, but Hugobert did not provide the desired support and Theutberga did not bear a child. Lothar tried to divorce her in order to legitimize the son he had had with his mistress Waldrada, but she did not acquiesce and she had the support of bishop Hincmar of Reims and the pope, Nicholas I. Lothar began divorce proceedings in 858, and accused Theutberga of incest with Hugobert. After the accusation, Hubert and Theutberga fled to Lothar’s uncle, Charles the Bald, who took them in and gave her refuge in a nunnery. She proved her innocence of incest by ordeal within the year and Lothar was forced to take her back. He imprisoned her until she asked to be removed from the marriage in order to enter a convent in 860, but she refused at first to make a public confession; eventually, perhaps under threat of torture, she did confess to “femoral incest” and the conception of a child whom she aborted. The bishops of Lotharingia wrote to Hincmar of Reims to ask if a woman could conceive a child and remain a virgin, to which he answered that with witchcraft the female vulva could attract sperm without copulation, but he did not accept that her guilt had been established as prescribed in canon law; he did however say that a man’s lover (in this case Waldrada) could by sorcery prevent the man from impregnating a woman, so he recommended the exorcism of Lothar rather than divorce from Theutberga. Lothar convinced a synod of his bishops to annul the marriage in 862 and he married Waldrada. Another synod in 863 found his original liaison with Waldrada to have been a lawful marriage, which rendered his marriage to Theutberga invalid. But Nicholas convoked a synod at the Lateran which annulled the proceedings of Lothar’s synods, deposed the bishops involved, and ordered Lothar to return to Theutberga. Under pressure from his uncles, Lothar did so in 865. Lothar continued to pressure her, however, to ask for a separation on the grounds of her barrenness, but the pope did not accept those grounds and furthermore told Lothar he could not remarry even if she entered a monastery; she would eventually retire to Avenay. Lothar died in 869, on his way back from a visit to a later pope, Hadrian II, from whom he hoped for a better outcome. 1
Letters to Theutberga of Lotharingia
A letter from Hincmar of Reims (after 869?)A letter from Nicholas I, pope (867, January 24)