ABSTRACT
Lothar II's kingdom, despite its history of movement between the western and eastern Carolingian kingdoms, repeatedly re-emerged as an independent structure, as the regnum Lotharii under King Charles the Bald and King Zwentibold, and later as a duchy. From Otto I's reign two Lotharingian dukes are known, each with his own area of lordship. Historians have called these 'Upper Lotharingia' and 'Lower Lotharingia', although the primary sources know only the term 'Lotharingia' for both. The origins of territorial principalities must be seen in the progressive combination, coalescence and territorial registration of lordship rights of various sorts that find expression starting in the last third of the eleventh century in the lordship vocabulary of the dukes and counts. Among them were personal rights, countships and other regalian rights, rights inherent in vassalage, rights in relation to churches and monasteries, including, besides as lord of the manor, judicial power, executive, cultural and economic aspects.
