ABSTRACT
The case to which Archbishop Hincmar was referring is the celebrated attempt by King Lothar II, a great-grandson of Charlemagne, to divorce his queen, Theutberga, and to legitimate his union with his true love, Waldrada. The divorce case of Lothar II was a key political issue in the Carolingian world in the 850s and 860s. This chapter focuses on what the case reveals about the representation of Christian royalty and, turning as it does on the relationship between a king and a queen, about the role of gender therein. After establishing a historical context for the case, the chapter examines how contemporary concepts of good rulership and of gender worked for Lothar II. It shows how the same concepts ultimately rebounded upon Lothar II. In 862 in Aachen, Lothar's bishops assembled with their king. Lothar appeared as a Christian prince: 'the heart of the king', proclaimed his bishops, 'is in the hand of God'.
