| Emma of Italy | |
|---|---|
 Lothair with Emma; Emma's son Louis V with Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou | |
| Queen consort of Western Francia | |
| Tenure | 965–986 |
| Born | c. 948 |
| Spouse | Lothair of France (m. 965; died 986) |
| Issue | Louis V |
| House | Boso |
| Father | Lothair II of Italy |
| Mother | Adelaide of Italy |
Emma of Italy (Emma d'Italie; c. 948 – after 987) was the Queen of Western Francia as the wife of King Lothair, whom she married in 965. Their son, Louis V, was the last Carolingian King.
Born around 948, Emma was the only child of Lothair II of Italy [1] and Adelaide of Italy. [2] Her father was poisoned in 950 by his political rival, Berengar of Ivrea. Berengar attempted to marry Emma’s mother, who had a claim to the kingdom, to his own son; she defied him, however, and married the German king Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor instead, by whom she had Otto II.
In 977, Queen Emma was accused by her brother-in-law, Duke Charles of Lower Lorraine, of infidelity with Ascelin, Bishop of Laon. The Queen and Bishop were exonerated by the Synod of Sainte-Macre, led by Adalberon, Archbishop of Rheims, and Charles was forced to flee Western Francia. Emma, to ensure her son’s succession, then persuaded Lothair to crown him as associated king; Lothair did so, but refused to let him have any real power.
Emma’s marriage to Lothair was marked by hostilities between her husband and her half-brother, Otto II, each invading the other’s territories, and attempting to destabilise each other, often through the intermediary of Lothair’s brother, Charles (who as Duke of Lower Lorraine was a vassal of the Emperor). The final years of their marriage, however, from 980 onwards, saw peace between Lothair and his in-laws; when Otto II died, he was even advanced as guardian of the young King.
Lothair died on 2 March 986, and their young son Louis became king. However, he promptly drove Emma and Bishop Ascelin of Laon from the court, accusing them of having poisoned Lothair. Louis then died on 22 May 987, without an heir. In the following months, her brother-in-law Charles seized the royal capital of Laon and declared himself king; Hugh Capet, Duke of the Franks, was elected and crowned king by the agencies of Adalberon on 3 July 987. In the resulting conflicts, Ascelin betrayed Charles to Hugh Capet, as a result of which the last Carolingian was imprisoned in Orleans.
Emma's doings following the death of her son are unclear; she is believed to have died in a Burgundian convent or married Duke Boleslaus II (being identical to Emma of Mělník) and possibly had a son called Oldřich.
According to some historians, she may have married Boleslaus II about the year 989 and died either in 1005 or 1006. It was traditionally supposed by Czech historians that Emma was the mother of Boleslaus' younger sons Oldřich and Jaromír and that the mother of the oldest son, Boleslaus III of Bohemia, was Adiva, the first wife of Boleslaus II.
After death of her second husband and afraid of Boleslaus III, Emma chose to go into exile at the court of Bavaria (as she was stepsister of former Emperor Otto II) in 1001 together with her stepsons Oldřich and Jaromír. The brothers sought military backing from the German King Henry II. This action definitively placed Bohemia within the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1004, Jaromír occupied Prague with a German army and made himself duke. Emma came back to Bohemia, maybe living in town Mělník, where she died.
The proof of a Bohemian marriage are denars with the inscription ENMA REGINA ("Queen Emma", not duchess). In that time Bohemia was a Duchy of Bohemia, not yet a Kingdom of Bohemia, but she was still an anointed queen of Western Francia. Through her the following Dukes of Bohemia became also offspring of Carolingian.
This second wedding is not accepted by the majority of historians.
Hugh Capet was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was descended from Charlemagne's sons Louis the Pious and Pepin of Italy through his mother and paternal grandmother, respectively, and was also a nephew of Otto the Great.
Hugh the Great was the Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris.
Hedwige of Saxony, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duchess consort of the Franks by her marriage to the Robertian duke Hugh the Great. Upon her husband's death in 956, she acted as a regent during the minority of their son Hugh Capet, the founder of the Elder House of Capet.
Louis V, also known as Louis the Do-Nothing, was a king of West Francia from 979 to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last Carolingian monarch in West Francia.
Boleslaus II the Pious, a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 972 until his death.
Boleslaus III, called the Red or the Blind, a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was duke of Bohemia from 999 until 1002 and briefly again during the year 1003. He was the "worst of all men who ever sat on the Bohemian throne". During his chaotic reign, Bohemia became a pawn in the long German–Polish War between King Henry II and Duke Bolesław I the Brave.
Jaromír, a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia, in 1003, from 1004 to 1012, and again from 1034 to 1035.
Adalberon, or Ascelin, was a French bishop and poet. He was a son of Reginar of Bastogne, and a nephew of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims.
Lothair, sometimes called Lothair III or Lothair IV, was the penultimate Carolingian king of West Francia, reigning from 10 September 954 until his death in 986.
Oldřich, a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 1012 to 1033 and briefly again in 1034. His accession to the Bohemian throne marked the start of a phase of stability after a long period of internal dynastic struggles. Under his rule, the Moravian lands were reconquered from Polish occupation.
Charles was the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 977 until his death.
Adalbero was the archbishop of Reims, chancellor of Kings Lothair and Louis V of France.
The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemyslid was a Czech royal dynasty which reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia, as well as in parts of Poland, Hungary, and Austria.
Adalbert I of Vermandois, was the son of Herbert II of Vermandois and Adela of France. born about 915, he succeeded his father as Count of Vermandois in 946.
In medieval history, West Francia or the Kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about 840 until 987. West Francia emerged out of the partition of the Carolingian Empire in 843 under the Treaty of Verdun following the death of Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious.
Godfrey I, called the Prisoner or the Captive, sometimes the Old, was the count of Bidgau and Methingau from 959 and the sovereign count of Verdun 963 to his death. In 969, he obtained the Margraviate of Antwerp and Ename. Between 974 and 998, he was also the sovereign count of Hainault and Mons. He was the son of Gozlin, Count of Bidgau and Methingau, and Oda of Metz. He was the brother of Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, who crowned Hugh Capet the king of France.
The Robertians are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries. The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet.
Emma (Hemma) was a Bohemian duchess consort as the second wife of Boleslaus II of Bohemia.
Otto I, traditionally known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda.
Louis IV, called d'Outremer or Transmarinus, reigned as king of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his second wife Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of King Edward the Elder of Wessex. His reign is mostly known thanks to the Annals of Flodoard and the later Historiae of Richerus.
| Royal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gerberga of Saxony | Queen consort of Western Francia 965–986 Served alongside: Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou (982–984) | Succeeded by Adelaide of Aquitaine |
