Let’s get our tinfoil hats on. In the years around 980, there are a group of interconnections between important political actors which having been living in my brain rent-free for years, but out of which I have been unable to make anything more. Of course, having a blog is a great way to get ideas out there which you would not stand behind in peer-reviewed print, and maybe this way I can move on with my life… So! Let’s start with the facts and move on to the conspiracy board.
First of all, we have the fighting between the West Frankish kings and the Ottonians. We’ve covered this at various points on the blog, but in 978 King Lothar attacked Lotharingia, to little immediate result. In 980 he made a peace with Emperor Otto II, but he remained a palpable threat to Ottonian interests in Lotharingia, which he would attack again in 984.
Second, we have the internal opposition to the West Frankish kings. The key figure here is Adalbero, archbishop of Rheims, and his secretary Gerbert of Aurillac. Adalbero was originally Lotharingian, and unabashedly pro-Ottonian. Gerbert was also pro-Ottonian, but from the Spanish March, where his friends included Abbot Warin of Lézat and Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa. In 981, moreover, Adalbero and Gerbert went to Rome to visit the Ottonians, as did Duke Hugh Capet, in an action which was explicitly a conspiracy against West Frankish royal power.
For, third, the Ottonians were campaigning in Italy at this time. Otto II arrived in Italy in 980, with several objectives. His papal ally Benedict VII had been expelled from Rome, and Otto restored him in 979. On the other hand, the turbulent politics of Venice had led to a coup resulting in the murder of the pro-Ottonian doge Peter IV in 976 and his replacement by Peter Orseolo, who was more lukewarm towards the Ottonians. Peter Orseolo resigned in 978 – we’ll cover it below – but Ottonian interest in Venice remained high.
Fourth, Adalbero and Hugh Capet weren’t the only West Franks coming to Italy at this time. A large group of Aquitanians appeared at the papal court in 979, including Bishop Miro Bonfil of Girona, Bishop Hildesind of Elne, and Count Roger the Old of Carcassonne. These connections were ongoing: Miro Bonfil was sent a letter by Boniface after Easter 981. Equally, fifth, there was traffic in the other direct: Peter Orseolo, having been persuaded to resign by Abbot Warin of Lézat, went to become a monk in Warin’s other abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa.
Fifth, there’s a lot of poorly attested fighting within Catalonia and the Midi. I’ve covered this in exhausting detail before, so a quick summary: in the mid-to-late 970s onwards, there seems to have been major conflict in the region, at least north of the Pyrenees. The county of Toulouse passed between various branches and Roger the Old of Carcassonewas attacked by both Roger dux Gothorum of Toulouse and Oliba Cabreta of Cerdanya.
Sixth, this is where Lothar was trying to set his son Louis V up as sub-king. Louis’ coronation took place in 982, but the build-up had taken several years. However, the fractures caused by years of internal disputes within the region meant that Louis V was unable to assert himself in Aquitaine.
My conspiracy theory is simply put. I think that the Ottonians were giving moral support to people stirring up trouble in the south of the West Frankish kingdom in order to distract Lothar from Lotharingia. I’d love to find a smoking gun for this; but to be honest, I’d be happy enough with a fuller framework and a more plausible context for this happening.
The problems with this theory are several. First, the chronology doesn’t quite align. The Aquitanians visiting in 979 is at least after Lothar’s attack on Lotharingia in 978, and we can see it producing follow-ups in 981; but I would be much happier with evidence for an Aquitanian presence at the Easter meeting.
Second, the personal connections don’t quite add up. Roger the Old was the person most visibly (i.e. still not very) opposed to Louis V, but also to Oliba Cabreta… I can see a scenario where Warin of Lézat brokers a peace deal through his presence at the dedication of Saint-Hilaire; but on the other hand, what of Hildesind of Elne, who was one of the bishops who crowned Louis? I’d love to know what all the various contenders for the county of Toulouse were doing during this time, as well.
The figure of Warin of Lézat is evidently key here, but it’s hard to get a handle on his biography. There are potted accounts in d’Abadal’s article about Cuxa and in the introduction to the cartulary of Lézat, both of which are distinctly institutionally focussed; and there’s some material on Italy; but a global overview is hard to find – he’s mostly reduced to a walk-on part in other people’s stories. Nonetheless, he’s the only person with a figure in every pie: ties to Toulouse, Carcassonne, and Catalonia, as well as Venice and Rome…
So, now I’ll turn the stage over to you. Is there some key bit of evidence I don’t know about? Some item of bibliography which makes this all comprehensible? The Spanish March is already a strange land for me, and adding the intricacies of Italian politics into the mix lands me on unfamiliar terrain indeed. Nonetheless, I want to keep exploring the ideas here. The south-west of the Mediterranean is too often seen as marginal during the tenth century, and if there’s any truth to my ranting then this episode has the potential to put it in the political centre.
The Historian's Sketchpad 