%0 Journal Article
%A Scott G. Bruce
%D 2024
%C Berlin, Germany
%I Peter Lang Verlag
%J Mediaevistik
%@ 2199-806X
%N 1
%V 36
%T Charles West, The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855–869. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023, x, 236 pp.
%R 10.3726/med.2023.01.82
%U https://www.peterlang.com/document/1517822
%X This book offers a refreshing approach to the history of Lotharingia during the brief reign of Lothar II (855–869). Rather than providing a narrative account of Lothar II’s turbulent tenure, Charles West presents annotated translations of twenty-two primary sources related in one way or another to the political culture of his age. These range from royal charters, papal and episcopal letters, and aristocratic wills to material culture, like coins and luxury manuscripts. Accompanying each translation is a learned and lucid introduction that situates the source in its political and cultural context, and discusses the limits of what it can and cannot tell us about Lothar II’s reign. The result is an intimate and enlightening foray into the history of the short-lived kingdom of Charlemagne’s ill-fated great-grandson.