LOTHAIR II. or III. (c. 1070-1137), surnamed the "Saxon," Roman emperor, son of Gebhard, count of Supplinburg, succeeded to extensive lands around Helmstadt in Saxony, on his father's death in 1075. Gebhard had been a leading opponent of the emperor Henry IV. in Saxony, and his son, taking the same atti..
tude, assisted Egbert II., margrave of Meissen, in the rising of 1088. His position in Saxony was increased by his marriage (I 'co) with Richenza, daughter of Henry, count of Nordheim. Having assisted the German king, Henry V., against his father in 1104, Lothair was appointed duke of Saxony by Henry, when Duke Magnus, the last of the Billungs, died in I106. His inde pendent attitude brought him into collision with Henry V., to whom, however, he was forced to submit after an unsuccessful rising in 1112. In 1112 Lothair supported the claim of Sieg fried, count of Ballenstadt to inherit the domains of Ulrich II., count of Weimar and Orlamiinde, against the emperor, Henry V. The rebels were defeated, and Siegfried was killed at Warn stadt in 1113, but his son secured possession of the disputed counties. After the defeat by Lothair of Henry's forces at Wel fesholz on Feb. i 1, 1115, events called Henry to Italy ; and Lothair appears to have been undisturbed in Saxony until 1123, when the death of Henry II., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia raised a dispute as to the right of appointment to the vacant margraviates. A struggle ensued, in which victory remained with the duke.
When Henry V. died in 1125, Lothair was chosen German king at Mainz on Aug. 3o, 1125. His election was largely owing to the efforts of the papal party. The new king was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on Sept. 13, 1125. Lothair requested Fred erick of Hohenstaufen to restore to the crown the estates be queathed to him by the emperor Henry V. Frederick refused, and was placed under the ban. Lothair, unable to capture Nuremberg, gained the support of Henry the Proud, the new duke of Bavaria, by giving him his daughter, Gertrude, in marriage, and that of Conrad, count of Zahringen, by granting him the administration of the kingdom of Burgundy, or Arles. But Conrad of Hohen staufen, the brother of Frederick, was chosen German king in December 1127, and was quickly recognized in northern Italy. But by the end of 1129 the Hohenstaufen strongholds, Nurem berg and Spires, were in Lothair's possession. This struggle was accompanied by disturbances in Lorraine, Saxony and Thuringia, but order was soon restored after the resistance of the Hohen staufen had been beaten down. In 1131 the king led an expedi tion into Denmark; resistance was offered, and the Danish king, Niels, promised to pay tribute to Lothair.
The king's attention at the time was called to Italy where two popes, Innocent II. and Anacletus II., were clamouring for his support. At first Lothair remained heedless and neutral; but in March 1131 he was visited at Liege by Innocent, to whom he promised his assistance. Crossing the Alps with a small army in September 1132, he reached Rome in March 1133, accompanied by Innocent. As St. Peter's was held by Anacletus, Lothair's
coronation as emperor took place June 4, 1133 in the church of the Lateran. He then received as papal fiefs the vast estates of Matilda, marchioness of Tuscany, thus securing for his daughter and her Welf husband lands which might otherwise have passed to the Hohenstaufen. He returned to Germany, where he restored order in Bavaria, and on the lower Rhine. Resuming the struggle against the Hohenstaufen, Lothair soon obtained the submission of the brothers, who retained their lands, and a general peace was sworn at Bamberg. The emperor's authority was now gen erally recognized, and the annalists speak highly of the peace and order of his later years. In 1135, Eric II., king of Denmark, acknowledged himself a vassal of Lothair ; Boleslaus III., prince of the Poles, promised tribute and received Pomerania and Riigen as German fiefs ; while the eastern emperor, John Comnenus, im plored Lothair's aid against Roger II. of Sicily.
The emperor seconded the efforts of his vassals, Albert the Bear, margrave of the Saxon north mark, and Conrad I., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia, to extend the authority of the Germans in the districts east of the Elbe, and assisted Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, and Albert I., archbishop of Bremen, to spread Christianity. In Aug. 1136, attended by a large army, Lothair set out upon his second Italian journey. The Lombard cities were either terrified into submission or taken by storm; Roger II. was driven from Apulia ; and the imperial power enforced over the whole of southern Italy. A mutiny among the German soldiers and a breach with Innocent concerning the overlordship of Apulia compelled the emperor to retrace his steps. An arrangement was made with regard to Apulia, after which Lothair, returning to Germany, died at Breitenwang, a village in the Tirol, on Dec. 3 or 4, 1137. Lothair has been described as the "imitator and heir of the first Otto." His reign was regarded, especially by Saxons and churchmen, as a golden age for Germany.