Lothair (941-986), king of France, son of Louis IV, succeeded his father in 954, and was at first under the guardianship of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, and then under that of his maternal uncle Bruno, archbishop of Cologne.
The beginning of his reign was occupied with wars against the vassals, particularly against the duke of Normandy. Lothair then seems to have conceived the design of recovering Lorraine. He attempted to precipitate matters by a sudden attack, and in the spring of 978 nearly captured the emperor Otto II at Aix-la-Chapelle. Otto took his revenge in the autumn by invading France. He penetrated as far as Paris, devastating the country through which he passed, but failed to take the town, and was forced to retreat with heavy loss. Peace was concluded in 980 at Margut-sur-Chiers, and in 983 Lothair was even chosen guardian to the young Otto III.
Towards 980, however, Lothair quarrelled with Hugh the Great's son, Hugh Capet, who, at the instigation of Adalberon, archbishop of Reims, became reconciled with Otto III. Lothair died on the March 2, 986. By his wife Emma, daughter of Lothair, king of Italy, he left a son who succeeded him as Louis V.
The plateau, rising gradually from the plains region on the north and west, is characterized by volcanic outcroppings; by deeply eroded limestone tablelands to the south of the region of extinct volcanoes; and, farther to the south, by the Cévennes, a series of highlands rising from the Mediterranean coastal depressions.
France has extensive tracts of fertile soils, the richest of which are the marine sediments of the Paris Basin and the well-watered alluvial soils of the lower valleys of the Seine and Somme rivers.
Provençal is used in south-eastern France, particularly Provence; Flemish is spoken in Flanders; and Gascon in the Gascogne Province, from Médoc to the Pyrénées, and from the Atlantic to the Spanish border.
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