Waldrada of Lotharingia

Waldrada was the mistress, and later the wife, of Lothair II of Lotharingia.

Biography Waldrada's family origin is uncertain. The prolific 19th-century French writer Baron Ernouf suggested that Waldrada was of noble Gallo-Roman descent, sister of Thietgaud, the bishop of Trier, and niece of Gunther, archbishop of Cologne. However, these suggestions are not supported by any evidence, and more recent studies have instead suggested she was of relatively undistinguished social origins, though still from an aristocratic milieu. The Vita Sancti Deicoli states that Waldrada was related to Eberhard II, Count of Nordgau (included Strasbourg) and the family of Etichonids, though this is a late 10th-century source and so may not be entirely reliable on this question.

In 855 the Carolingian king Lothar II married Teutberga, a Carolingian aristocrat and the daughter of Bosonid Boso the Elder. The marriage was arranged by Lothar's father Lothar I for political reasons. It is very probable that Waldrada was already Lothar II's mistress at this time. They had at least three children: Guy, who succeeded his father as count and duke of Lucca and margrave of Tuscany, Lambert succeeded his brother in 929, but lost the titles in 931 to his half-brother Boso of Tuscany, and Ermengard. Ermengarde (d. 90?) Odo (d. c.879)