Zwentibold
| Zwentibold | |
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Zwentibold dux Lotharingiae, from the Chronicon Universale, a 12th-century manuscript by Ekkehard of Aura
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| King of Lotharingia | |
| Reign | 895–900 |
| Predecessor | Arnulf of Carinthia |
| Successor | Louis the Child |
| Born | c. 870 |
| Died | 13 August 900 |
| Burial | Susteren Abbey |
| Spouse | Oda (daughter of Duke Otto I of Saxony) |
| Dynasty | Carolingian |
| Father | Arnulf of Carinthia |
| Mother | Vinburga |
Zwentibold (Zventibold, Swentiboldo, Sventibaldo, Sanderbald; c. 870 – 13 August 900), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was the illegitimate son of Emperor Arnulf. In 895, his father, then king of East Francia, granted him the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which he ruled until his death. After his death he was declared a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church.
Zwentibold was born during the long reign of his great-grandfather, King Louis the German in East Francia. He was the first-born, yet illegitimate son of Arnulf of Carinthia (d. 899) and his concubine Vinburga. Zwentibold's father himself was an illegitimate son of Carloman of Bavaria, the eldest son of King Louis. After the king's death in 876, Carloman ruled over the East Frankish territory of Bavaria and ceded the adjacent marches of Pannonia and Carinthia (former Carantania) to his son Arnulf. In 887 Arnulf succeeded the incapable King Charles the Fat as King of East Francia.
When Zwentibold came of age, he intervened in the scramble for the throne in West Francia (France) between Count Odo of Paris and Charles the Simple, but they began to cooperate against Zwentibold, when it became apparent that he intended to become king of West Francia himself. The eldest son of Arnulf was at first marked out for his succession in East Francia. According to the 870 Treaty of Meerssen and the 880 Treaty of Ribemont, the Lotharingian kingdom of former Middle Francia had fallen to the East Frankish realm. When in 893 King Arnulf's wife Ota gave birth to his legitimate son and successor Louis the Child, Zwentibold in compensation received the Lotharingian royal title, which last had been held by Lothair II.
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