Denier - Lothair I Metz

Lothair I was designated co-emperor by his father Louis the Pious in 817 under the Ordinatio Imperii, a succession document intended to prevent the fragmentation that had dismembered earlier Carolingian inheritance. Metz, as a major episcopal center on the Moselle, was among the more active mints of the northeastern Frankish territories during this period. The dating window of 819–822 places this issue squarely before the dynastic crises triggered by Louis's second marriage and the birth of Charles the Bald, which would ultimately unravel the unified arrangement the Ordinatio had tried to fix.