Die Gräber von König Ludwig II. dem Deutschen († 876) und König Ludwig III. dem Jüngeren († 882) im Kloster Lorsch

Abstract

The Graves of King Louis (II) the German († 876) and King Louis (III) the Younger († 882) in Lorsch Abbey

In Lorsch Abbey (Kr. Bergstraße) the East Frankish kings Louis the German († 876) and Louis the Younger († 882) are buried. Since the almost total destruction of the monastery in 1621 during the Thirty Years War, their graves were thought to have disappeared. However, two contemporary eyewitness accounts as well as features and finds from excavations allow the conclusion that Louis the German was interred in the enormous porphyry sarcophagus without inscription which was located in the crypt behind the basilica’s choir. His son, Louis the Younger, lay in the so-called pilaster sarcophagus, which was decorated on all sides with bas-reliefs of Ionian pilasters. This stood on pillars in the nave and, on its discovery in 1800, still contained the undisturbed body of the king. Louis III wore a brown (?) che­quered silk robe with gold edgings as well as boots with spurs, of which a golden strap-slide still exists. We are indebted to the forest superintendent and amateur excavator Carl Freiherr von Hausen for this valuable description of a Late Carolingian king’s grave.