He was of the noble Frankish lineage of the Bosonids, descended from Boso the Elder. His father and predecessor was Hugh of Provence and his mother was a German princess named Alda (or Hilda), great grandson of Lothair II, King of Lotharingia.
Although he held the title of rex Italiae, he never succeeded in exercising power there. Their marriage was part of a political settlement designed to conclude a peace between her father and his. The couple had a daughter, Emma, born as early as 948, who was married in 966 to the Carolingian Lothair of France.
Lothair"s power in Italy was nominal.
From the time of the successful uprising of the nobles in 945, when Hugh was forced into exile, Berengar of Ivrea kept all real power and patronage in his hands. Lothair figures briefly in the vita of Adelaide written by Hroswitha of Gandersheim.
