 It was in this situation that Lothair gave his son the duchy of Alsace during a stay at the court of Louis of East Francia.At his request, Louis then took both his kingdom and his son Hugh under East Frankish protection.When his cousin Louis the Stammerer, king of West Francia, died in 879, he seized authority in Lotharingia west of the Rhine and the "Annales Fuldenses" accuse him of "playing the tyrant in Gaul."