View source for Lotharingia

{{short description|Western European kingdom and duchy (855–959)}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name                = Lotharingia
| conventional_long_name                = Kingdom of Lotharingia<br>Duchy of Lotharingia
| common_name                = Lotharingia
| era                = [[Middle Ages|Medieval]]
| life_span                = 855–959
| status                 = Kingdom (855–869, 895-900)<br>Duchy (903–959)
| year_start                = 855
| year_end                = 959
| date_start                = 
| date_end                = 
| event_start                = [[Treaty of Prüm]]
| event_end                = Division
| event1                = 
| date_event1                = 
| event2                = 
| date_event2                = 
| p1                = Middle Francia
| s1                = Lower Lotharingia
| flag_s1                = Flag of Austria (1-1).svg
| s2                = Duchy of Lorraine
| flag_s2                = Premier étendard du duché de Lorraine.png
| s3                = Duchy of Swabia
| flag_s3                = Arms of Swabia.svg
| border_s3                = no
| image_map                = Carolingian empire 855.svg
| image_map_caption                = The Kingdom of Lotharingia (purple) and other Carolingian kingdoms following the [[Treaty of Prüm]], 855
| common_languages                = {{ubl|[[Old Frankish language|Old Franconian]]|[[Old Frisian]]|[[Old Dutch]]|[[Old High German]]|[[Old Saxon]]|[[Old French]]|[[Yiddish]]|[[Medieval Latin]]}}
| government_type                = [[Monarchy]]
| title_leader                = [[List of rulers of Lorraine|King or Duke]]
| leader1                = [[Lothair II]]
| year_leader1                = 855–869
| leader2                = [[Bruno the Great]]
| year_leader2                = 953–965
| title_deputy                = 
| deputy1                = 
| year_deputy1                = 
| capital                = 
| legislature                = 
| stat_year1                = 
| stat_area1                = 
| stat_pop1                = 
| religion                = [[Roman Catholicism]]
| currency                = 
| footnotes                = 
| demonym                = 
| area_km2                = 
| area_rank                = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year                = 
| HDI                = 
| HDI_year                = 
| today                = 
}}

'''Lotharingia'''<ref>({{langx|la|Regnum Lotharii{{noitalic|,}} Regnum Lothariense{{noitalic|,}} Lotharingia}}; {{langx|fr|Lotharingie}}; {{langx|de|Reich des Lothar{{noitalic|,}} Lotharingien{{noitalic|,}} Mittelreich}}; {{langx|nl|Lotharingen}})</ref> was a [[historical region]] and an [[early medieval]] polity that existed during the late [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] and early [[Ottonian dynasty|Ottonian]] era,{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=274}} from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 10th century.{{sfn|MacLean|2013|p=443–457}} It was established in 855 by the [[Treaty of Prüm]], as a distinctive [[king]]dom within the [[Carolingian Empire]],{{sfn|McKitterick|1983|p=176}} but abolished already in 869-870 when it was divided by the [[Treaty of Meerssen]].{{sfn|West|2023|p=}} It was territorially reunited in 880 by the [[Treaty of Ribemont]], and reestablished as a kingdom from 895 to 900.{{sfn|Reuter|2013|p=218-219}} Since 903, it was organized as a [[duchy]], that existed up to 959, when it was divided in two distinctive duchies: the [[Upper Lotharingia]] (southern half), and the [[Lower Lotharingia]] (northern half). The regional name ''Lotharingia'' means, approximately, "the land of Lothair", and was derived from the name of its first ruler, king [[Lothair II]], who received this territory as his share of the Kingdom of [[Middle Francia]]. The region comprised present-day [[Lorraine]] (France), [[Luxembourg]], parts of modern [[Germany]] west of the [[Rhine]], most of [[Belgium]], and [[Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite book|first=D.A.|last=Bullough|title=Tenth-Century Studies|editor=Parsons, David|chapter=The Continental Background of the Reform|year=1975|publisher=Phillimore|place=Chichester, UK|page=[https://archive.org/details/tenthcenturystud0000unse/page/22 22]|isbn=0-85033-179-X|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/tenthcenturystud0000unse/page/22}}</ref>

Lotharingia resulted from the tripartite division in 855 of the kingdom of Middle Francia, which itself was formed after the threefold division of the Carolingian Empire by the [[Treaty of Verdun]] of 843. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old [[Franks|Frankish]] homelands of [[Austrasia]], so possession of them was a matter of great prestige as true claimant of Frankish imperial legacy.

==Name==
{{Lorraine sidebar}}
{{History of the Netherlands}}
Lotharingia was known as ''regnum quondam Lotharii'' or ''regnum Lotharii'' ("kingdom [once] Lothair's") and its inhabitants ''Lotharii'' (from ''Lotharius''), ''Lotharienses'' (from ''Lothariensis''), or ''Lotharingi'' (which gives the modern Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish names for the province ''Lotharingen, Lothringen,'' and ''Loutrengen'' respectively). The latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix ''-ing'', indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term ''Lotharingia'' (from the Latin suffix ''-ia'', indicating a country) in the 10th century. Later French terms such as "Lorraine" and "Lothier" are derived from the Latin term.

==Middle Francia, 843–855==
{{main|Middle Francia}}
In 817, Emperor [[Louis the Pious]] made plans for division of the [[Carolingian Empire]] among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louis's three grown sons. A fourth son, [[Charles the Bald]], was born to Louis's second wife [[Judith of Bavaria (died 843)|Judith of Bavaria]] in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition from his adult sons, [[Lothair I|Lothair]], [[Pepin I of Aquitaine|Pepin]], and [[Louis the German|Louis]]. A decade of civil war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace.

Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840. The remaining three brothers made peace and divided the Empire with the 843 [[Treaty of Verdun]]. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the imperial title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. The logic of the division was that Lothair had the crown of the [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Kingdom of Italy]], which had been his subkingdom under [[Louis the Pious]], and that as emperor he should rule in [[Aachen]], the capital of the first Carolingian emperor, [[Charlemagne]], and in [[Rome]], the ancient capital of emperors. Middle Francia (Latin ''Francia media'') thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome, and it has sometimes been called by historians the "Lotharingian axis".

==Kingdom of Lotharingia, 855–900==

In 855, when Lothair I was dying in [[Prüm Abbey]], he divided his kingdom among his three sons with the [[Treaty of Prüm]]. To the eldest son, [[Louis II of Italy|Louis II]], went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, [[Charles of Provence|Charles]], still a minor, went [[Provence]]. To the middle son, [[Lothair II]], went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity.

Lothair II ruled from [[Aachen]] and did not venture outside his kingdom. When he died in 869, Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - [[Hugh, Duke of Alsace]]. His uncles, king of [[East Francia]] [[Louis the German]] and [[West Francia]] [[Charles the Bald]] (who wanted to rule the whole of Lotharingia) agreed to divide Lotharingia between them with the 870 [[Treaty of Meerssen]] - the western half went to West Francia and the eastern half to East Francia.{{sfn|MacLean|2003|p=117-118}} Thus, Lotharingia, as a united kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876, Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, but was defeated near [[Battle of Andernach (876)|Andernach]] by Louis's son, [[Louis the Younger]].

In 879, [[Louis the Younger]] was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king [[Louis the Stammerer]], Charles's son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerer's young sons, [[Carloman II]] and [[Louis III of France|Louis III]], ceded western Lotharingia to Louis. The border between the two kingdoms was established at [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]] in 880 by the [[Treaty of Ribemont]].

In November 887, [[Arnulf of Carinthia]] called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor [[Charles the Fat]], who by 884 had succeeded to the thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in an attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing [[Charles the Fat]] in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king. The rule of Arnulf in East Francia was initially opposed by [[Guy III of Spoleto]], who became king of Italy, and by [[Rudolph I of Burgundy]], who was elected king in the southern half of former Middle Francia - [[Upper Burgundy]]. Rudolph had intended to make himself king over the whole of Lothair II's former kingdom, but had to be content with Burgundia.

Arnulf defeated the Vikings in 891 and dislodged them from their settlements at Louvain. In 895, he appointed his illegitimate son [[Zwentibold]] as the king of Lotharingia who ruled semi-independently until he was overthrown and killed by [[Reginar, Duke of Lorraine|Reginar]] on August 13, 900. The kingdom then ceased to exist and became a duchy.

==Duchy of Lotharingia, 900–959==
[[File:Europe in 900 AD.png|thumb|240px|Europe in 900, showing Lotharingia and its neighbours]]
The young king of [[East Francia]] [[Louis the Child]] appointed [[Gebhard, Duke of Lorraine|Gebhard]] to be the duke of Lotharingia in 903. His title was recorded in contemporary Latin as ''dux regni quod a multis Hlotharii dicitur'': "duke of the kingdom that many call Lothair's". He died in 910 fighting [[Hungarian invasions of Europe|Hungarian invaders]].

When non-Carolingian [[Conrad I of Germany]] was elected king of [[East Francia]] in 911, Lotharingian nobles under the new duke [[Reginar, Duke of Lorraine|Reginar]] voted to attach their duchy to West Francia, still ruled by the Carolingian dynasty. In 915, [[Charles the Simple]] rewarded him by granting him the title of [[margrave]]. Reginar was succeeded by his son [[Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine|Gilbert]] who used the title ''dux Lotharingiae'': "duke of Lotharingia".

When the West Franks deposed Charles in 922, he remained king in Lotharingia, from where he attempted to reconquer his kingdom in 923. He was captured and imprisoned by [[Herbert II, Count of Vermandois|Heribert II of Vermandois]] until his death in 929. In 923, king [[Henry the Fowler]] of [[East Francia]] used this opportunity and invaded Lotharingia (including [[Alsace]]). In 925, Lotharingians under Gilbert elected Henry the Fowler to be their king. In 930, Gilbert's loyalty was rewarded and he received the prestigious hand of Henry's daughter [[Gerberga of Saxony|Gerberga]] in marriage.

On Henry's death in 936, Gilbert rebelled and tried to swap Lotharingian allegiance to the West Franks, since their king [[Rudolph of France|Rudolph]] was weak and would interfere less in local affairs. In 939, Henry's son and successor, [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor]], invaded Lotharingia, and at the [[Battle of Andernach]] defeated Gilbert who drowned trying to flee across the Rhine.

The dukes of Lotharingia were thereafter royal appointees. [[Henry I, Duke of Bavaria]] was duke for two years, followed in 941 by duke [[Otto, Duke of Lorraine|Otto]], who, in 944, was followed by [[Conrad, Duke of Lorraine|Conrad]]. Lotharingia was turned into a junior [[stem duchy]] whose dukes had a vote in royal elections. While the other stem duchies had tribal or historic identities, Lotharingia's identity was solely political.

King [[Louis IV of France|Louis IV]] of West Francia tried to maintain a claim to Lotharingia by marrying Gilbert's widow and Otto's sister Gerberga. In his turn, Otto I accepted homage from West Francia's [[Hugh the Great]] and [[Herbert II, Count of Vermandois]] at [[Attigny, Ardennes|Attigny]] in 942. The weak Louis IV had no choice but to agree to Otto's continued suzerainty over Lotharingia.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tcjy7bCmFL0C&dq=lotharingia&pg=PA274 The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe]</ref> In 944, West Francia invaded Lotharingia, but retreated after Otto I responded with mobilization of a large army under [[Herman I, Duke of Swabia]].

==Partition of 959 and later history==

[[File:Lotharingia-959 with current borders.svg|thumb|Lotharingia's division in 959<br/>Blue: [[Alsace]], ceded to [[Duchy of Swabia]] in 925<br/>Orange: [[Duchy of Lorraine|Upper Lorraine]] after 928<br/>Green: [[Lower (Northern) Lotharingia|Lower Lotharingia]] after 977<br/>Purple: Current state borders]]

In 953, Duke Conrad rebelled against Otto I, and was removed from power and replaced by Otto's brother [[Bruno the Great]], who finally pacified Lotharingia in 959 by dividing it into [[Duchy of Lorraine|''Lotharingia superior'']] (Upper Lorraine or Southern Lorraine) under [[Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine|Frederick I]], and [[Lower Lorraine|''Lotharingia inferior'']] (Lower Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lotharingia) under [[Godfrey I, Duke of Lower Lorraine|Godfrey I]].

In 978, king [[Lothair of France|Lothair]] of West Francia [[Franco-German war of 978–980|invaded the region and captured Aachen]], but [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor]], counterattacked and reached the walls of Paris. In 980, Lothair renounced his rights to Lotharingia.

Except for one brief period (1033–44, under [[Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine|Gothelo I]]), the division was never reversed and the margraves soon raised their separate fiefs into duchies. In the twelfth century the ducal authority in Lower Lotharingia (or Lower Lorraine) fragmented, causing the formation of the [[Duchy of Limburg]] and the [[Duchy of Brabant]], whose rulers retained the title [[Duke of Lothier]] (derived from "Lotharingia"). With the disappearance of a "lower" Lorraine, the duchy of Upper Lorraine became the primary referent for "Lorraine" within the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

After centuries of French invasions and occupations, Lorraine was finally ceded to France at the close of the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1737). In 1766, the duchy was inherited by the French crown and became [[Lorraine]]. In 1871, after the [[Franco-Prussian War]], the northern portions of Lorraine were merged with [[Alsace]] to become the province of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] in the [[German Empire]], which became French territory again after [[World War I]]. Today the greater part of the French side of the Franco-German border belongs to the [[Grand Est]] [[regions of France|region of France]].

==See also==
*[[List of rulers of Lorraine|List of rulers of Lotharingia (Lorraine)]]
*[[Duchy of Lorraine|Duchy of Upper Lorraine]]
*[[Lower (Northern) Lotharingia|Duchy of Lower Lorraine]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==

===Primary sources===
*''[[Annales vedastini]]'' at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/annalesvedastini.html The Latin Library].
*''[[Annales xantenses qui dicuntur]]'' at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/xanten.html The Latin Library].

===Secondary sources===
{{Refbegin|2}}
* Bartholomew, John, and Wakelyn Nightingale. '' Monasteries and Patrons in the Gorze Reform: Lotharingia c. 850–1000'' (2001)
* Clark, Samuel. ''State and Status: The Rise of the State and Aristocratic Power in Western Europe'' (1995) pp. 53–79 [https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0773512497 excerpt]
* {{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Eric J.|title=Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876|year=2006|location=Ithaca, NY|publisher=Cornell University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyiTg0wgl58C}}
* {{Cite book|last=MacLean|first=Simon|title=Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire|year=2003|location=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Icl9qL3FnMC}}
* {{cite journal |last=MacLean |first=Simon |date=10 June 2013 |title=Shadow Kingdom: Lotharingia and the Frankish World, c. 850–c. 1050 |journal=History Compass |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=443–457 |doi=10.1111/hic3.12049 |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hic3.12049|hdl=10023/4176 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{Cite book|last=McKitterick|first=Rosamond|author-link=Rosamond McKitterick|title=The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751-987|year=1983|location=Harlow|publisher=Longman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtNnAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Reuter|first=Timothy|author-link=Timothy Reuter|title=Germany in the Early Middle Ages c. 800–1056|year=2013|orig-year=1991|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfvJAwAAQBAJ}}
* [[Timothy Reuter]], ed. ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, III: c. 900–c. 1024'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. [https://books.google.com/books?id=u-SsbHs5zTAC&dq=Lotharingia&pg=PA388 excerpts]
* {{Cite book|last=Reuter|first=Timothy|author-link=Timothy Reuter|title=Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities|year=2006|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGsN0Xbo-ZoC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Riché|first=Pierre|title=The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe|year=1993|location=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tcjy7bCmFL0C&pg=PR3}}
* {{Cite book|last=West|first=Charles|title=The Fall of a Carolingian Kingdom: Lotharingia, 855–869|year=2023|location=Toronto|publisher=University of Toronto Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp_UEAAAQBAJ}}
*[[Simon Winder]], ''Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country'', Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2019.
{{refend}}

{{coord missing|Europe}}
{{Lorraine topics}}

{{Portal bar|Europe|Middle Ages|Monarchy}}

{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Lotharingia| ]]
[[Category:855 establishments]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 850s]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 940s]]
[[Category:9th-century establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:10th-century disestablishments in Europe]]
[[Category:Former countries]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]