Treaty of Verdun
| Treaty of Verdun | |
|---|---|
 The Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent, with the three main divisions of 843. |
|
| Participants | Lothair I, Louis the German, Charles the Bald |
| Location | Verdun-sur-Meuse |
| Date | August 843 |
| Result | Divided territories of the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms; Influenced conflicts in Western Europe as late as the 20th century. |
The Treaty of Verdun (Verdun-sur-Meuse, August 843) was a treaty of the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the territories of the Carolingian Empire to three kingdoms.
When Louis the Pious died in 840, the eldest son, Lothair I, claimed overlordship over his brothers' kingdoms and supported the claim of his nephew Pepin II as king of Aquitaine. After his brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald defeated his forces at the Battle of Fontenay and sealed their alliance with the Oaths of Strasbourg (842), Lothair was willing to negotiate.
Each of the brothers was already established in one kingdom - Lothair in Italy, Louis the German in Bavaria, and Charles the Bald in Aquitaine.
- Lothair received the central portion of the empire - what later became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy (which covered only the northern half of the Italian Peninsula), collectively called Middle Francia. He also received the two imperial cities, Aachen and Rome. In addition, he received the imperial title, but it conferred only nominal overlordship of his brothers' lands.[1]
- Louis the German received the eastern portion. Louis was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine and to the north and east of Italy, which was called East Francia which was the precursor to the Medieval conglomeration of disparate states known as the Holy Roman Empire and thence to modern Germany.
- Charles the Bald received the western portion, which later became France. Pepin II was granted the kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles. Charles received all lands west of the Rhône, which was called West Francia.
Lothair retired Italy to his eldest son Louis II in 844, making him co-Emperor in 850. Lothair died in 855, dividing his kingdom into three parts: the territory already held by Louis remained his, the territory of the former Kingdom of Burgundy was granted to his third son Charles of Provence, and the remaining territory to his second son Lothair II, after whom the hitherto nameless territory was called Lotharingia.
Louis II, dissatisfied with having received no additional territory with his father's death, allied with his uncle Louis the German against his brother Lothair and his uncle Charles the Bald in 858. Lothair was reconciled with his brother and uncle shortly after, though Charles was so unpopular he could not raise an army to fight the invasion and fled to Burgundy; he was only saved when the bishops refused to crown Louis the German King. Charles the Bald invaded Charles of Provence's Kingdom of Burgundy in 860, but was repulsed. Lothair II ceded lands to Louis II in 862 for support of a divorce from his wife, which caused repeated conflicts with the Pope and his uncles. Charles of Burgundy died in 863, and his kingdom was inherited by Louis II.
Lothair II died in 869 with no legitimate heirs, and his kingdom was divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German in 870 by the Treaty of Meerssen. Meanwhile, Louis the German was involved with disputes with his three sons. Louis II died in 875, and named Carloman, the eldest son of Louis the German, his heir. Charles the Bald, supported by the Pope, was crowned both King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. The following year, Louis the German died. Charles tried to annex his realm too, but was defeated decisively at Andernach, and the Kingdom of the eastern Franks was divided between Louis the Younger, Carloman of Bavaria and Charles the Fat.
Legacy
The division of the Frankish realm by the Treaty of Verdun influenced conflicts in Western Europe as late as the 20th century, as it was carried out without any regard to linguistic and cultural continuities. The Middle Frankish Kingdom, which combined lengthy and vulnerable land borders with poor internal communications as it was severed by the Alps, was not a viable entity, and soon fragmented. This made it difficult for a single ruler to reassemble Charlemagne's empire. Only Charles the Fat ever did so, and even then only briefly. In 855 the northern section of this central portion became the fragile entity of Lotharingia, the fragments of which were disputed by the more powerful states that evolved out of West Francia, and East Francia, that is France, various Germanic states, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, united Germany. The collapse of the Middle Frankish Kingdom also compounded the disunity of the Italian Peninsula, which persisted into the 19th century. The division reflected an adherence to the old Frankish custom of partible or divisible inheritance amongst a ruler's sons, rather than primogeniture, inheritance by the eldest son, which would soon be adopted by both Frankish kingdoms.
Notes
- ↑ Friedrich Heer, The Holy Roman Empire, pg. 20