Lotharingia, East and West Francia – 843-1100

The Treaty of Verdun – 843 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treaty of Verdun

The Carolingian Renaissance we very short lived and the continent was in for two centuries of warring. This started immediately after the death of Charlemagne when bloody family-wars split the once mighty empire. The land was divided at the Treaty of Verdun in August 843,  under the three sons of Louis the Pius into three independent kingdoms.

The effects of this first great European treaty are still relevant to the political situation of Europe to this day.

• Charles the Bald – the western patrician (western Francia )
• Louis the German  – the eastern side what would later become the Holy Roman Empire
• Lothar I – the Middle Kingdom a range of territories from Frisia in the north to Italy in the south.

The boarder of 843 between France and the Middle Kingdom in the north was along the Lower Scheldt. In Ghent we did see the last remnant of this boarder a hundred meter stretch of the old Lower-Scheldt (locally known as the Reep) that has not been filled in, next to the old castle Geeraard de Duivelsteen. Valenciennes, Ename and Antwerp were other important border city in the Scheldt Valley See: Brabant Emerging).

However, the borderlines of these territories did not always take into account the relationships between the now energing vassals and their rulers, and as in modern times still is the case, this became the reason for ongoing disputes and wars. As a matter of fact the period following the collapse of Charlemagne’s Empire until 1200 is characterised by an ongoing all-out war between the dozens and dozens of newly emerging landlords. This situation is very well reflected in the region we are focussing on.  See also feudalism and vassalage.

In the west most of the individual territories were able to gain independence and they started to form their own centra of administration. In the east the old tribal areas were restored with their own dukes. While there was some unity but from the 10th  century onward they operated independently. The Middle Kingdom was a disaster from the start, impossible to have any form of centralised government is such a geographic monster that it started to fell apart soon after it was formed and became a continuously disputed area.

After the treaty of Verdun the brothers regularly conferred in Meerssen, near Maastricht, in relation to common issues. However, the division clearly weakened the border region in the south the Arabs, in the Mediterranean Byzantium and in the north the Vikings. By 844 they had already reached Toulouse and in 845 they sacked Paris, Bordeaux in 848 and Orleans in 853.

The more concentrated nature of the east and west kingdoms (what later would become France and Germany) and the far less easy to defend long and at some places narrow Middle Kingdom, made the first two more powerful than the middle one. The first part of this chapter concentrates on developments in relation to Lotharingia.

King Louis the German of East Francia

Louis emerged as the big winner, being given all the regions east of the Rhine. He resided at Regensburg and Frankfurt (Ford of the Franks).

East Francia  kings

King Charles the Bald of West Francia

The Kingdom of West Francia only lasted for one generation, Charles the Bald spend most of his time in the various abbeys around his kingdom. After his death it was subsequently divided into the following fiefs: Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy, Catalonia, Flanders, Gascony, Gothia (Septimania), the Île-de-France, and Toulouse.

The West Frankish Kingdom is however the precursor of both Medieval France and modern France, though West Francia would have to pass to the less quarrelsome House of Capet before it achieved steady growth and stability.

The Carolingian inheritors of West Francia were subsequently to share the fate of their predecessors: after an intermittent power struggle between the two families, the accession (987) of Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, established the Capetian dynasty on the throne which with its Valois and Bourbon offshoots was to rule France for more than 800 years. After 987, the kingdom came to be known as France, as the new ruling dynasty (the Capetians) were originally dukes of Île-de-France, the region encompassing Paris.

Lotharingia – Emperors Lothar I and Lothar II

Lothar I also inherited the title of Emperor. Unfortunately the geography of the Middle Kingdom was such that it was vulnerable to the powers on both sides. They frequently attacked trying to enlarge their territory. This position was further weakened when Lothar I divided this Middle Kingdom again under his three sons.

The Treaty of Prüm – 855

• Louis II received the imperial title and ruled over Italy
• Lothar II the lands of Frisia to the Jura Mountains including the imperial city of Aachen became the core of Lotharingia under Lothar II.
• Charles of Provence  received Burgundy and Provence (later split.

As we mentioned in the chapter on Prüm, Lothar I retired in the monastery of Prüm, where he shortly after the partition died. See: Missionaries and Monasteries.

Tomb Lothar I Prum Abbey

However, despite or perhaps because of a weakened empire, it was in the original lands of the Middle Kingdom that economic progress started to

occur in the south in the various mini states in what is now Italy and in the north in Flanders and Brabant and a bit later also in Holland.

After the Treaty of Prüm, the Carolingian lands were now divided into five realms. Interestingly it became the clergy that from now lead the unity of the empire in the name of Christianity. Lothar’s II life was totally occupied by a divorce of his wife Theutberga, daughter of Count Bosso, of Provence, he became involved in and was used by his opponent to undermine his government. Lotharingia took its name of Lothar II (Regnum Hlotharii or Lotharii Regnum = Lothar’s realm).

Obviously these boarders became a useful focus for the old  warlords on both sides to try and increase their power and their wealth. In this struggle this duchy played a strategic role, serving as a buffer between the kingdom of France and the German lands.

Slowly land became the replacement of booty as a measure of wealth. Creating wealth based on land did mean the usage of this land. Initially free farmers were employed but through the Frankish heritage system these lands had to be split between sons and slowly many plots became uneconomically and the farmers ended up as serfs under the lord.

After the death of Lothar II in 869, without having legitimate successors, the plan was according to previous drawn up plans to divide Lotharingia between the two uncles Louis II and Charles the Bald.

However, when Lothar suddenly died, the eastern Francia king Louis was serious ill in Regensburg. A month later, Charles took the opportunity to enter Metz in Lotharingia (avoiding Aachen, the cradle of the Carolingian dynasty) and annexed this territory and on September 9^th 869 arranged for his own coronation. Shortly after this Charles’ wife Ermentrude died in St Denis and he immediately arranged a political marriage with Richildis, a daughter of Count Bivin of Gorze. She was a niece of Lothar II embattled wife Theutberga. In this way he created a number of important supporters. In another bald move, he married her in Aachen.

However, as soon as Louis had recovered he reminded Charles of the previous arrangement of the partition of Lotharingia. They came to terms with each other in Meerssen in 870.

Treaty of Meerssen – 870

It was in Meerssen, where the kings regularly met (recorded meeting include: 847 and 851), to discuss common Carolingian matters. The castle was again the meeting place for the next major European political event: the Treaty of Meerssen  (which is now in the Netherlands) on August 8, 870.

This entailed an agreement of the division of the Carolingian Empire by the surviving sons of Louis the Pius. The Kingdom of Lotharingia was now divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German. Charles had to sacrifice Metz and Aachen, but maintained the valley of the Meuse and the western third of Frisia. From Louis he did receive the regions of Lyon, Vienne and Viviers. The north of Lotharingia was at that stage in Danish Viking control and was only divided between West Francia and East Francia on paper.

The treaty replaced the Treaty of Verdun (834). However, the two kings never had a good grip on power within Lotharingia.

Slowly the old Carolingian power structures started to weaken and that allowed some of the smaller territories to gain more independence.

After the death of Louis II the Middle Kingdom went to his cousin Carloman, however before he could be crowned he was crippled by a stroke and Charles the Fat became King of Italy.

Treaty of Meerssen

Timeline events in relation to Lotharingia

King Louis the Stammer of West Francia

After the unexpected death of Charles the Bald in 877, his sickly son Louis the Stammer (Louis II) assumed control over West Francia. Severe mismanagement led to renewed violence amongst the nobility and the church had to intervene in order to maintain unity in the Christian empire. Louis died only two years later. A range of contenders now entered the field (names and dates are correct, be it somewhat confusion):

• The sons of  Louis the German: Louis III (the Younger d. 882) and Charles III (the Fat d 888)
• The sons of  Louis the Stammerer (grandsons Charles the Bald) sons:  Louis III (d. 882), Carloman (d.884) and Charles III (the Simple d 929)
• Hugh the illegitimate son of Lothar II (he was blinded in 885 and imprisoned in the monastery of Prüm).

They of course all had their own fractions who supported them. And again during these unstable times, the Vikings were only to happy to profit from the disarray and plundered Flanders, Brabant and northern Saxony, Ghent was sacked in 879. It was left to the local counts and dukes to fight for themselves as the Kings were to weak to provide any support.

This ended a period of relative population growth in this part of the world. The situation continued during the following 80 years (till 950) when the region became the battleground between East and West Francia (see below). Flourishing communities until that time, such as those near Uden, Haps and Hulsel disappeared. In others populations often declined by 50%.

Treaty of Ribémont – 880 - the re-emergence of Lotharingia

After the death Louise the German,  his brother Charles the Bald and nephews Louis the Younger, Louis the Stammerer and his son Carloman II of East Francia signed the Treaty of Ribémont (modern day Aisne) this would become that last Frankish treaty regarding the ongoing division of the  Carolingian Empire.

Louis the Younger had already  secured the friendship of Charles The Bald  successor Louis the Stammerer at the Treaty of Fourons in november 878. The two nephews promised to accept the successions of their respective sons. The treaty was put to the test when Louis the Stammer died in april 879. A western delegation  invited Louis the Younger to take control of West Francia. Because the wife of Louis the Stammer, Luitgard,  also supported this idea, Louis the Younger invaded West Francia. He reached as far as Verdun, but he retreated after his nephews, the kings Louis III of France and Carloman II, became co-kings of West Francia and gave up their share of Lotharingia to him,

Meanwhile Boso of Provence, a noble of Carolingian descent, proclaimed himself king of the Provence. Moreover, the Vikings resumed their attacks. To deal with these threats, the Carolingian kings decided to put aside their differences so as the deal with the threats together. They met at Ribémont, in present day Aisne. In return for Louis the Younger’s neutrality, the kings of France confirmed Louis’ possession of the parts of Lotharingia that had been given to them since the Treaty of Meerssen. This left them free to deal with Boss0.

King Charles the Fat of West Francia

It is generally accepted that with the death of Charles the Fat the Carolingian empire had collapsed, each region now appointed their own rulers and a prolonged period of warring started.

Kings Arnulf of East Francia

Nobles in East Francia used this opportunity to make a grab for power and Charles nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia the bastard son of Carloman of Bavaria who was the son of Louis the German became the next King of East Francia.

Arnulf also launched two campaigns into Italy to assist the Pope against the ongoing feudal power struggles between the local counts of Unruochings and Spoleto and the Roman senatorial families. He was crowned emperor by Pope Formosus in 895.

Arnulf established a new kingdom of Lotharingia in 894, which he entrusted to his bastard son Zwentibold, keeping the troubled Frisians lands, which were still threatened by the Vikings, for himself.

He was also instrumental in the establishment of what later would become the County of Holland. In 889 he granted a local lord, Gerulf, – who had a strongholds in a coastal part of Frisia – lands in that area (Kennemerland) this, as a reward for the assassination of the Viking chief Godfrid in 885. According to Regino,  Abbot of Prüm, it had been Charles the Fat who had previously plotted the assassination.

King Zwentibald King of Lotharingia

The new kingdom of Lotharingia roughly consisted of modern day:

• The Netherlands
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)
• Rhineland-Palatine (Germany)
• Saarland (Germany)
• Lorraine (France)
• Alsace (France)

Lith and Oijen during Lotharingian times

The newly formed region also includes the region around Oss that we feature in this publication. It is suggested that the settlements of farms in Lith (Litta) and Oijen formed part of a large domain along the river Maas.  This was donated by King Zwentibold to Reginar I of Lotharingia for his loyal services. His son Gisbert inherited the domain and he married Gerberda the sister of Emperor Otto I. Towards the end of her life in 968 she donated the domain to the Abbey of Saint Remigius in Reims. In that charter the communities of Groenewoud, Scheurheuvel and Luttereind were mentioned. The central mansion was situated in Groenewoud, eight farms were situated around this place and the farmers were serfs. When the Dukes of Brabant started to emerge as the regional power Duke Henry I became in 1200 the guardian of the domain.

Zwentibold was challenged by the local power broker Count Reginar of Hainaut, whose family possessed considerable domains between the Meuse and the Scheldt. He was linked to the Carolinians through his mother Ermengard, a daughter of Lothar I. Reginar I ‘Longneck’ considered himself the natural leader of Lotharingia.

We also know Reginar from the battle he fought with the Frisian Prince Raboud in 874 against the Vikings.

King Louis the Child of East Francia

Upon the death of Arnulf in 899, these nobles claimed his six-year old son,  Louis the Child as their king -as he was seen as the natural leader – and disowned the violent and authoritarian Zwentibold, who was seen as a ‘foreigner’ and was killed the following year.

The young age of the new king left of course plenty of room for these nobles to intervene.

Despite being part of the German kingdom, Lotharingia was able to keep its own distinct administration led by a group of lay magnates and the bishop of Trier. If needed they didn’t shy away of asking for support of king of western Francia if that suited their cause for (semi) independence.

He tried to take some military control as he grew older, but he had little success against the Magyars. His army was destroyed at the Pressburg in 907 and again in Lechfeld 911, He died only eighteen years of age. His death brought an end to the eastern branch of the Carolingian dynasty.

King Conrad I of East Francia

After the dearth of Louis the Child, Conrad I became the elected German king. He was the son of Conrad, Duke of Thuringia, they had their power base  in the Lahn region, and competed vigorously for dominance in Franconia.

His reign from 911 till 918, was one of failures which led to splintering of the eastern Francia kingdom. This only strengthened to local powers. The Vikings also used this opportunity, Canute the Great went on a pilgrimage to Rome and secured the Pope’s support, he also married Conrad’s daughter Gunnhild and thus secured the border between Germany and Denmark.

King Charles the Simple of West Francia

Reginar I  refused to accept the new East Francia King Conrad and switched alliance to Charles III the Simple, since 911 king  of West Francia and the son of Louis II. Reginar asked Charles to take possession of Aachen and Nijmegen. Strengthening his position in the region, Charles even married Frederuna a daughter of one of the  Lotharingian noble families. After the death of Louis the Child, Charles became king of Lotharingia. He frequently resided in Herstal, Aachen, Metz and Gondreville near Toul.

Charles acknowledges the power that now lay with the local rulers not only of Hainault and Flanders but also of Burgundy and Aquitaine. He also agreed to allow the Norman chief Rollo, in exchange for his baptism, the land now known as Normandy. This was bitterly posed by the local nobles who wanted to maintain the wars against the vikings. It was Arnolph I Count of Flanders who killed Rollo.

When Reginar I died in 915, King Charles transferred the count’s title to his son(?) Gilbert and also awarded him with the title marquis.

The symbolic value of Lotharingia

Interestingly the title of King of Lotharingia did not include significant landholdings or economic income, it was left very much to the local rulers to establish their own powers that would lead to territory and income. This is also one of the reasons why the cities especially in the border areas were able to maintain a large proportion of independence.

The main value of Lotharingia was that it was the heartland of the ancient Carolingian dynasty.

King Henry the Fowler of East Francia

In the meantime Henry I succeeded in 919 Conrad I and he wanted to reclaim Lotharingia, he claimed rights through an aunt who had married Zwentibold. However, at this stage he didn’t dare to challenge Charles the Simple. The two met and agreed to maintain the status quo. As an avid hunter he received the epithet ‘the Fowler’.  He was the first Saxon king – representing the people that not so long before this time where conquered by Charlemagne.

East Francia originally consisted of four tribal duchies:

• Saxony (Saxons) – since 908 included the Thuringii duchy
• Franconia (Franks)
• Swabia (Suebi) – also included the ethnic group of the Alamanni
• Bavaria (Baiuvari)

These tribal duchies were independent territories who only worked together in a loose federation. However, this started to change in 911 when a combined army of these duchies was defeated by the invading Magyars in 911 (first battle of Lechfield). Under Henry a closer cooperation was formed. Henry I was also the first king to break with the Frankish tradition of dividing the patrimony. From now the east Frankish younger sons could still share in the inheritance but the kingdom became indivisible, as such he is seen as the first German King (rather than the next king of  East Francia)

Envy from other Frankish nobles regarding the privileges Charles the Simple had provided to Lotharingia, led to the downfall of the king. He was captured in 920. The ambitious Gilbert of Hainault did not wait long and got his followers to proclaim him ‘prince’ of Lotharingia in the same year.

The release of Charles was negotiated, however revolt flared up again in 922 and Charles had to flee western Francia and went across the Meuse to Lotharingia. He was captured again, this time by Herbert II of Vermandois.

Pandemonium broke out and it was now East Francia Henry I’s  turn to follow up on his Lotharingian ambitious. The opportunistic Lotharingian nobles surprisingly didn’t support Charles and shifted their allegiance to the Burgundian King Ralph. However it was here that Henry stepped in and forced them instead to accept him as their overlord. Lotharingia once again swinged back under the control of East Francia. Charles the Simple in the meantime died still imprisoned in 929.

Now under the control of East Francia, the Kingdom of Lotharingia  was permanently incorporated as the 5^th duchy of this realm in 925. From now on a duchy this territory was not based on tribal boundaries and also the Frisii were also part of it. While now part of the German Empire, Lotharingia would remain a contested area for the next 1000 years by France and when it made political sense its allies.

Now it was Henry time to further strengthened his ties with Lotharingia by marrying his daughter Gerberda to Count Gilbert of Lotharingia, the son of Reginar I of Hainault. She brought Brussels into the realm of Lotharingia as her dowry.

Both King Ralph (west Francia) and king Henry (east Francia) died in 936. This provided a unique opportunity to re-establish Carolingian powers.

Henry had become powerful enough to appoint his son Otto as the next king. From here on the Saxon kings are referred to as  Ottonians.

West Francia

How the French crown went to the  Capetians

After the fleeing of Charles the Simple, the French crown now went to the Robert the Strong (Robertines). They were possible decedents of Chrodegang of Metz.

Robert the Strong had been  a close ally of Charles the Bald. He married into the influential Welf family, with ties to the Carolingians. His son Odo was elected king of western Francia in 888. After the death of Odo in 898 the Carolingian dynasty was restored when Charles the Simple received back the crown of western Francia.

Similar to the Carolingians and Ottonians also this dynasty drew significant political power from their fertile and productive domains in the region.

However, support fror Charles  ended in 922 and Duke Robert, the brother of Odo was elected the new king. A war broke out between Charles and Robert and Robert was killed in battle in 923. His son Hugh (the Great) didn’t challenge the crown, but the Robertines re-emerged and Robert’s son-in-law Ralph of Burgundy received the crown. Ralph was linked to the Carolingians through his uncle, Bosso of Provence.

After the death of Hugh the Great in 956, his eldest son Hugh nicknamed Capet after the capes he wore as tokens of his numerous lay-abbacies, was still quite young. He was crowned King of the Franks in 987.

After Ralph’s death his brother Hugh the Black became the next king of Burgundy. And the Robertines also dominated this kingdom for the next three and a half centuries.

The Capetian dynasty still continues till this day with their descendent ruling in Spain and Luxembourg.

The last of the western-Carolingians

As we saw above Hugh the Great didn’t it claim the crown, but instead successfully argued for the restoration of the Carolingian dynasty by negotiating the return of Louis IV, the exiled son of Charles the Simple.  In 923 Louis had fled with his mother Eadgifu to her father Edward I King of Wessex. In the meantime Ethelstan had taken over from his brother Edward and was at that time one of the strongest leaders of the west. His sister Edith married to the new eastern Francia king Otto I. This provided the House of Wessex with significant influence in both eastern and western Francia.

This strategy from Hugh proofed to be a good move as this launched half a century of stability in western Francia.

The exiled period gave Louis IV the nickname “d’Outremer” “from overseas”. In 954 Louis was succeeded by Lothar IV, he married Emma of Italy and in 979 she became the regent for  her son Louis V. The accidental death of Louis in 987 marked the definite end of the western-Carolingian dynasty. Hugh Carpet was now selected by the feudal magnates as the new king of what at that time was not much more than the county of Paris  (the north-central part, along the river Seine, of the current country). He was marrieds to Adelaide, daughter of William Towhead, Count of Poitou.  Slowly the Capetian rulers were able to consolidate the greater French state.

This  dynasty that  would last for  800 years. However, with a new monarchy and new nobles, it remained firmly rested in its ‘legitimate’ Carolingian foundations.

French Kings – Capetian Dynasty (direct line) 987 – 1328

It wasn’t until Louis VI before France slowly started to emerge as a European power. In 1124 the king was able to gather his nobles around him and combined they were able to warded off  a planned invasion of France by England and Germany. Louis had also founded the foundation of the feudal system that strengthened royal authority. However, France at that stage was still not much more than Paris-Orléans  and its direct surroundings. The County of Anjou (including Normandy, Maine and Touraine) as well as the Duchy of Aquitaine (including Gascony and Poitou) were significantly larger in size.

East Francia – The Holy Roman Empire

At the same time, in East Francia, the 2^nd Saxon king Otto the Great also provided strong leadership. He reinforced control over Saxony and annexed Italy in 951. He was the one that finally was able to stop the foreign invasions in the east; as mentioned above he defeated the Magyars in 955. This allowed him to revive imperial pretentions.

He arranged for his coronation in the Carolingian and Lotharingia capital Aachen, which was now firmly back into the hands of the Germans. He also proved himself worthy of the imperial coronation in 962.

He extended his Empire and was able to maintain a tight control on the Pope who was worried about the increasing power of the Emperor. Within that conflict he was also able to arrange peace with the Byzantine Empire and earned the respect of the Emperor who accepted Otto’s position as the Emperor in the previous western part of the Roman Empire. For a thousand years his Holy Roman Empire (click for more details) would play at least symbolically a key role in European history. Otto’s legacy ‘the Great’ was the fact that he had the vision of international relationships based on peace rather than war and a large part of his life was dedicated to international (peace) negotiations with his neighbours.

For a long time he had been trying to arranged a marriage between his son Otto (II) and the Byzantine princess, eventually he succeeded when Theophanu a niece of the Emperor by marriage (and probably from Armenian decent) arrived in great splendor  for her marriage with Otto II in Rome. She received a very impressive wedding gift that included amongst others, the Provence of Walcheren, properties at Tiel and the guardianship of the Monastery of Nijvel.

In 980, Theophanu gave birth to her son Otto during  in the Reichswald on her way to the Emperor’s caste in Nijmegen and she was transported to here for her recovery. After the early  death of her husband she became the Regent for her son (who had already been crowned emperor at the age of three). She traveled extensively as the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, she also stayed with her somn for prolonged periods in Rome.

At this time the Eastern Empire – where she came form – had a much more advanced system of governance, it had a standing army, a fixed court and a large bureaucracy, none if this was yet in existence in the Western Empire. Theophanu no doubt tapped into her Byzantine knowledge and experiences as she showed great skills in her negotiations with the various vassals, especially in her negotiations with the Lotharingian rulers in the west (in relation to the  problems that arrived, as mentioned above,  in 925). She was able to built up good relationships with Beatrice the Regent Dowager Duchess of Upper Lotharingia,  Emma the queen of West Francia as well as with Adelaide the wife of the powerful Hugh Carpet and sister-in-law of Beatrice. In 985 these four ladies came together in Metz to discuss the various border issues between their territories and this led to the so called Peace of the Queens (Colloquium Dominarum). (These ladies are also mentioned elsewhere in this section).

In 991 new problems arrived in relation to the situation of Lotharingia and for that reason Theophanu  traveled to Nijmegen. Very unexpectedly she died here at the age of 35. There are suggestions that there is a link between the Byzantine princes and the  St Nicolas chapel  at the site of the destroyed castle ‘Valkenhof’ .

She was buried at the St Pantaleon Monastery in Cologne, this was founded by the brother of Otto I, Abbott Bruno.

It is interesting to note how far reaching the political alliances of those times were. Marriage alliance linked together all the main kingdoms: England, Burgundy, France, Germany, Bohemia, Russia, Bulgaria and Byzantium. All Courts had ambassadors and scholars representing many different peoples, cultures and languages and for most of the time free travel existed between them. The top level of society was remarkable international.

However, looking back none of Otto the Great’s successors were powerful enough to built on his success of  and long lasting peace and political stability remained rather elusive. This was partially because in order to negotiate all these arrangements he had to hand out privileges to the power dukes and bishops. Eventually this woudl lead to serious conflicts between the Holy Roman Emperors and the Pope (see Investiture Conflict).

Certainly also under the influence of his mother and the fact that so often stayed in Rome, Otto III was the first emperor who also understood the imperial ideology, which should rise above Germany. He moved his court permanently to Rome. This also assisted him in extending his territorial ambitions in Italy. He also faced ongoing opposition from the Roman senatorial families as well as from the Italian nobility. When he started to appoint Italian bishops a revolt followed and he had to flee Rome. He died in 1002 when he tried to recapture Rome from Ravenna.

Ottonian (Saxon) Dynasty

Henry I the Fowler 919-936

Otto I the Great, 962–973

Otto II, 973–983

Otto III, 996–1002

Henry II the Saint, 1014–1024

The Saxon dynasty was succeeded by the Salian (1024-1125) and Hohenstaufen (1132-1254) dynasties.

Because of tribal and family relational there were significant ties between the Saxons and the Frisians in the Low Countries. Because of the rise in power of the Saxons, the Frisians also profited from this, several were close relatives and or advisers to the Emperor and his family.

Under the first Salian king Conrad II, the Kingdom of Burgundy was annexed in 1032 (the County of Burgundy) remained part of West Francia) and Italy was once again brought under control. The Holy Roman Empire was now well and truly established as the dominant power in Europe.

The German kings based their power on the Church, it was the Imperial Church. Bishops and abbots had to supply the king with tax income and militia in a similar way as the secular nobility was linked  to the king through vassalage and ministerialis (unfree servants). Under Conrad there was a large increase in the number of ministerialis and this can be seen as the start of the formation of the early bureaucracies. At the same kings started to invest bishop with secular powers – which required even more ministerialis -  often their secular and ecclesial territories were (partly) different. This however, brought the Emperor in direct conflict with the pope, which led to a serious undermining of the authority of the Emperor (see: Investiture Controversy: The battle between religion and state.

From 925 till the middle of the 13^th century the Emperors were also the nominal rulers of the Low Countries, but they hardly ever were able to hold real power over the independent Counts, Dukes and the Bishop of Utrecht. However, trouble erupted every time when there were changes to the thrones in any of these territories.

While at this stage there was no indication that France would ever reach a similar unity, the facts proofed to be different.  The relationships between the French nobility and their king was such that there was a more equal spread of power in this environment more slowly but also more sustainable the French King was able to grew into a much more central figure of  West Francia.

Just as it looked like Europe arrived in a more stable situation, the Normans arrived in the Mediterranean. They ousted the Arabs and the Byzantines and proclaimed the Pope as their overlord. This of course meant trouble for the Emperors. The Popes used this situation to increase their secular powers.

Continuation of the history of the Holy Roman Empire .

Final partitioning of Lotharingia under Bruno:  950 – 959

Back to Lotharingia.

In a rapidly expanding Germany it became more and more difficult to enforce German domination throughout the empire. The Holy Roman Empire now encompassed several different cultures and different languages. Significant military activities were required on the eastern borders where they confronted hostile Slavs and Magyars. This allowed the lords on the north western outskirts of the Empire to obtain more and more independence.

Gilbert of Lotharingia

Gilbert of Lotharingia, who as we saw above was married to the daughter of the east Francia king Henry I,  rebelled against Henry’s successor Otto I and during that battle at Andernach he drowned in the river Rhine in 939.

Manoeuvring between the eastern and western empires increased and the west Francia king  Louis ‘from Overseas’ married Gilbert’s widow Gerberga (and thus securing a link with mythical Carolingians – it could well be that she also brought Leuven in as a wedding gift. At the same time the Lotharingian nobles, in order to protect their own interests, united behind Otto I these included Hugh the Great and Herbert of Vermandois. However, in 942 both kings settled their disagreements and Lotharingia stayed under German control.

Conrad the Red

In 944 king Otto I supported his son-in-law the archbishop of Cologne Conrad the Red to become the next duke of Lotharingia. However, Conrad revolted against the king in 953. West Francia however, was unable to profit from this revolt and Otto was therefore able to quickly re-establish his authority of Lotharingia by nominating his brother Bruno as the new archbishop of Cologne, as such he was also appointed to administer Lotharingia.

Duke Bruno -archbishop of Cologne

Bruno became the last duke to govern the whole of Lotharingia and was after the Emperor the most powerful ruler in Germany. Until the battle of Woeringen which in 1288,  was won by  Jan I Duke of Brabant, the archbishops were both the secular and spiritual rulers of Cologne.

In 950 Bruno partitioned Lotharingia into two vice duchies:

• Lower Lotharingia (largely Austrasia) ruled by a group of nobles from Verdun. This duchy fragmented after 1190 into the duchies of Brabant, Gelre and Limburg. The Duke of Brabant traditionally retained the title honorific title of Duke of Lower Lotharingia.
• Upper Lotharingia (Lorraine) – equivalent to the ecclesiastical province of Trier – with Count Frederick of Bar, with lots of Carolingian blood in his veins. In 954, he married the Burgundian princess Beatrice, daughter of Hugh the Great, count of Paris. After the death of her husband in 978  she played –  as Regent Dowager – an important role in the international affairs of her county.
  The duchy survived till 1766.

Reigning periods of the Dukes of Lotharingia

Gebhard                                                                                  903 –910

Gilbert (also: Giselbert of the Meuse fief)                 928 – 939

Otto I                                                                                       939 – 944

Conrad the Red                                                                   944 – 953

Archbishop Bruno of Cologne                                      953 – 965

Vacant                                                                                    965 – 977

It is also interesting to note that Giselbert established Maastricht as his capital of Lotharingia. While there is no conclusive evidence it has been suggested that his place was close to the St Servaas cathedral and together formed an early palatine.

Carving out Lower Lotharingia

Vice duchy of Lower Lotharingia - Godfrey I of Hainault - 959

For Lower Lotharingia the split came into effect when Godfrey I, count of Hainault became margrave or vice-duke of Lower Lotharingia in 959. After the death of Godfrey, Emperor Otto gave part of lower Lotharingia to Richar or Richer of Mons he was related to Bruno and was vice-duke from 964 – 973. An independent count was appointed in 977.

Lower Lotharingia is the most important region in the context of the Brabant story. This area comprised present north east France, the German Rhineland, Luxembourg, east Belgium, and what currently is the Netherlands.

In Flandres, Normandy and Catalonia the original nobility was able to keep their reins. In the German kingdom, new nobility established them next to the old guard.

The Duchy of Lower Lotharingia – Charles and Otto of Saxony – 977

Upon Bruno’s death in 965, Lower Lotharingia, whose margrave had died, was left vacant until 977. In that year Emperor Otto II appointed Charles as duke of Lower Lotharingia, Charles was the son of Louis IV and Gerberga of Saxony (the sister of Otto I). In 987 he handed over the regency of Lower Lotharingia to his son Otto.

His daughter Gerberga of Lotharingia became countess of Brussels and married Lambert I, Count of Leuven.

During his reign Otto of Lower Lotharingia remained a faithful vassal of Emperor Otto III. The duke died in 1012 without a heir and this also meant in this part of the former empire of Charlemagne that the Carolingian dynasty had come to an end. It also was the end of the short lived importance of the Duchy of Saxony. (The current Bundes Republic Saxony was only established later and is situation further east of the original Saxon heartland).

Godfrey II of Verdun

After the death of Duke Otto and on the advice of Gerard I, bishop of Cambrai, the new German King Henry II appointed, in 1012, Godfrey II of Verdun as the next duke he was seen as a strong military leader to defend the border with Francia.  He was supported in that by his brothers Gothelo, margrave of Antwerp and Herman margrave of Ename (see Brabant emerging).

In this appointment he sidestepped  his brother-in-law Lambert I of Leuven. Lambert was severely disappointed and was more or less in a constant state of war with Godfrey II and Reginar V of Hainault. Godfrey killed Lambert at Florennes (Namur) on September 12 1015.

Reginar V married Mathilda, the daughter of Herman of Ename. In 1029 he succeeded his father in law in the southern part of the pagus of Brabant. In this way this part of Ename ended up in the hands of the rulers of Hainault. In Brabant Emerging we see that his son will rebuilt the fortress in 1040.

Godfrey died in battle at Vlaardingen where the imperial army he led was defeated by Dirk III of Holland. After the death of Henry II, Dirk supported the choice of Saliër Conrad II as the next Emperor, which happened in 1027. He was the founder of the emerging Hohenstaufen dynsasty. Conrad died of gout while staying in Utrecht.

Brief reunion of Lotharingia 1033 – 1044

The two duchies remained separate, following separate pathways, except for the brief period under Gothelo I, between 1033 and 1044.

The 2^nd split between Upper and Lower Lotharingia happened in 1044/1046. Godfrey II of Lower Lotharingia with the Beard revolted against the Emperor. He was supported by this by the Dukes of Flanders and Hainault as well as Count Dirk III of Holland.

Gerard of Metz became the Duke of Upper Lotharingia (Lorraine), with Nancy as its powerbase. We visited Nancy and the Ducal Palace in May 2009.

The campaign was a mixed success for the various parties involved however. Initially Dirk was defeated but during the retreat of the Emperor the forces of the others were able to severely diminish the imperial army. This allowed Godfrey IV to claim the title of Lotharingia after the death of Gothelo I, but only received the title for Lower Lotharingia. Military control of Lower Lotharingia was given the archbishops of Cologne, Trier and Utrecht as well as to Otto I of Lotharingia and since 1045 Count Palatine Henry I of Lotharingia.

Dukes of Lower Lotharingia

Note that the numbering of the dukes varies between sources.

Vice Dukes

Godfrey I of Hainault                                           959–964

Richar Count of Mons                                         968–972

Carolingian

Charles of Lower Lotharingia                           977–991

Otto of Lower Lotharingia                                  991–1012

House of Ardennes–Bouillon

Godfrey I of Verdun                                              1012–1023

Gothelo I                                                                1023–1044

Interim period                                                       1044–1046 (Gothello II was mentally ill)

House of Luxembourg

Frederick                                                               1046–1065

House of Ardennes–Bouillon

Godfrey II                                                               1065–1069 (same as Godfrey I of Verdun above)

Godfrey III                                                              1069–1076 (also known as Godfrey IV)

Salian

Conrad II                                                                               1076–1087

House of Ardennes–Bouillon

Godfrey (V) of Bouillon                                        1087–1100 (also known as Godfrey IV)

House of Limburg

Henry                                                                     1101–1106 (also duke of Limburg)

House of Leuven

Godfrey VI                                                              1106–1129 (also known as Godfrey V)

House of Limburg

Waleran                                                                 1129–1139

House of Leuven

Godfrey VII                                                             1139–1142 (also known as Godfrey VI)

Godfrey VIII                                                            1142–1190 (also known as Godfrey VII)

Godfrey of Bouillion 

Bouillon Castle

Godfrey the Hunchback (IV) died childless and he had named his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, as his heir and next in line to his duchy of Lower Lorraine.

Godfrey was a loyal supporter of his Emperor Henry IV. But nevertheless the emperor didn’t ratify the title until 1087.  Godfrey of Bouillon became the hero of the First Crusade and in 1099 became King of Jerusalem.  However, he died the following year. In the meantime Lower Lotharingia continued to remain in a virtually state of civil war; a never ending battle for  the succession of the duchy.

After the death of Godfrey of Bouillon the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV handed the title of Duke of Lower Lotharingia to his supporter Duke Henry I of Limburg, who at that time was waring with the Count Godfrey of Leuven.

However, the son of the emperor revolted against his father and he won that battle, now the tables turned for Limburg who had sited with the old emperor. The new emperor Henry V offered on May 13, 1106, the title of Duke of Lower Lotharingia to Godfried I, Count of Leuven, who had fought on his side. To make it even more confusing, Godfrey I of Leuven now received the name of Godfrey V of Lower Lotharingia.

After an earlier visit in the late 1970s we visited the impressive Bouillon castle again in 2009.

For the full story on Godfrey of Bouillon and the continuation of the story of Lower Lotharingia  see: The House of Leuven shaping Brabant