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European Kingdoms
The Franks
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Carolingian Kings of the Eastern Franks (East Francia
/ Kings of Germany)
AD 840 - 911
The eastern half of the
Frankish empire eventually evolved into modern
Germany, but
Frankish Carolingian rule was relatively brief before a
High-German-speaking Teutonic ruling class was established. The empire
had been established by Charlemagne through a series of campaigns,
mostly between 771-800. He fought the
Angrivarii,
Avars,
Bavarians,
Lombards,
Pomeranians, and
Saxons
to secure territory far to the east of the initial Frankish lands By
the Act of Thionville in 806, he announced the division of his vast
empire between his three sons. By 814, of the three only Louis the Pious
still survived to be crowned sole Frankish emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle.
In 840, Louis left his empire to his own sons, but tried to ensure
that the eldest gained the biggest share in order to avoid the
fragmentation of territory that so weakened the
Merovingians.
Lothar received
Middle Francia
(the Rhine corridor including the kingdom of
Burgundy,
and Italy), Charles the Bald
received Western Francia
(France and the duchy of
Burgundy), and Louis the German received Eastern Francia (Germany,
including Alemannia,
Bavaria,
Khorushka, and
Saxony, plus regions that were already emerging as
Franconia and
Thuringia).
However, Lothar initially claimed overlordship over all three regions
and Louis and Charles had to go to war to convince him to relent, which
he did in 843. The Treaty of Verdun confirmed the official division of
the empire between the three kings, with rule over the empire as a whole
being nominal.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from
Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to
Early Hungarian History, András Róna-Tas (Central European
University Press, 1999), from The Annals of Fulda (Manchester
Medieval Series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II) Timothy Reuter
(Trans) 1992, from Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charles the Great),
Einhard, from the Royal Frankish Annals (author unknown), from
Sword, Miter, and Cloister: Nobility and the Church in Burgundy,
980-1198, Constance Brittain Bouchard (New York 1987), and from
External Links:
The Latin Library,
and the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.) |
840 - 876 |
Louis II the German |
Son of
Carolingian Louis
I. Duke of Alemannia
(&
Breton March). |
840 - 843 |
Before his death, Louis the Pious, who is also duke of
Alemannia, promulgates
the Ordinatio Imperii in 817, proclaiming, despite the ancient
Frankish custom of
dividing territory between surviving sons, that his eldest son, Lothar, will
be sole beneficiary of the imperial dignity and sole inheritor of the empire.
The new idea proves too much, provoking rebellions and rivalries between all
four of Louis' sons which last until after the king's death. (One of the
sons, Pepin I of
Aquitaine, has
already predeceased his father.)
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King Louis the Pious of the Frankish empire attempted to
leave the empire intact for his eldest son, Lothar, but
the others rebelled at the idea. The treaty of Verdun in
AD 843 confirmed the official division of the empire between
Charlemagne's three surviving grandsons (click or tap on map
to view full sized)
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Lothar initially claims overlordship over all three regions and Louis and
Charles have to go to war to convince him to relent. The counties of the
Spanish March all take sides during this period, with the powerful Bernard
of Septimania, count of
Barcelona (along with a large number of other marches and counties,
including Agde, Béziers, Girona, Melgueil, Narbonne, Nîmes, Septimania, and
Toulouse, capital of Aquitaine) siding with Pepin II of Aquitaine. Opposing
them in favour of Charles are Sunifred, count of Urgel and Cerdanya (and
master of the Andorrans), his
brother Sunyer I, count of Empúries, their sons (who collectively are
sometimes referred to as the Bellonid dynasty or the Bellonids), Ricwin,
count of
Nantes
(killed in battle in 841), and Lambert II, also later count of Nantes.
Lothar does relent in 843, and the Treaty of Verdun confirms the official
division of the empire between Charlemagne's surviving three grandsons,
with rule over the empire as a whole being nominal. Lothar receives
Middle Francia
(the Rhine corridor, the kingdom of
Burgundy, and Italy); Charles the Bald receives
Western Francia
(France and the duchy of
Burgundy), as well
as holding onto Aquitaine; and Louis the German receives Eastern Francia
(Germany, including
Alemannia (Swabia),
Bavaria,
Khorushka, and
Saxony,
plus regions that are already emerging as
Franconia and
Thuringia) |
846 |
Prince Pribina, a Slav noble and adventurer who had been chased out of
Great Moravia
by Mojmir I, is granted the eastern section of
Avar territory - in Lower
Pannonia - as the principality of
Balaton, with his
headquarters near Lake Balaton on the River Zala (close to the modern village
of Zalavár, in Zala County in
Hungary, surrounded
by forests and a swamp). As dux of the eastern march and prince of
Balaton, Pribina's main duty is to hem the territorial ambitions both of
Great Moravia and
Bulgaria. Having
himself been a victim of Moravia's ambitions, Pribina is only too happy to
play a large role in Louis the German's campaigns against that state. |
870 |
A province of East Francia (a province is termed a 'gau') is first mentioned in
the Treaty of Meerssen in this year. Known as Hattuarian Gau, it is on the
west bank of the Rhine. This may well be a surviving relic of the former
Germanic tribe of the
Chattuarii. The treaty
arises due to the death of Lothar II of
Lotharingia. His territory
is subsequently divided fairly by his uncles under the terms of the treaty,
those uncles being Louis the German and Charles the Bald of the
Western Franks.
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The Meuse valley, shown here at the citadel of Namur, formed the
western border for the Chattuarii following their crossing of
the Rhine, taking territory from the fading Roman administration
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876 |
The death of Louis the German results in his territory being divided between
his three sons. This is something that he had already foreseen, and portions
of territory had been appointed to each of them in 865. Now in a peaceful
succession, Carloman inherits
Bavaria
and the Ostmark (plus
Lower Pannonia of the former
Avar lands), Louis the
Younger gains Franconia
(which includes the Hessi
lands), Saxony,
and Thuringia, while
Charles the Fat succeeds to Rhaetia and
Alemannia (Swabia).
As the oldest son, Carloman also retains de facto dominance over the
Eastern Franks as a whole. |
876 - 880 |
Carloman of Bavaria
/ Charles |
of
Germany. King of
Bavaria,
Italy, & part of
Lotharingia. |
876 - 882 |
Louis III the
Younger |
III of Germany. Ruled
Franconia, Lotharingia &
Empire (901). |
876 - 887 |
Charles III the Fat |
III of
Germany. France
(884),
Italy (879). III of
Empire (881). |
877 - 879 |
Charles the Bald of the
Western Franks
and Italy dies while
fending off Carloman (son of Louis the German, who himself had been beaten
to the Italian throne by Charles the Bald). Carloman gains Italy, but suffers
a debilitating stroke just two years later. Unable to rule in anything but
name and having no legitimate offspring, he divides his holdings between his
brothers. Louis the Younger gains
Bavaria
while Charles the Fat gains Italy. Carloman's illegitimate son, Arnulf,
becomes duke of
Carinthia. |
880 |
Lotharingia, which has been
divided between the Eastern Franks and the
Western Franks
since 870, is incorporated into the
Frankish Empire thanks
to the Treaty of Ribemont. |
881 - 882 |
Charles the Fat succeeds as titular head of the
Frankish empire, holding
the position as Emperor Charles III. He is crowned by
Pope John VIII. In the
following year, 882, Louis the Younger dies and Charles, as the last
remaining of the three brothers, inherits his territories of
Bavaria,
Franconia,
Saxony,
and Thuringia, thereby
reuniting East Francia following its division in 876.
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Charles the Fat (not necessarily living up to his descriptive
sobriquet) welcomes messengers into his tent as titular head of
the Frankish empire, as depicted in the fourteenth century
Grandes Chroniques de France
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887 |
The first noble to exercise domination over the papacy in
Rome is Prince Theophylact
of the Theophylactii. He has served Louis III as judex in
Italy, and is now
elected Consul by Rome's
nobility. He is also a senator and magister militum, and count of
Tusculum (modern Tuscany). |
888 |
The
rule of Germany falls to non-Frankish emperors when the weak Charles is
deposed by the Germans at the Diet of Tribur (November 887). The Frankish
empire is now officially divided between east and west. In time the western
section becomes
France, the
eastern section Germany, with the title of
Roman Emperor also
being held by Germans. Charles the Fat takes refuge in the monastery of
Reichenau in Alemannia
(Swabia) where he dies the following year. |
887 - 899 |
Arnulf of Carinthia |
Son of Carloman. Duke of
Carinthia.
Roman Emperor (896). |
888 |
Berengar of Friuli defeats his chief rival in
Italy, Guy of
Spoleto, as the two vie for control
of the eastern half of the former
Frankish empire. Arnulf immediately
forces Berengar to accept vassal status under him, but it seems that Berengar holds
the Germanic imperial title. |
896 |
Berengar of Friuli agrees on the formal division of
Italy with Lambert II of
Spoleto but, following a defeat
in battle, Berengar emerges as sole ruler of Italy. However, he is still a
vassal of Arnulf, who is now also
Germanic Roman emperor.
Arnulf triggers a period of confusion in the western fringes of his imperial
territory when he hands
Lotharingia to his illegitimate
son, Zwentibold of Lorraine. |
899 - 911 |
Louis IV the Child |
Son. IV of Germany. Last
Carolingian ruler. |
903 |
Count Gebhard of the Wetterau in the lands of the
Hessi is confirmed as duke
of Lotharingia by Louis the
Child, king of Germany. Unfortunately he is killed in 910 in battle
against the
Magyars,
somewhere in the region of Augsburg. |
911 - 915 |
East Francia passes to Conrad the Younger as the first elected native king of
Germany, ruling what had formerly been the eastern section of the
Carolingian empire.
Conrad is the duke of
Franconia and also the
count of Oberlahngau in the lands of the
Hessi. A large-scale
political reorganisation of south-western Germany now creates the stem duchy
of Swabia. |
911 - 918 |
Conrad I the Younger |
Duke of
Franconia (906-911). |
915 |
In
September 915, Count Palatine Erchanger is confirmed as the first duke of
Swabia by the
nobility. After being defeated at the Battle of Wahlwies, the proclamation
is not supported by King Conrad I of Germany, despite him being Erchanger's
brother-in-law. Erchanger's rise and fall is swift, perhaps unsurprisingly.
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The Battle of Wahlwies took place in the Hegau, an extinct
volcanic region in southern Swabia (and modern Germany),
with Wahlwies itself being a small satellite village of
the town of Stockach, now in the modern district of Konstanz,
southern Baden-Württemberg (Photo by External Link:
sued7.de)
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919 - 936 |
Henry I the Fowler |
Duke of
Saxony
(912-936). |
936 - 944 |
Upon the death of his ally, Henry the Fowler, Gilbert of
Maasgau, duke of Lorraine,
rebels against his successor, Otto I. Instead he swears allegiance to Louis IV
d'Outremer of the
West Franks.
Gilbert rules Lorraine almost as an independent state for the next three
years. |
936 - 961 |
Otto I the Great |
Duke
of Saxony
(936-973). |
939 - 949 |
The rebellious dukes Gilbert II of Maasgau, duke of
Lorraine, and Eberhard of
Franconia loot the
counties of Udo IV of the Wetterau (or Odo) and his nephew Conrad of
Niederlahngau, both Hesse
lands. Their force is so large that Udo and Conrad are unable to resist them.
But then the rebel dukes re-cross the Rhine at Andernach on 2 October in order
to return to Lorraine and Udo and Conrad take the opportunity that has been
presented to them.
The Battle of Andernach takes place with Gilbert and Eberhard still on the
east bank of the Rhine and the bulk of their forces already across. Udo and
Conrad attack and defeat them, killing Eberhard while Gilbert drowns when
trying to escape. Their deaths allow Otto I, king of Germany, to restore
order and show his favour to Udo. He succeeds Conrad as count of Niederlahngau
in 949. |
953 |
Feeling that his position is threatened by the marriage of his father, Otto
I, to Adelaide, heiress of
Italy, Ludolph of
Swabia joins
forces with his brother-in-law, Conrad the Red, duke of
Lorraine, in revolt.
Ludolph is supported by the Swabians, but Conrad fails to gain the same
support from his own subjects. Otto and Henry I of
Bavaria defeat the rebellion.
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Germany in AD 962 may have had its new emperor to govern the
territories shown within the dark black line, but it was still a
patchwork of competing interests and power bases, most notably
in the five great stem duchies, many of which were attempting to
expand their own territories outside the empire, creating the
various march or border regions to the east and south (click
or tap on map to view full sized)
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961 |
The
Germanic emperors are
overthrown by the
Saxon king
of Germany, Otto I. The two titles are effectively merged into one and the
beginnings of the Holy Roman
empire are born. In later years, the title 'King of the Germans' is viewed as
the junior of the two, usually being granted to the heir to the imperial
throne. Once an heir has been crowned king of the Germans, his route to
becoming emperor upon the death of his father is usually unobstructed - at
least in theory. |
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