History of the Kingdom of East Francia: The Treaty of Verdun and the Formation of the Kingdom.

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Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, Emperor of the Romans, Holy Roman Empire, King of Middle Francia, King of West Francia, Kingdom of East Francia, Lothair I, Louis the Pious, Pepin of Aquitaine, Treaty of Verdun

Ludwig the Pious (April 16, 778 – June 20, 840) was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only surviving son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, he became the sole ruler of the Kingdom of the Franks and the Carolingian Empire after his father’s death in 814, a position that he held until his death except from 833 to 834, when he was deposed.

As emperor, he included his adult sons, Lothair, Pepin and Ludwig, in the government and sought to establish a suitable division of the realm among them. The first decade of his reign was characterised by several tragedies and embarrassments, notably the brutal treatment of his nephew Bernard of Italy for which Ludwig atoned in a public act of self-debasement.

In the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons that was only exacerbated by Ludwig’s attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in the succession plans.

Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine. He had rebelled against his brother Lothair and lost but was later restored to his throne shortly before his death on December 13, 838.

Ludwig the Pious, Emperor of the Romans, King of the Franks

Emperor Ludwig the Pious fell ill soon after his final victorious campaigns and retreated to his summer hunting lodge on an island in the Rhine near his palace at Ingelheim. He died on June 20, 840 in the presence of many bishops and clerics and in the arms of his half-brother Drogo as he pardoned his son Ludwig the German proclaimed Lothair Emperor and commended the absent Charles and Judith to his protection.

Though his reign ended on a high note, with order largely restored to his empire, shortly after his death dispute plunged the surviving brothers into yet another civil war. It lasted until 843 with the signing of the Treaty of Verdun.

The Treaty of Verdun agreed on in August 843, divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the Emperor Ludwig the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne.

Charles the Bald, King of West Francia

The treaty was the first of the four partition treaties of the Carolingian Empire, followed by the Treaties of Prüm (855), Meerssen (870), and Ribemont (880).

Prior to the death of Emperor Ludwig the Pious, each of the three brothers was already established in one kingdom: Lothair in the Kingdom of Italy; Ludwig the German in the Kingdom of Bavaria; and Charles the Bald in the Kingdom of Aquitaine, (succeeding his half-brother Pepin) a large province in the west of the Frankish realm.

As mentioned above, Lothair I was given the title of Emperor after the death of Ludwig the Pious but because of several re-divisions by his father and the resulting revolts, he became much less powerful.

Lothair I, Emperor of the Romans, King of Middle Francia

In an attempt to reclaim the power his father had at the beginning of his reign as emperor, Lothair I, claimed overlordship over the entirety of his father’s kingdom and Empire.

Lothair also supported his nephew, Pepin II’s claim to the Kingdom of Aquitaine over his half-brother Charles the Bald. Lothair’s brother, Ludwig the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald refused to acknowledge Lothair’s suzerainty over them and declared war against him.

After a bloody civil war, the two brothers, Ludwig the German and Charles the Bald, defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 and sealed their alliance in 842 with the Oaths of Strasbourg which declared Lothair unfit for the imperial throne, after which he became willing to negotiate a settlement.

Peace negotiations began, and in June 842 the brothers met on an island in the Saône. They agreed to an arrangement which developed, after much difficulty and delay, into the Treaty of Verdun, signed in August 843.

Provisions

Emperor Lothair I received Middle Francia (the Middle Frankish kingdom). In the settlement, Lothair retained his title and position of Emperor, but it conferred only nominal overlordship of his brothers’ lands.

His domain later became the Low Countries, the Rhineland west of the Rhine, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy (which only covered the northern half of the Italian Peninsula). He also received the two imperial cities, Aachen and Rome.

Charles II the Bald received West Francia; all lands west of the Rhône. It eventually became the Kingdom of France.

King Ludwig II the German received East Francia. He was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine (although not the Netherlands to the north of the Rhine) and to the north and east of Italy, altogether called East Francia. It eventually became the High Medieval Kingdom of Germany, the largest component of the Holy Roman Empire.

The brothers nephew, Pepin II, was granted the Kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles the Bald.

Ludwig II the German, King of East Francia

After Lothair’s death in 855, his eldest son, Ludwig II the Younger inherited Italy and his father’s claim to the Imperial throne. Upper Burgundy and Lower Burgundy (Arles and Provence) passed to Lothair’s third son, Charles of Provence. The remaining territory north of the Alps, which did not previously have a name, was inherited by Lothair’s second son, Lothair II, and was then named Lotharingia (present day Lorraine) after him.

Ludwig II the Younger’s usual title was imperator augustus (“august emperor”), but he used imperator Romanorum (“emperor of the Romans”) after his conquest of Bari in 871, which led to poor relations with the Eastern Roman Empire. He was called imperator Italiae (“emperor of Italy”) in West Francia while the Byzantines called him Basileus Phrangias (“Emperor of Francia”).

With Ludwig II the German now established as King of East Francia, the new Kingdom consisted of a district around Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, on the left bank of the river (see also Oaths of Strasbourg 842). His territories included Bavaria (where he made Regensburg the centre of his government), Thuringia, Franconia, and Saxony.

In the next post I will continue the examination of how the Kingdom of East Francia became the Holy Roman Empire and the usage of the titles, King of East Francia, King of Germany and King of the Romans.

Origins of the Holy Roman Empire. Part II.

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Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, Charles the Great, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, King of the Lombards, Kingdom of East Francia, Kingdom of Lotharingia, Kingdom of West Francia, Lothair, Louis the Pious, Treaty of Verdun

Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolutionary process to the institutions and principles eventualy forming and constituting the empire, describing it as a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role of the emperor and the empire itself over the lands under its authority.

Let us delve deeper into the creation of the empire. First some background information leading to the rule of Charlemagne.

From the time of Roman Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337), the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Church.

Roman Emperors considered themselves responsible to the gods for the spiritual health of their subjects, and after Constantine and his conversation to Christianity, the Emperors believed they had a duty to help the Church define and maintain orthodoxy. The emperor’s role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity.

Both the title and connection between Emperor and Church continued in the Eastern Roman Empire throughout the medieval period (in exile during 1204–1261). The ecumenical councils of the 5th to 8th centuries were convoked by the Eastern Roman Emperors.

In Western Europe, the title of Emperor in the West lapsed after the death of Julius Nepos in 480, although the rulers of the barbarian kingdoms continued to recognize the authority of the Eastern Emperor, at least nominally, well into the 6th century.

While the reconquest of Justinian I had reestablished Byzantine presence in Italy, religious frictions existed with the Papacy who sought dominance over the Constantinople Church.

Toward the end of the 8th century the Papacy still recognised the ruler at Constantinople as the Roman Emperor, though Byzantine military support in Italy had increasingly waned, leading to the Papacy to look to the Franks and thier King for protection.

Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin I the Short, King of the Franks, and Bertrada of Laon, born before their canonical marriage. Charlemagne became king of the Franks in 768 following his father’s death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, until the latter’s death in 771. As sole ruler, he continued his father’s policy towards the papacy and became its protector. He became King of the Lombards in 774, removing them from power in northern Italy and leading an incursion into Muslim Spain. He campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianising them upon penalty of death, leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden.

The Massacre of Verden was an event during the Saxon Wars where Charlemagne ordered the death of 4,500 Saxons in October 782. Charlemagne claimed suzerainty over Saxony and in 772 destroyed the Irminsul, an important object in Saxon paganism, during his intermittent thirty-year campaign to Christianize the Saxons. The massacre occurred in Verden in what is now Lower Saxony, Germany. The event is attested in contemporary Frankish sources, including the Royal Frankish Annals.

In 799, Pope Leo III had been assaulted by some of the Romans, who tried to put out his eyes and tear out his tongue. His enemies had accused Leo III of adultery and perjury. Leo escaped and fled to Charlemagne at Paderborn. Charlemagne ordered the Pope’s accusers to Paderborn, but no decision could be made. Charlemagne then had Leo escorted back to Rome. In November 800, Charlemagne, advised by scholar Alcuin, travelled to Rome, and on December 1 held a council there with representatives of both sides of the dispute. Leo III, on December 23, took an oath of purgation concerning the charges brought against him, and his opponents were exiled.

At Mass, on Christmas Day (December 25), when Charlemagne knelt at the altar to pray, the Pope crowned him Imperator Romanorum (“Emperor of the Romans”) in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In so doing, the Pope rejected the legitimacy of Roman Empress Irene of Constantinople.

By this time, the Eastern Emperor Constantine VI has been deposed in 797 and replaced as monarch by his mother, Irene. Under the pretext that a women cannot rule the empire, Pope Leo III declared the throne vacant and was used to justify crowning Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans (Imperator Romanorum), the successor of Constantine VI as Roman emperor under the concept of translatio imperii.

On his coins, the name and title used by Charlemagne is Karolus Imperator Augustus and in his documents, he used Imperator Augustus Romanum gubernans Imperium (“August Emperor, governing the Roman Empire”) and serenissimus Augustus a Deo coronatus, magnus pacificus Imperator Romanorum gubernans Imperium (“most serene Augustus crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing the empire of the Romans”).

The Eastern Empire eventually relented to recognizing Charlemagne and his successors as emperors, but as “Frankish” and “German emperors”, and at no point did the Eastern or Byzantine Emperors referred to thier Western counterparts as Roman Emperors, a label they reserved for themselves.

Incidentally, the name, Byzantine Empire is a more a creation of modern historiography because the Eastern Emperor’s and it’s citizens and subject, simply refered to the Emperor as the Roman Emperor and themselves as citizens and subjects of the Roman Empire.

Charlemagne has been called the “Father of Europe” (Pater Europae), as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empire and united parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish or Roman rule. His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church.

The Empire that began with Charlemagne was inherited in tact by his son, known as Louis I Pious. After a civil war (840–843) following the death of Emperor Louis the Pious, his sons divided the Empire after the signing of the Treaty of Verdun. The Empire was divided into three autonomous kingdoms:

Lothair I received Middle Francia, the central portion of the empire, this region was eventually called the first state of Lotharingia. In the settlement, Lothair (who had been named co-emperor in 817) retained his title as emperor, but it conferred only nominal overlordship of his brothers’ lands. Later his domain became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy (which covered the northern half of the Italian Peninsula). He also received the two imperial cities, Aachen and Rome.

Louis II, called the German, received the East Francia portion of the empire. He was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine (although not the Netherlands to the north of the Rhine) and to the north and east of Italy, plus the Rhineland west of the Rhine. All this land compiled the Kingdom of East Francia. It eventually became the High Medieval Kingdom of Germany, the largest component of the Holy Roman Empire.

Charles the Bald received the portion of the empire, all lands west of the Rhône, called West Francia. The Kingdom of West Francia later evolved to become the Kingdom of France.

The fourth son of Louis the Pious, Pepin II, was granted the Kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of his brother Charles the Bald.

With one king still recognised as emperor, Lothair I, but with little authority outside his own kingdom, the position and title of Emperor became considerably weakened. However, the unity of the empire and the hereditary right of the Carolingians continued to be acknowledged.

In 884, Charles II the Fat reunited all the Carolingian kingdoms for the last time, but he died in 888 and the empire immediately split up. With the only remaining legitimate male of the dynasty a child, Louis the Child, the nobility elected regional kings from outside the dynasty or, in the case of the eastern kingdom, an illegitimate Carolingian. The illegitimate line continued to rule in the east until 911. As mentioned previously, the Carolingian Empire came to its end with the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar I, in 924.

Who was the last King of the Franks? Who was the first King of France? Part Deux

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Charles the Bald, Charles the Simple, Hugh Capet, Kingdom of France, Kingdom of the Franks, Louis II The German, Louis Philippe, Louis the Pious, Louis XIV of France, Louis XVI of France

We had last discussed the the first two kingdoms of the three that were created when the Empire of Louis I The Pious was divided in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun.

That leads us to West Francia which was the land under the control of Charles the Bald. It is the forerunner of modern France. It was divided into the following great fiefs: Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy, Catalonia, Flanders, Gascony, Gothia, the Île-de-France, and Toulouse. The Capitian dynasty came to rule the Île-de-France as Duke of the Île-de-France. The fact that these territories were fiefs of the Kingdom instead of sovereign sub-kingdoms of their own helped West Francia become a unified kingdom…eventually.

As with the Merovingians the Carolingians also began to falter with weak rulers that were not up to the task of ruling. In 888 Odo, Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France, was elected king temporarily supplanting the Carolingian Dynasty. The Carolingians were restored next year under Charles III the Simple in West Francia, and ruled until 987, when the last Frankish king of that dynasty, Louis V, died. Hugh Capét Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France was then elected king of West Francia and his direct descendants would rule until 1792 when King Louis XVI of France and Navarre was deposed. The monarchy was restored in 1814 and the last Capetian king of France, Louis-Philippe, was deposed in 1848.

That is a lot of history to cover! So who just was the last King of the Franks and the first King of France? Well, like Wessex and England this is up for debate! When did the Kingdom of the Franks end and the Kingdom of France come into existence? It is difficult to tell by the titles of the monarchs. The Latin term Francorum Rex (sometimes the title took the form of Rex Francorum) was the official Latin title of the “King of the Franks” from the founding of the kingdom in 496 and remained as such even after after the accession of the Carolingian and Capetian Dynasties. This title was used in official documents until French replaced Latin as the formal language of legal documents, and this title remained used on coins until the 18th century. However, it was King Philippe II “Augustus” changed the official title in 1990 to the form Franciae Rex (“King of France”) was also used.

Even though the title King of the Franks lasted until it was changed by King Philippe II in 1190, and remained on coins until the 1700s, there seem to be two choices of who was the last King of the Franks and the first King of France. Many historians cite the treaty of Verdun of 843 and the creation of West Francia as the end of the old Frankish Kingdom and the birth of the Kingdom of France. That would make Louis I, the Pious the last King of the Franks and his son Charles I The Bald as the first King of France. If you support the election of Hugh Capét, Count of Paris and Duke of the Île-de-France as King of France in 987 (as many historians also do) then Louis V would be the last King of the Franks.

My choice is for Louis I, the Pious as the last King of the Franks and his son Charles I The Bald as the first King of France via the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Why? By the time of that treaty was established there were already cultural shifts between France and Germany, the domain of Louis II, the German. As time went on these differences were solidified and by the time Hugh Capét was elected King, that which we see as French culture had already taken shape.

Charlemagne.

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Augustus Ceasar, Belgium, Byzantine Empire, Charlemagne, Charles the Great, Emperor Augustus, France, Germany, Louis the Pious, Luxembourg Italy, Otto the Great, Pope Leo III, Roman Empire, the Netherlands

He was named Charles and it is one of the very rare people, I honestly cannot think of another, who had their name and sobriquet actually become their entire name. He was called Charles the Great and in Latin this was Carolus Magnus and this was rendered in English Charlemagne. He was the eldest son of Pepin the Short, King of the Franks and his wife Bertrada of Laon. When his father died in 768 Charlemagne was co-king with his brother Carloman for a brief time.

Books have been written about him and I could not do a biography justice in this small blog. As with other recent entries I will focus solely on what I admire about him. Charlemagne was a man ahead of his times. He would be the first of a list of European rulers to have forged an empire after the fall of Rome. Although some historians debate whether he founded the Holy Roman Empire or Otto of Franconia was the founder, the fact remains his empire would have repercussions throughout Europe for over a thousand years.

Charles ruled the Kingdom of the Franks from 768 until 800 when he was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas day of that year. He was given the title, Emperor of the Romans, and was seen as a revival of that empire that had began with Augustus in 27 BC and it challenged the Byzantine Empire in the east as both empires claimed to be the true Roman Empire.

What is remarkable about Charlemagne is that he seemed to have forged this mighty empire through his own judiciary, executive and military skills. Many of the titles of future monarchs and nobility were created during Charlemagne’s time on the throne. Many of these offices were created in an effort for Charlemagne to have local recognition across his far flung empire. He reformed political offices and well as the church, educational systems and systems of laws.

Charlemagne was also quite the ladies man. He had eighteen children over the course of his life with eight of his ten known wives or concubines. Despite all of the children by the time of his death he had outlived alll of his sons except one of them. In 813, Charlemagne crowned his only surviving son, Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, as co-emperor. In 814 after 47 years of rule and at the age of 72, old for that time, Charlemagne died. His foot print on history is immeasurable and many kings and emperor since his time tried to emulate him. His empire covered what would later become modern Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg  Italy and Austria. All of these states count Charles the Great as their leader.