Lotharingia

Kingdom of Lotharingia / Duchy of Lotharingia
Lotharingia
Kingdom of Lotharingia / Duchy of Lotharingia Lotharingia
855–959
	The Kingdom of Lotharingia (purple) and other Carolingian kingdoms following the Treaty of Prüm, 855
Status	Kingdom (855–923); Duchy in East Francia (925–959)
Common languages	Old Franconian; Old Frisian; Old Dutch; Old High German; Old Saxon; Old French; Yiddish; Medieval Latin;
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Government	Monarchy
King or Duke
• 855–869	Lothair II
• 953–965	Bruno the Great
Historical era	Medieval
• Treaty of Prüm	855
• Division	959
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Middle Francia
Lower Lotharingia
Duchy of Lorraine
Duchy of Swabia

Lotharingia (Latin: Regnum Lotharii, Regnum Lothariense, Lotharingia; French: Lotharingie; German: Reich des Lothar, Lotharingien, Mittelreich; Dutch: Lotharingen) was a medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. It comprised present-day Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, Saarland (Germany), Netherlands, most of Belgium, and Germany west of the Rhine. It was named after King Lothair II, who received this territory as his share of the Kingdom of Middle Francia which his father, Lothair I, had held.^[1]

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 Frankish homelands of Austrasia, so possession of them was a matter of great prestige as true claimant of Frankish imperial legacy.

^ Bullough, D.A. (1975). "The Continental Background of the Reform". In Parsons, David (ed.). Tenth-Century Studies. Chichester, UK: Phillimore. p. 22. ISBN 0-85033-179-X.

[1] Bullough, D.A. (1975). "The Continental Background of the Reform". In Parsons, David (ed.). Tenth-Century Studies. Chichester, UK: Phillimore. p. 22. ISBN 0-85033-179-X.

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