11/13/24, 12:38 PM Treaty of Verdun - Wikipedia

Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun (French: Traité de Verdun,
Treaty of Verdun
German: Vertrag von Verdun), agreed in 10 August
843, divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms
between Lothair I, Louis II and Charles II, the
surviving sons of the emperor Louis I, the son and
successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded
following almost three years of civil war and was the
culmination of negotiations lasting more than a year. It
was the first in a series of partitions contributing to the
dissolution of the empire created by Charlemagne and
has been seen as foreshadowing the formation of many
of the modern countries of western Europe.
Emperor Louis I (right) blessing the division of
The treaty was the first of the four partition treaties of
the Frankish Empire in 843 into West Francia,
the Carolingian Empire, followed by the Treaties of Middle Francia, and East Francia; from the
Prüm (855), Meerssen (870), and Ribemont (880). Grandes Chroniques de France, 15th century

Signed 10 August 843

Background Location Verdun, Francia

Parties Charles II
Following Charlemagne's death, Louis was made ruler Lothair I
of the Frankish Empire. Agobard, archbishop of Lyon,
Louis II
opposed the division of the empire, as he claimed that
it would divide the church.[1] During his reign, Louis
the Pious divided the empire so that each of his sons could rule over their own kingdom under the
greater rule of their father. Louis’ eldest son, Lothair I, was given the title of emperor but because of
several re-divisions by his father and the resulting revolts, he became much less powerful. When Louis
died in 840, Lothair I claimed overlordship over the entirety of his father's kingdom in an attempt to
reclaim the power he had at the beginning of his reign as emperor.[2] He also supported his nephew
Pepin II's claim to Aquitaine, a large province in the west of the Frankish realm. Lothair's brother,
Louis II, and his half-brother Charles II refused to acknowledge Lothair's suzerainty and declared war
against him.[2] After a bloody civil war, they defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenoy in 841 and

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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.[3] The meeting happened shortly
before August 10, as confirmed by a contemporary letter.[4][5]

Provisions
Each of the three brothers was already
established in one kingdom: Lothair in the
Kingdom of Italy; Louis the German in the
Kingdom of Bavaria; and Charles II in the
Kingdom of Aquitaine.

Lothair I received Francia Media (the

Middle Frankish kingdom).

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.[6] His domain later became
the Low Countries, the Rhineland
west of the Rhine, Lorraine,
Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and
the Kingdom of Italy (which
covered the northern half of the
Italian Peninsula). He also Partition of the Frankish Empire after the Treaty of Verdun
received the two imperial cities, 843.
Aachen and Rome. Francia Occidentalis Francia Media Francia
Orientalis
Louis II received Francia Orientalis (the
East Frankish kingdom).

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.[3]

Charles II received Francia Occidentalis (the West Frankish kingdom).

Pepin II was granted the Kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles.[7]
Charles received all lands west of the Rhône, called West Francia.[8] It eventually became
the Kingdom of France.

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After Lothair's death in 855, his eldest son, Louis II, 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.

Legacy
The division reflected an adherence to the old Frankish custom of partible
or divisible inheritance amongst a ruler's sons, rather than primogeniture
(i.e., inheritance by the eldest son) which would soon be adopted by both
Frankish kingdoms. Since Lotharingia combined lengthy and vulnerable
land borders with poor internal communications as it was severed by the
Alps, it 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 achieved this briefly.

In 855, the northern section became fragile Lotharingia, which became

disputed by the more powerful states that evolved out of Francia
Occidentalis (present day France) and Francia Orientalis (present day
Treaty of Verdun Memorial
at Fontenoy-en-Puisaye
Germany). Generations of kings of France and Germany were unable to
establish a firm rule over Lothair's kingdom.[9] While the north of
Lotharingia was then composed of independent countries, the southern
third of Lotharingia, Alsace-Lorraine, was traded back and forth between France and Germany from
the 18th to the 20th century. In 1766, it passed to France after the death of Stanisław Leszczyński, who
had acquired the region from the German Habsburgs by the Treaty of Vienna (1738) ending the War
of Polish Succession (1733–1738). In 1871, Alsace-Lorraine became German, after the victory of
Prussia and its German allies over the French in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). In 1919, it
became French again by the Treaty of Versailles (1919), following the French victory over the Germans
in World War I (1914–1918). In 1940, Germany reannexed Alsace-Lorraine following Germany's
conquest of France. Finally, in 1945, after World War II (1939–1945), Alsace-Lorraine was solidified

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as French territory, which it remains to this day, more than a thousand years after the Treaty of
Verdun. The collapse of the Middle Frankish Kingdom also compounded the disunity of the Italian
Peninsula, which persisted into the 19th century.

See also
Oaths of Strasbourg (842)
Treaty of Coulaines (843)
Treaty of Prüm (855)
Treaty of Meerssen (870)
Treaty of Ribemont (880)

References
1. von Ranke, Leopold (1894). Deutsche Geschichte [German History] (in German) (3rd ed.).
Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker & Humblot. p. 8.
2. "What was the Treaty of Verdun?" (https://www.thoughtco.com/the-treaty-of-verdun-1789809).
ThoughtCo. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
3. "Treaty of Verdun" (https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Verdun). Encyclopedia Britannica.
4. Pouzet, Philibert (1890). La succession de Charlemagne et le traité de Verdun. (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=90Df1UkNqlgC&pg=PA72) Paris. p. 72.
5. Goldberg, Eric Joseph (2006). Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the
German, 817–876 (https://books.google.com/books?id=oyiTg0wgl58C&pg=PA115). Cornell
University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780801438905.
6. Friedrich Heer (2002). The Holy Roman Empire, p. 20
7. "Pippin II" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pippin-II-Carolingian-king). Encyclopedia
Britannica. 2007.
8. "Charles II" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-II-Holy-Roman-emperor).
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2021.
9. "Treaty of Verdun: 843" (http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/WestEurope/VerdunTreaty.html).
thenagain.info. Retrieved 15 May 2017.

External links
Media related to Treaty of Verdun at Wikimedia Commons

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