kingdom · France and the Low Countries

Kingdom of Lower Burgundy

879 CE – 933 CE (approx.) · capital Vienne

The kingdom of Provence founded by Boso in 879, the first realm in the Carolingian West to elect a king from outside the Carolingian family.

Origins

In 879, after the death of Louis the Stammerer, bishops and nobles meeting at Mantaille elected Boso, a brother-in-law of Charles the Bald, as king of the lands around Vienne, Lyon and Provence. The Carolingian kings besieged Vienne in 880–882, but Boso's family kept control of the Rhône valley.

Rule and society

The kingdom was a loose union of counties along the Rhône and in Provence, governed from Vienne with strong support from the bishops. Boso's son Louis the Blind was crowned emperor in Rome in 901 but was captured and blinded by Berengar of Italy in 905. Afterwards real power lay with his kinsman Hugh of Arles.

Decline and legacy

Hugh of Arles, busy with his ambitions as king of Italy, gave up his claims to Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy around 933. The two Burgundian kingdoms were then united as the Kingdom of Arles, which later passed to the Holy Roman Empire.

Lineage

West Francia 843 CE – 987 CEKingdom of Lower BurgundyKingdom of Arles 933 CE – 1378 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Lower Burgundy. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-lower-burgundy
MLA
“Kingdom of Lower Burgundy.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-lower-burgundy. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Lower Burgundy.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-lower-burgundy.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Lower Burgundy’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-lower-burgundy (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻