kingdom · France and the Low Countries
Middle Francia
Origins
The Treaty of Verdun in 843 ended the war between the sons of Louis the Pious. The eldest, Lothair I, kept the imperial title and received a long strip of land between West Francia and East Francia, including the imperial cities of Aachen and Rome.
Rule and society
The kingdom reached from the North Sea through the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Burgundy and Provence to Italy. It held the richest heartlands of the Carolingian dynasty but had no common identity, language or natural frontiers, and suffered Viking attacks in Frisia and Arab raids in the south.
Decline and legacy
Shortly before his death in 855 Lothair retired to the abbey of Prüm and, by the Treaty of Prüm, divided the kingdom among his three sons: Louis II received Italy, Lothair II the north, which became the Kingdom of Lotharingia, and Charles the Kingdom of Provence.
Lineage
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Middle Francia. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/middle-francia
- MLA
- “Middle Francia.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/middle-francia. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Middle Francia.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/middle-francia.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Middle Francia’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/middle-francia (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻