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Chapter 44: The Heirs of Charlemagne: A Divided Francia
The Heirs of Charlemagne: a Divided Francia
The former Frankish realm is by now divided into Western Francia, Eastern Francia, Upper and Lower Burgundy, and Italy.
The East Frankish realm is the first to face the issue of the extinction of the Karlings. After the death Louis IV the Child at Forchheim, the German (that is, East Francia) dukes elect Conrad I. Franconian as king of „Germania“ – a realm encompassing Saxony (1), Thuringia, Franconia (2), Swabia (3) and Bavaria (4). This realm was thus composed of “stem duchies”, and individual tribes, while feeling a common bond, would still continue to identify as such.
Meanwhile Lotharingia – the strip of land extending from Basel to Frisia, would have Charles III Simple as king, who was also ruling West Francia. However, the two realms would not be united for long, for West Francia came to be ruled by a certain Robert, while Lotharingia came under the power of Gilbert.
Before this, however, the realm had to tackle an ongoing problem with Viking raids; and Norse raiders would actually establish their own realm east to the mouth of the Seine at Rouen.
The German realm had to somehow cope with a danger from the east: the Magyars. A Uralic people, these steppe raiders have installed themselves in Pannonia, and would have raided Germany, Italy and even France.
Another capable ruler presented himself to Germany in the person of Henry I. Fowler (for he was an avid hunter and news of his election as king reached him while preparing for a bird hunt). He has managed to wrestle control over Lotharingia once more, and divided the region into Upper and Lower Lotharingia. This strategy of “divide and rule” helped to pacify the area. Furthermore, the Lotharingian areas north of the Rhine would be detached as the stem duchy of Frisia.
Henry the Fowler would have expanded the realm by incorporating Sleswig, Mecklenburg, Sorbia west of the Elbe and forcing Bohemia into submission. Although having the ambition to ride to Rome to be crowned Emperor he failed to do so, for he died before he would reach there.
In 933, the two Burgundies unite under the banner of King Rudolf II. This new realm, which historians often call after its capital as the Kingdom of Arelate, or Arles would be known in written documents as the Kingdom of Two Burgundies (6).
Geographically Two Burgundies would stretch between the Rhone and Saon in the west to the Alpes in the east; its population would have spoken in majority a West Romance tongue. Its Upper Burgundian variation would be known as Arpetan, while its lower varieties would be known as Provensal. In the northeast frontiers, some Swabian or Alemannic speakers overstretching the border from Swabia would have inhabited the Aare river valley.
The heir of Henry the Fowler in Germany would be Otto the Great. Otto would restore German control over the eastern marches and force Polabian chiefdoms into submission by establishing the Billungian and Northern marches; and the Ostmark is reconstructed to serve the needs of the empire after its decline vis-à-vis the Hungarian raids.
Ultimately, as the Karlings wane in West Francia, and die out, the nobles no have to choose the new ruler. The Robertians have been a powerful family in Neustria for quite some time, and insisted on Hugh Capet, their current incumbent, to be granted the crown. This proposal would be met with opposition in the south. The lands to the south of the Loire had been ever since Roman times administered separately from the north: previously as provinces of Aquitania and Narbonensis in contrast to Lugdunensis and Belgica further north; under Diocletian, Gaul was divded into two dioceses: Gaul in the north and Viennensis in the south; and even during the Migration period, the two shared different fates: the north would at first be ruled as a rump state around Noviodunum (5), before being overrun by the Franks; the south would be held by the Visigoths and the Burgunds.
The divide was not only historical, but also cultural: the northerners would drink more beer, while southerners would cling on to wine. The north-south divide can be seen in gastronomy even today as a divide between the butter north and the oil south. However, there remains one thing the south would lack: a major core area, an undisputed natural capital region, as Paris and the middle Seine basin were to the north. This role would be contested between Tolosa and Bordeu, which would have been in this case decided in favour of the former.
To put long descriptions short, the north-south divide would result in the southern dukes revolting against Hugh Capet, and the realm being split. Ultimately in the 990s, Aquitain would emerge as an independent kingdom; the rest of West Francia would be known under the name of Neustria, situated between the Loire and the Ardennes.
As for Italy this successor realm was originally designated to continue with the imperial tradition. However after the death of Berengar, the kingdom faces a period of instability, until Adalbert became king in 950. However, his kingdom would be restricted only to the regions north of Rome. The Duchy of Spoleto would have broken off, as would Corsica – Corsican pirates would be quite problem in the western Mediterranean. The Papal domains would include Latium and southern Tuscany, while Rhomaic hold would extend over Venice and its suburbs.
Further south, we have the Duchy of Benevento almost totally surrounded by Rhomaic possessions, and a Sicily partitioned between Rhomania and Tafirca. Sardinia for its part is in a state of fragmentation ruled by different counts and pirates, although its southern coast has been recently conquered by Tafircans.
As mentioned in one of the previous updates, the following varieties of Romance languages are present south of the Alps:
The Annonarian varieties of Lombard, Ligurian, Romagnan and Venetian have already diverged quite significantly. Further south, you can see Tuscan going divergent, while Mediano itself also differentiates into the varieties of Latium, Spoleto and the Pentapolis. Further south, the boundaries between the different varieties match borders between Benevento and the Rhomaic possessions.
Ostrogothic presence has by now vanished and any surviving Ostrogoths are fully assimilated into Italin culture; perhaps the region of Ravenna would have more Ostrogothic loanwords, but that’s it. In contrast the Lombards would have still left quite a strong presence, not only in genetics (many blonde people in Benevento, Spoleto, and the Po valley), but pockets of Lombard speakers would continue to remain in the high Alpine villages between the Venetian and Adige regions and in the region of Pavia; however, most of them would have assimilated by now.
(1) Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg, Westfalen und Sachsen-Anhalt
(2) Hesse und Bayerische Franken
(3) Baden-Wuerttemberg, Elsass, Deutschenschweiz und Bayerische Schwaben
(4) To include Salsburg, Tyrol and Upper and Lower Austria as well, together with Inner Austria.
(5) Soissons
(6) Perhaps the Kingdom of Two Sicilies inspired itself over here
The former Frankish realm is by now divided into Western Francia, Eastern Francia, Upper and Lower Burgundy, and Italy.
The East Frankish realm is the first to face the issue of the extinction of the Karlings. After the death Louis IV the Child at Forchheim, the German (that is, East Francia) dukes elect Conrad I. Franconian as king of „Germania“ – a realm encompassing Saxony (1), Thuringia, Franconia (2), Swabia (3) and Bavaria (4). This realm was thus composed of “stem duchies”, and individual tribes, while feeling a common bond, would still continue to identify as such.
Meanwhile Lotharingia – the strip of land extending from Basel to Frisia, would have Charles III Simple as king, who was also ruling West Francia. However, the two realms would not be united for long, for West Francia came to be ruled by a certain Robert, while Lotharingia came under the power of Gilbert.
Before this, however, the realm had to tackle an ongoing problem with Viking raids; and Norse raiders would actually establish their own realm east to the mouth of the Seine at Rouen.
The German realm had to somehow cope with a danger from the east: the Magyars. A Uralic people, these steppe raiders have installed themselves in Pannonia, and would have raided Germany, Italy and even France.
Another capable ruler presented himself to Germany in the person of Henry I. Fowler (for he was an avid hunter and news of his election as king reached him while preparing for a bird hunt). He has managed to wrestle control over Lotharingia once more, and divided the region into Upper and Lower Lotharingia. This strategy of “divide and rule” helped to pacify the area. Furthermore, the Lotharingian areas north of the Rhine would be detached as the stem duchy of Frisia.
Henry the Fowler would have expanded the realm by incorporating Sleswig, Mecklenburg, Sorbia west of the Elbe and forcing Bohemia into submission. Although having the ambition to ride to Rome to be crowned Emperor he failed to do so, for he died before he would reach there.
In 933, the two Burgundies unite under the banner of King Rudolf II. This new realm, which historians often call after its capital as the Kingdom of Arelate, or Arles would be known in written documents as the Kingdom of Two Burgundies (6).
Geographically Two Burgundies would stretch between the Rhone and Saon in the west to the Alpes in the east; its population would have spoken in majority a West Romance tongue. Its Upper Burgundian variation would be known as Arpetan, while its lower varieties would be known as Provensal. In the northeast frontiers, some Swabian or Alemannic speakers overstretching the border from Swabia would have inhabited the Aare river valley.
The heir of Henry the Fowler in Germany would be Otto the Great. Otto would restore German control over the eastern marches and force Polabian chiefdoms into submission by establishing the Billungian and Northern marches; and the Ostmark is reconstructed to serve the needs of the empire after its decline vis-à-vis the Hungarian raids.
Ultimately, as the Karlings wane in West Francia, and die out, the nobles no have to choose the new ruler. The Robertians have been a powerful family in Neustria for quite some time, and insisted on Hugh Capet, their current incumbent, to be granted the crown. This proposal would be met with opposition in the south. The lands to the south of the Loire had been ever since Roman times administered separately from the north: previously as provinces of Aquitania and Narbonensis in contrast to Lugdunensis and Belgica further north; under Diocletian, Gaul was divded into two dioceses: Gaul in the north and Viennensis in the south; and even during the Migration period, the two shared different fates: the north would at first be ruled as a rump state around Noviodunum (5), before being overrun by the Franks; the south would be held by the Visigoths and the Burgunds.
The divide was not only historical, but also cultural: the northerners would drink more beer, while southerners would cling on to wine. The north-south divide can be seen in gastronomy even today as a divide between the butter north and the oil south. However, there remains one thing the south would lack: a major core area, an undisputed natural capital region, as Paris and the middle Seine basin were to the north. This role would be contested between Tolosa and Bordeu, which would have been in this case decided in favour of the former.
To put long descriptions short, the north-south divide would result in the southern dukes revolting against Hugh Capet, and the realm being split. Ultimately in the 990s, Aquitain would emerge as an independent kingdom; the rest of West Francia would be known under the name of Neustria, situated between the Loire and the Ardennes.
As for Italy this successor realm was originally designated to continue with the imperial tradition. However after the death of Berengar, the kingdom faces a period of instability, until Adalbert became king in 950. However, his kingdom would be restricted only to the regions north of Rome. The Duchy of Spoleto would have broken off, as would Corsica – Corsican pirates would be quite problem in the western Mediterranean. The Papal domains would include Latium and southern Tuscany, while Rhomaic hold would extend over Venice and its suburbs.
Further south, we have the Duchy of Benevento almost totally surrounded by Rhomaic possessions, and a Sicily partitioned between Rhomania and Tafirca. Sardinia for its part is in a state of fragmentation ruled by different counts and pirates, although its southern coast has been recently conquered by Tafircans.
As mentioned in one of the previous updates, the following varieties of Romance languages are present south of the Alps:
The Annonarian varieties of Lombard, Ligurian, Romagnan and Venetian have already diverged quite significantly. Further south, you can see Tuscan going divergent, while Mediano itself also differentiates into the varieties of Latium, Spoleto and the Pentapolis. Further south, the boundaries between the different varieties match borders between Benevento and the Rhomaic possessions.
Ostrogothic presence has by now vanished and any surviving Ostrogoths are fully assimilated into Italin culture; perhaps the region of Ravenna would have more Ostrogothic loanwords, but that’s it. In contrast the Lombards would have still left quite a strong presence, not only in genetics (many blonde people in Benevento, Spoleto, and the Po valley), but pockets of Lombard speakers would continue to remain in the high Alpine villages between the Venetian and Adige regions and in the region of Pavia; however, most of them would have assimilated by now.
(1) Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg, Westfalen und Sachsen-Anhalt
(2) Hesse und Bayerische Franken
(3) Baden-Wuerttemberg, Elsass, Deutschenschweiz und Bayerische Schwaben
(4) To include Salsburg, Tyrol and Upper and Lower Austria as well, together with Inner Austria.
(5) Soissons
(6) Perhaps the Kingdom of Two Sicilies inspired itself over here
- Tomislav Addai
- Word Count: 1.2k