WI Charlemagne's original (806) division of his Empire had lasted until his death?

In 806AD, Charlemagne made provision for the division of his Empire among his three (legitimate) sons after his death. Charles would recieve Neustria (Northern France and most of Germany), Louis would recieve Aquitaine and the Spanish March and Pepin would recieve Italy. However, in OTL Both Charles and Pepin predeceased Charles, resulting in Louis inheriting Charlemagne's entire Empire. He wasn't up to the job, Louis' sons had a long and bloody civil war, and the rest is history.

So assume that Charles and Pepin live. I assume there would be no "French" or "German" nationalities in the way we understand them today. Would the 806 division have created "nations" in their place? Were the borders sustainable? Would the split have been peaceful and spared Europe, at least initially, from civil war after the break up to the Empire?

map806.jpg

The split as proposed in 806.
 
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Huh. That's really interesting. Assuming all three states survive, any thoughts on naming them? Given that all three kings are Franks, there should be a "France" (Frankia?) but maybe if it lasts, all of Western Europe will be called "France"
 
Huh. That's really interesting. Assuming all three states survive, any thoughts on naming them? Given that all three kings are Franks, there should be a "France" (Frankia?) but maybe if it lasts, all of Western Europe will be called "France"
France, Aquitaine, and Italy would be the most likely.
 
The OTL borders didn't last either, they fluctuated from the outset of Louis the Pious's rule through all of his sons until the eventual reunification under Charles the Fat. It isn't going to be a peaceful division ITTL either: Pepin and Louis are going to be pissed that Charles got OTL Lotharingia, and at the same time all three of them are going to be dividing up their realm between their sons. Charles will probably split France into an east and a west half for his sons, etc.
 
If you look at the partition as Charlemagne wished it, it isn't really equal : Charles would get a larger territory than his brothers and probably the Imperial Crown (as he is the eldest legitimate son of Charlemagne). Besides, if you look at the map of the partition, Charles gets Gascony while it would have seen more logical for it to go to Louis since the latter gets Aquitaine. Those two things are sure to pose a problem in the future, paticularly the latter.

What is also a problem is the future... In OTL, Louis the Pious had several sons : Pepin of Aquitaine, Lothar, Louis the German and later Charles the Bald. Louis had at first divided the Empire between his three sons, but decided to modify the partition after the birth of Charles the Bald. This lead to a rebelion against Louis the Pious lead by his own sons.
And after Louis the Pious' death, his three surviving sons (Lothar, Louis the German, Charles the Bald) fought each other and this lead to the partition of Verdun with West Francia (France) going to Charles the Bald, Middle Francia (Lotharingia) going to Lothar and East Francia (Germany) going to Louis the German.

ITTL, the Empire is already divided between Charlemagne's three sons. However, it probably is going to pose a problem as they will themselves decide to divide their possessions between their sons as Louis the Pious did OTL. What I'm seeing would be the Balkanisation of the Empire into several states.

I'm also wondering if this wouldn't lead to the Carolingian Empire becoming some sort of earlier Holy Roman Empire...
 
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