Europe · The early medieval west
Middle Francia
843–855
Middle Francia (Francia Media) was the short-lived central kingdom created by the Treaty of Verdun for Lothair I, the eldest son, who also held the imperial title. It was a long, geographically incoherent strip running from the North Sea through the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Burgundy, Provence, and down through much of Italy — combining lengthy, vulnerable land borders with poor internal communications, severed by the Alps.
- Existed
- 843–855
- Shown on the map
- AD 850–859, 899 (2 periods)
- Peak area
- 383k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
Middle Francia (Francia Media) was the short-lived central kingdom created by the Treaty of Verdun for Lothair I, the eldest son, who also held the imperial title. It was a long, geographically incoherent strip running from the North Sea through the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Burgundy, Provence, and down through much of Italy — combining lengthy, vulnerable land borders with poor internal communications, severed by the Alps.
Decline and legacy
Because it was not a viable unitary state, it fragmented almost immediately. Shortly before Lothair I's death in 855, the Treaty of Prüm divided Middle Francia among his three sons: Louis II received Italy and the imperial title; Lothair II received the northern portion, which came to be called Lotharingia (Lorraine) after him; and Charles received Provence/Burgundy. The northern and central fragments became perennial objects of contention between West and East Francia — a fault line that, as the Treaty of Verdun's later interpreters have stressed, arguably persisted into the Franco-German conflicts of the 20th century.
Common questions
- What was Middle Francia?
- Middle Francia (Francia Media) was the short-lived central kingdom created by the Treaty of Verdun for Lothair I, the eldest son, who also held the imperial title. It was a long, geographically incoherent strip running from the North Sea through the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Burgundy, Provence, and down through much of Italy — combining lengthy, vulnerable land borders with poor internal communications, severed by the Alps.
- When did Middle Francia exist?
- Middle Francia existed 843–855. On this map it is drawn AD 850–859, 899.
- How large was Middle Francia?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Middle Francia covered about 383,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- How did Middle Francia end?
- Because it was not a viable unitary state, it fragmented almost immediately. Shortly before Lothair I's death in 855, the Treaty of Prüm divided Middle Francia among his three sons: Louis II received Italy and the imperial title; Lothair II received the northern portion, which came to be called Lotharingia (Lorraine) after him; and Charles received Provence/Burgundy.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica and the World History Encyclopedia, while flagging entries built on thin or contested evidence — Samo's Empire on a single Fredegar passage, Venice's 697 founding date as legendary, the Pacta conventa as a probable forgery. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Middle Francia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Francia
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Middle Francia in its world
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