LORRAINE
. A province on the northeastern frontier of the French kingdom, Lorraine takes its name
from the state created in 855 for Lothair, the second son of the emperor of the same
name. Lotharingia, as it came to be called by the 10th century, comprised the northern
third of the middle kingdom set up in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the
empire of Charlemagne among his three grandsons. It included the watersheds of the
Meuse and the Moselle rivers as well as the bishoprics (reading from north to south) of
Cologne, Liège, Cambrai, Verdun, Metz, Toul, Strasbourg, Basel, and Besançon.
This region, the heart of the old Frankish homeland, was a major crossroads for east-
west and north-south movement and became a region of conflict between the kingdoms
of the West Franks (later France) and the East Franks (later the Holy Roman Empire and
Germany). The name Lorraine was, by the 12th century, to be restricted to the southern
part of the original realm, centered on the bishoprics of Verdun, Metz, and Toul. At about
the same time, the town of Nancy became the chief residence of its rulers and was to
remain so until the area was officially joined to France in the 18th century.
Rivalry for this rich and strategic region began with the death of King Lothair, its first
ruler, in 869. In 870, the Treaty of Meerssen divided the realm between the dead ruler’s
uncles, Charles the Bald of France (r. 840–77) and Louis the German (r. 840–76). Both
Lorraine and the empire were briefly and ingloriously reunited under Charles the Fat
between 884 and 887, after which Lorraine retained its identity, with the whole region
falling eventually to the East Frankish ruler Arnulf, who reestablished it as a distinct state
for his illegitimate son Zwentibold (r. 895–900).
The 10th century saw Lorraine’s magnates grow more independent, and they were
able to use their geographical situation to advantage by playing off the eastern and
western monarchs against each other. This was made easier as the French Carolingian
rulers, losing ground in their own realm to the rival Capetian family, sought to regain
authority by taking over Lorraine. Even before Zwentibold’s death in 900, Charles the
Simple had invaded the kingdom at the invitation of its magnates. Crowned king of
Lorraine when its lords refused to accept the election of Conrad I in Germany, he held off
the German ruler Henry I until after 922, when the French magnates rose against him and
took him prisoner. His rival in France, King Raoul, had to concede Lorraine to Henry
with the exception of the bishopric of Besançon, which was definitively separated from
Lorraine at this time.
Henry I transformed Lorraine into a duchy, which he granted to Gilbert (Giselbert),
count of Hainaut, in 925. But the new duke proved disloyal to Henry’s son, the emperor
Otto I, and in 939 called in Louis IV of France, only to be killed in battle the same year.
Otto was eventually to entrust Lorraine to his own brother Bruno, archbishop of Cologne
(r. 954–65). It was Bruno who (ca. 960) divided the duchy into Lower (northern) and
Upper (southern) Lorraine. The former was granted to Charles, brother and rival of King
Lothair and opponent of Hugh Capet in 987; the latter went to Frederick I, count of Bar.
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