The Kingdom of Lower Burgundy, or Cisjurane Burgundy, was a historical kingdom in what is now southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, so-called because it was lower down the Rhône Valley than Upper Burgundy. It included some of the territory of the Kingdom of Arelat. The borders of Lower Burgundy were the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

to the south, Septimania to the southwest, Aquitaine to the west, the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy to the north, and the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...

to the east.

History

The

West Frankish In medieval history, West Francia ( Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from a ...

King Louis the Stammerer died on 10 April 879 and was survived by two adult sons, Louis and Carloman. Boso, Count of Vienne, renounced allegiance to both brothers and in July claimed independence of the Kingdom of Provence. On 15 October 879, the bishops and nobles of the region around the rivers

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

and Saône assembled in the Synod of Mantaille and elected Boso king as successor to Louis the Stammerer, the first non-Carolingian king in Western Europe in more than a century. This was the first "free election" of a king among the Franks, without regard to royal descent, though his mother was a

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

. The Kingdom of Provence comprised the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

s of the archbishops of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...

, Aix,

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

(without Langres), and probably Besançon, as well as the dioceses of Tarentaise, Uzès, and Viviers. Boso was an incompetent ruler and by 882 King Carloman of West Francia reintegrated the kingdom into the West Frankish realm. When Carloman died on 12 December 884, the nobles of that kingdom (which included Lower Burgundy), invited Charles the Fat to assume the kingship. Arnulf of Carinthia deposed his uncle Charles in November 887. In 890 Boso's son Louis the Blind was crowned King of Lower Burgundy. Louis the Blind was invited into Italy by Adalbert II of Tuscany who wished to keep Berengar of Friuli from gaining control of the Italian peninsula. Louis defeated Berengar and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Benedict IV. Berengar defeated Louis the next year, forced him to flee Italy and promise to never return. In 905, Louis again invaded Italy but was defeated and blinded for breaking his oath. Louis lost his titles of King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor to Berengar. Blinded, Louis made Hugh of Arles, the Count of Provence, his regent. Hugh was elected King of Italy in 924 during a Civil War, and he spent the next two years ejecting his opponent, King Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy, from Italy. Louis died in 928 and was succeeded by Hugh. After failing to expand his power by a marriage to

Marozia Marozia, born Maria and also known as Mariuccia or Mariozza ( 890 – 937), was a Roman noblewoman who was the alleged mistress of Pope Sergius III and was given the unprecedented titles ''senatrix'' ("senatoress") and ''patricia'' of Rome by Po ...

(the effective ruler of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

), Hugh spent the next five years of his reign fighting Magyar raids and

Andalusian Andalusia is a region in Spain. Andalusian may also refer to: Animals *Andalusian chicken, a type of chicken *Andalusian donkey, breed of donkey *Andalusian hemipode, a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds *Andalusian horse, a breed of ho ...

pirates. In 933, Hugh made peace with Rudolph of Upper Burgundy by giving him the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy, and the two Burgundies were combined into the

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France, Italy and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva an ...

, also known from the 12th century as Kingdom of Arles.

History

References

See also