The Treaty of Prüm, concluded on 19 September 855, was the second of the partition treaties of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the ...

. As Emperor Lothair I was approaching death, he divided his realm of

Middle Francia Middle Francia ( la, Francia media) was a short-lived Frankish kingdom which was created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun after an intermittent civil war between the grandsons of Charlemagne resulted in division of the united empire. Middle Franc ...

among his three sons.

Background

From 830, Lothair and his brothers

Pepin I of Aquitaine Pepin I or Pepin I of Aquitaine (French: ''Pépin''; 797 – 13 December 838) was King of Aquitaine and Duke of Maine. Pepin was the second son of Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye. When his father assigne ...

(died 838) and

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...

had fought several inner dynastic battles with their father Emperor

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

. The emperor's death in 840 started another fight for the inheritance between his three surviving sons Lothair I, Louis the German, and

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ...

(the son of Louis the Pious' second marriage). Lothair, eldest son and co-ruling Holy Roman Emperor with his father since 817, claimed supremacy but was denied and defeated by the united forces of his brothers at the 841 Battle of Fontenoy. Emperor Lothair finally had to yield the superior strength of Louis the German and Charles the Bald, who confirmed their pact by the

Oaths of Strasbourg The Oaths of Strasbourg were a military pact made on 14 February 842 by Charles the Bald and Louis the German against their older brother Lothair I, the designated heir of Louis the Pious, the successor of Charlemagne. One year later the Trea ...

. He concluded his fighting and in August 843 signed the

Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three years of civil war and ...

with his younger brothers. As a result of this treaty, the empire of late Louis the Pious ("

Francia Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...

") was officially divided between his three surviving sons: Louis the German received the lands east of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descen ...

rivers (" East Francia"), Charles the Bald the territories west of the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

, and

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 ...

West Francia 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 about ...

"), while Lothair retained the interjacent lands from Frisia to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, including the cities of Aachen and

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 ...

" or ''Lotharii Regnum''), and the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Though the Carolingian rulers stressed the idea of a unified empire, the gradual dissolution by

partible inheritance Partible inheritance is a system of inheritance in which property is apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture, which was common in feudal society and requires that the whole or most of the inheritance passes to the el ...

continued. Mainly Lothair's Middle Frankish realm combined lengthy and vulnerable borders with poor internal communications. Devastated both by

Viking raids The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

in the north and Muslim incursions in the south, it was not a viable entity and soon fragmented.

Provisions

Already seriously ill, Emperor Lothair I staying at his estate in

Schüller Schüller is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, wh ...

(''Sconilare'') on 19 September 855 further divided the ''Lotharii Regnum'' between his sons: Empire carolingien 855-fr

Louis II († 875), the eldest son, was granted the imperial crown 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 f ...

(then only comprising the northern half of the Italian peninsula) Lothair II († 869) was granted Frisia and the parts of Austrasia that remained his father's after the Treaty of Verdun (containing the original area of the Roman Empire settled by the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

and the capital of Aachen) - this kingdom became known as ''

Lotharingia Lotharingia ( la, regnum Lotharii regnum Lothariense Lotharingia; french: Lotharingie; german: Reich des Lothar Lotharingien Mittelreich; nl, Lotharingen) was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable ...

'' after its ruler and was the shortest-lived of the three successor kingdoms, succeeded by the duchies of Upper and

Lower Lorraine The Duchy of Lower Lotharingia, also called Northern Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lorraine (and also referred to as '' Lothier'' or '' Lottier''

about one hundred years later. Charles († 863), the youngest of the three sons, became

King of Provence The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...

, being granted

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

and the greater part of the former Frankish

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 and ...

(except for the lands west of the Saône river which had been given to West Francia at Verdun and would later become the French

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...

) - this kingdom would later evolve into the

(also known as Kingdom of Arles from the 12th century) Lothair I himself abdicated and retired to

Prüm Abbey Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Frankish widow Bertrada the elder and her son Charibert, Count of Laon, in 721. The first abbot was Angloardus. The Abbey ruled over a va ...

in the Eifel range where he died ten days later.

Legacy

Due to the deaths of Charles in 863 and Lothair II in 869, Burgundy and Lotharingia were again divided between East Francia, West Francia and the Kingdom of Italy by the 870

Treaty of Meerssen The Treaty of Mersen or Meerssen, concluded on 8 August 870, was a treaty to partition the realm of Lothair II, known as Lotharingia, by his uncles Louis the German of East Francia and Charles the Bald of West Francia, the two surviving sons of ...

. The effects of the Treaty of Prüm came to a complete end, when in 951 King Otto I of Germany invaded and conquered Italy during a period of political unrest and married the former queen consort

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He attained the

Iron Crown of Lombardy The Iron Crown ( lmo, Corona Ferrea de Lombardia; it, Corona Ferrea; la, Corona Ferrea) is a relic and may be one of the oldest royal insignia of Christendom. It was made in the Early Middle Ages, consisting of a circlet of gold and jewels fi ...

and was finally crowned

King of Italy King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader ...

and Holy Roman Emperor in 962. The Treaty of Prüm is regarded as one of the last significant effects of partible inheritance before being surpassed by

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

as the primary cause of European state decentralization.

Literature

*Deanesly, Margaret. ''A History of Early Medieval Europe''. Taylor & Francis, 1963 {{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty of Prum Military history of the Carolingian Empire Partition (politics) Prum 855 Eifel in the Middle Ages

Background

Provisions

Legacy

See also

Literature