 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lower Lotharingia" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Duchy of Lower Lotharingia | |
|---|---|
| 959–1190 | |
 Pink: Lower (Northern) Lotharingia in 977 Orange: Friesland | |
| Status | Part ofEast Francia (until 962) Part of theHoly Roman Empire |
| Capital | Brussels |
| Common languages | |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Government | Feudalduchy |
| Duke | |
• 959–964 | Godfrey I(first) |
• 1142–1190 | Godfrey VIII(last) |
| Historical era | Middle Ages |
• Established | 959 |
• Disestablished | 1190 |
TheDuchy of Lower Lotharingia,[1] also calledNorthern Lotharingia,[2][3]Lower Lorraine orNorthern Lorraine (and also referred to asLothier orLottier[4] in titles), was astem duchy of the medievalKingdom of Germany established in 959, which encompassed almost all of modernBelgium,Luxembourg, the northern part of theGermanRhineland province and the eastern parts ofFrance'sNord-Pas de Calais region. It also included almost all of modernNetherlands.
It was created out of the former Middle Frankish realm ofLotharingia under KingLothair II, that had been established in 855. Lotharingia was divided for much of the later ninth century, reunited underLouis the Younger by the 880Treaty of Ribemont and upon the death ofEast Frankish kingLouis the Child in 911 it joinedWest Francia under KingCharles the Simple. It then formed a duchy in its own right, and about 925 DukeGilbert declared homage to the German kingHenry the Fowler, an act which KingRudolph of France was helpless to revert. From that time on Lotharingia (or Lorraine) remained a German stem duchy, the border with France did not change throughout the Middle Ages.
In 959 King Henry's son DukeBruno the Great divided Lotharingia into two duchies: Lower andUpper Lorraine (or Lower and Upper Lotharingia) and granted CountGodfrey I of Mons (Hainaut) the title of a duke of Lower Lorraine. Godfrey's lands were to the north (lower down theRhine river system), while Upper Lorraine was to the south (further up the river system). Both duchies formed the western part of theHoly Roman Empire established by Bruno's elder brotherEmperor Otto I in 962.
Both Lotharingian duchies took very separate paths thereafter: Upon the death of Godfrey's son DukeRichar, Lower Lotharingia was directly ruled by the emperor, until in 977Otto II enfeoffedCharles, the exiled younger brother of KingLothair of France. Lower and Upper Lorraine were once again briefly reunited underGothelo I from 1033 to 1044. After that, the Lower duchy was quickly marginalised,[citation needed] while Upper Lorraine came to be known as simply the Duchy of Lorraine.
Over the next decades the significance of the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia diminished and furthermore was affected by the conflict between EmperorsHenry IV andHenry V: In 1100 Henry IV had enfeoffed CountHenry of Limburg, whom Henry V, having enforced the abdication of his father, immediately deposed and replaced by CountGodfrey I of Louvain. Upon the death of DukeGodfrey III in 1190, his son DukeHenry I of Brabant inherited the ducal title by order ofEmperor Henry VI at the Diet ofSchwäbisch Hall. Thereby the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia finally lost its territorial authority, while the remnant Imperial fief held by thedukes of Brabant was later called theDuchy of Lothier (or Lothryk).
| History of theLow Countries | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frisii | Belgae | |||||||
| Cana– nefates | Chamavi, Tubantes | Gallia Belgica(55 BC–c. 5th AD) Germania Inferior(83–c. 5th) | ||||||
| Salian Franks | Batavi | |||||||
| unpopulated (4th–c. 5th) | Saxons | Salian Franks (4th–c. 5th) | ||||||
| Frisian Kingdom (c. 6th–734) | Frankish Kingdom(481–843)—Carolingian Empire(800–843) | |||||||
| Austrasia(511–687) | ||||||||
| Middle Francia(843–855) | West Francia (843–) | |||||||
| Kingdom of Lotharingia(855– 959) Duchy of Lower Lorraine(959–) | ||||||||
| Frisia | ||||||||
.svg) Frisian Freedom (11–16th century) |  County of Holland (880–1432) |  Bishopric of Utrecht (695–1456) |  Duchy of Brabant (1183–1430)  Duchy of Guelders (1046–1543) |  County of Flanders (862–1384) |  County of Hainaut (1071–1432)  County of Namur (981–1421) |  P.-Bish. of Liège (980–1794) |  Duchy of Luxem- bourg (1059–1443) | |
 Burgundian Netherlands(1384–1482) | ||||||||
Habsburg Netherlands(1482–1795) (Seventeen Provincesafter 1543) | ||||||||
 Dutch Republic (1581–1795) | Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714) | |||||||
 Austrian Netherlands (1714–1795) | ||||||||
 United States of Belgium (1790) |  R. Liège (1789–'91) | |||||||
 Batavian Republic(1795–1806) Kingdom of Holland(1806–1810) |  associated withFrench First Republic(1795–1804) part ofFirst French Empire(1804–1815) | |||||||
 Princip. of the Netherlands(1813–1815) | ||||||||
| Kingdom of the Netherlands(1815–1830) |  Gr D. L. (1815–) | |||||||
Kingdom of the Netherlands(1839–) |  Kingdom of Belgium(1830–) | |||||||
Gr D. of Luxem- bourg (1890–) | ||||||||
After the territorial power of the duchy was shattered, many fiefdoms came toimperial immediacy in its area. The most important ones of these were:
The following successor states remained under the authority of the titular dukes of Lower Lotharingia (Lothier):
.svg)
