The same term later referred to a smaller region between theSeine and theLoire rivers known as theregnum Neustriae, a constituent subkingdom of theCarolingian Empire and thenWest Francia. The Carolingian kings also created aMarch of Neustria which was a frontier duchy against theBretons andVikings that lasted until theCapetian monarchy in the late 10th century, when the term was eclipsed as a European political or geographical term.
The nameNeustria is mostly explained as "new western land",[3] although Taylor (1848) suggested the interpretation of "northeastern land".[4]Nordisk familjebok (1913) even suggested "not the eastern land" (icke östland).[5]Augustin Thierry (1825) assumedNeustria is simply a corruption ofWestria, fromWest-rike "western realm".[6] In any case,Neustria contrasts with the nameAustrasia "eastern realm". The analogy toAustrasia is even more explicit in the variantNeustrasia.[7]
Neustria was also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period ofLombard domination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was called Austrasia, the same term as given toeastern Francia.
The predecessor to Neustria was a Roman rump state, theKingdom of Soissons.[8] In 486 its ruler,Syagrius, lost the struggle for power withClovis I, the Frankish king, in theFranco Roman War. He was beaten in theBattle of Soissons and the domain was thereafter under the control of the Franks. Constant re-divisions of territories by Clovis's descendants resulted in many rivalries that, for more than two hundred years, kept Neustria in almost constant warfare with Austrasia, the eastern portion of the FrankishKingdom.
Despite the wars, Neustria and Austrasia re-united briefly on several occasions. The first was underClotaire I during his reign from 558 to 562. The struggle for power continued with QueenFredegund of Neustria, the widow of KingChilperic I (reigned 566–584) and the mother of the new kingClotaire II (reigned 584–628), unleashing a bitter war.
After his mother's death and burial inSaint Denis Basilica near Paris in 597,Clotaire II continued the struggle againstQueen Brunhilda, and finally triumphed in 613 when Brunhilda's followers betrayed the old queen into his hands. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to therack and stretched for three days, then chained between four horses and eventually ripped limb from limb. Clotaire now ruled a united realm, but only for a short time as he made his sonDagobert I king of Austrasia. Dagobert's accession in Neustria resulted in another temporary unification.
In Austrasia thePippinidmayorGrimoald the Elder attempted acoup by forcing the Austrasian king Siegebert III to adopt his son Childebert who succeeded as "Childebert the Adopted". Grimoald and his son Childebert were arrested by Neustrian forces and executed in Paris.Clovis II, after this execution, again reunited the Austrasian kingdom with Neustria, although temporarily. During or soon after the reign of Clovis's sonChlothar III, the dynasty of Neustria, like that of Austrasia before it, ceded authority to its own mayor of the palace.
In 678, Neustria, under MayorEbroin, subdued the Austrasians for the last time. Ebroin was murdered in 680. In 687,Pippin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of the King of Austrasia, defeated the Neustrians atTertry. Thus he guaranteed the predominance of Austrasia, characterized by its territorial aristocracy, over Neustria.[9] Neustria's mayorBerchar was assassinated shortly afterwards and following a marriage alliance (c. 690) between Pippin's sonDrogo and Berchar's widowAnstrud of Champagne, Pippin secured his position as mayor of the Neustrian palace.[10]
Pippin's descendants, theCarolingians, continued to rule the two realms as mayors. WithPope Stephen II's blessing, after 751 the Carolingian Pippin the Short formally deposed the Merovingians and took control of the empire, he and his descendants ruling as kings.
Neustria, Austrasia, andBurgundy then became united under one authority and, although it would split once again into various eastern and western divisions, the names "Neustria" and "Austrasia" gradually fell out of use.
In 748, the brothersPepin the Short andCarloman gave their younger brotherGrifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that ofLe Mans. Thispolity was termed theducatus Cenomannicus, or Duchy of Maine, and this was an alternative name for theregnum of Neustria well into the 9th century.
The term "Neustria" took on the meaning of "land between theSeine andLoire" when it was given as aregnum (kingdom) byCharlemagne to his second son,Charles the Younger, in 790. At this time, the chief city of thekingdom appears to be Le Mans, where the royal court of Charles was established. Under theCarolingian dynasty, the chief duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of theFranks over the Bretons.
In 817,Louis the Pious granted Neustria to his eldest sonLothair I, but following his rebellion in 831, he gave it toPepin I of Aquitaine, and following the latter's death in 838, toCharles the Bald. Neustria, along withAquitaine, formed the major part of CharlesWest Frankish kingdom carved out of the Empire by theTreaty of Verdun (843). Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he madeLouis the Stammerer king in 856. Louis married the daughter of theKing of Brittany,Erispoe, and received theregnum from the Breton monarch with the consent of the Frankish magnates. This unique relationship for Neustria stressed how it had shrunk in size to definitely exclude theÎle de France and Paris by this time, as it was distanced from the central authority of Charles the Bald and closer to that of Erispoe. Louis was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolingians.
In 911,Robert I of France becamemargrave of both Marches and took the titledemarchus. His family, the laterCapetians, ruled the whole of Neustria until 987, whenHugh Capet was elected to the kingship. The subsidiary counts of Neustria had exceeded themargrave in power by that time and the peak of Viking and Breton raiding had passed. After theCapetian Miracle, no further margraves were appointed and "Neustria" was eclipsed as a European political term (present, however, in some Anglo-Norman chronicles and revived as synonymous with English possession of Normandy under Henry V by the St. Albans chronicler Thomas Walsingham in his Ypodigma Neustriae).
^y J. B. Benkard,Historical Sketch of the German Emperors and Kings (1855),p.2;e.g. Will Slatyer,Ebbs and Flows of Ancient Imperial Power, 3000 BC - 900 AD (2012),p. 323;James, Edward (1988).The Franks. The Peoples of Europe. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell. p. 232.ISBN0-631-17936-4.
