Middle Francia

Middle Francia 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 Francia was allocated to emperor Lothair I, the eldest son and successor of emperor Louis the Pious. His realm contained the imperial cities of Aachen (the residence of Charlemagne) and Pavia, but lacked any geographic or cultural cohesion, which prevented it from surviving and forming a nucleus of a larger state, as was the case with West Francia (which became the Kingdom of France) and East Francia (which became the Kingdom of Germany). Middle Francia was situated between the realms of East and West Francia, and comprised the Frankish territory between the rivers Rhine and Scheldt, the Frisian coast of the North Sea, the former Kingdom of Burgundy (except for a western portion, later known as Bourgogne) and Provence, as well as parts of northern Italy. Following the 855 partition, 'Middle Francia' became only a geographic term and the bulk of its territory was reorganised as Lotharingia, named after Lothair I's namesake son. One of the reasons Middle Francia was a short-lived state, is due to the geographic situation between two more powerful states, which had much greater influence in Europe than Middle Francia. Geography Middle Francia extended from Frisia in the north, to Northern Italy, in which the Frankish kingdom had access to the Lingurian Sea and the Gulf of Lion of through Provence and to the Adriatic Sea through (modern-day) Veneto. The territory of Middle Francia occupied around 350.0000-300.000 km². Geographical importance of Middle Francia The geographical situation of Middle Francia was unprivileged in comparison to its biggest neighbours, West and East Francia. This due to the position of the Kingdom in Europe, only sharing big borders with East and West Francia, the rest of the borders were isolated and very small in comparison to the border between Middle Francia and West and East Francia. The only borders it shared with other states at the time were; Papal States, Benevento, and Venice, which were young-born states, with not a big culture of trade or development. This would prevent Middle Francia trade with other states, such as Byzantium or Bulgaria.