The Treaty of Verdun splits Charlemagne's empire into three kingdoms
Civil war among Charlemagne's grandsons draws the first rough map of France and Germany
Quick facts
- Location
- Verdun, Middle Francia
- Kingdoms created
- West Francia, Middle Francia, East Francia
- Brothers
- Lothair I, Louis the German, Charles the Bald
- Trigger
- Civil war after Louis the Pious's death in 840
What happened
Charlemagne's son and heir, Louis the Pious, spent much of his reign trying to divide his inheritance fairly among his sons, a plan repeatedly upended by his attempts to also provide for a younger son, Charles the Bald, from a second marriage. Louis's death in 840 triggered open civil war among his three surviving sons. After three years of fighting, Lothair, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald agreed at Verdun on 10 August 843 to split the empire along a north-south line: Charles took West Francia, Louis took East Francia, and Lothair took the imperial title along with a long, awkward middle strip called Middle Francia running from the Low Countries to Italy.
Why it matters
West Francia and East Francia would evolve into the medieval kingdoms of France and Germany, while Middle Francia's ruling line died out within a generation, leaving the region to fragment into separately contested territories like Lotharingia, Burgundy, and northern Italy. It was the first of several partitions that permanently ended any single ruler's control over Charlemagne's empire.
How we know
The division and its terms are recorded in contemporary Frankish annals and are well corroborated by later charters and administrative records from each resulting kingdom.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Carolingian Dynasty · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Holy Roman Empire · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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