The Duchy of Lower Lorraine or Lower Lotharingia encompassed part of modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany west of the Rhine, and a part of northern France (east of the Schelde). It was created out of the former Carolingian kingdom of Lotharingia. The kingdom was divided for much of the later ninth century, reunited under the French king Charles the Simple in 910. From there it formed a duchy which eventually declared homage to the German king Henry the Fowler (c.923), an act which the French monarchs were helpless to revert and Lotharingia (or Lorraine) becomes a German stem duchy. In 959, the Duke Bruno divided the duchy into two margraviates (or vice-duchies): Lower and Upper Lorraine (or Lower and Upper Lotharingia).
The duchies took very separate paths thereafter and were only briefly reunited under Gothelo I from 1033 to 1044. After that, the Lower duchy is quickly marginalised. Upper Lorraine came to be known as simply Lorraine.
The ducal title was granted to the lord of Bouillon in 1087 and, in 1106, to the count of Leuven. The duke of Brabant inherited the duchy in 1190, but the duchy of lost its territorial authority at the Diet of Schwäbisch Hall. The remnant imperial fief was later called the Duchy of Lothier (or Lothryk).
After the territorial integrity of the duchy was shattered, many fiefdoms grew out of the territory its dukes once ruled.
Remained under the duchy of Lower Lorraine (Lothier):
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Lower Lorraine" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lower Lorraine". Read more |
Mentioned In: