By the Treaty of Verdun (ad 843), the three sons of the Carolingian emperor Louis I (the Pious) divided the Frankish territory into three parts: Francia Occidentalis went to Charles II (the Bald), Francia Orientalis to Louis the German, and Francia Media, the zone extending from the Low Countries to Italy, to the emperor Lothar I. This Francia Media was partitioned by Lothar I in 855 between his sons: the elder of the two, Louis II, received Italy and the imperial title; his brother, Lothar, received the northern area, thenceforward known as Lothar’s kingdom, or Lotharingia.

 

The Leuci and Mediomatrici tribes settled in Lorraine long before it came under Roman rule in the 1st century B.C.  For the next several centuries Lorraine was a part of the Belgium Province of the Roman Empire.  Lorraine, like Alsace, has passed between French and German rule numerous times over the centuries.

 

Following the demise of the Roman Empire, Alsace and Lorraine both fell under the rule of Merovingian King Clovis, who held these regions until his death in 511.  Upon his death, his son Theodoric (Thierry) became King of Austrasia, increasing his territory from the left bank of the Rhine River to the North Sea (engulfing Lorraine) with Metz becoming its main city.

 

Charlemagne died in 814.  The Treaty of Verdun, in 843, divided his empire among his three grandsons; Charles the Bald was given the western part (France), Lothar received the Midlands (the North Sea to Rome) and Louis obtained the eastern part (Germany).  Territorial unity was finally restored, in what used to be Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire, through this troika rule.

 

Notwithstanding the Treaty of Verdun, a series of wars ravaged the area and decimated the population.  Lorraine went from French rule to German rule a number of times.  In the early 18th century Lorraine became a French Province. In 1790, Lorraine was divided into the four departments that exist today:  Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges.

 

In 1871, France lost the department of Moselle, and the region of Alsace, to the Prussians.  The area remained under German control until 1918, the end of WWI, at which time it was returned to France.  Once again, in 1940, Lorraine was conquered by the Germans.  It was returned to France, after the war, in 1945.