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The Tenth Century

The Later Carolingian Empire

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, managed to maintain his inheritance intact, so that Charles' creation lasted for two generations. Louis had three sons and he divided the empire between them. But those sons fought and a final agreement wasn't reached until 843. Even so, their various heirs quarrelled from time to time, so that from the 870s onward, even the fragments of the Carolingian Empire became fragmented.

The basic three-fold division held after a fashion.  The Kingdom of the West Franks corresponded more or less with France, though southern France broke away fairly early.  In the east, various German kings ruled until Otto I (936-973) re-united much of the eastern lands, plus Italy, and was able to claim the title of Emperor.  That was how the Holy Roman Empire came to be based in Germany.

The so-called Middle Kingdom lay between these two, and it fragmented early. This area comprised the Rhineland, Flanders, and Burgundy. We still see evidence of this today:  France is to the west, Germany to the east, and in between are the Low Countries and Switzerland.

The ninth and tenth centuries were a bad time for internal political stability, however; for this was the age of the Vikings. And around the same time the Vikings were attacking the northern and western periphery of Europe, two other peoples were attacking: Muslims to the south, and Magyars from the east.