Mersen, Treaty of

Mersen, Treaty of,

870, redivision of the Carolingian empire by the sons of Louis ILouis I
or Louis the Pious,
Fr. Louis le Pieux or Louis le Débonnaire, 778–840, emperor of the West (814–40), son and successor of Charlemagne. He was crowned king of Aquitaine in 781 and co-emperor with his father in 813.
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, Charles the Bald (later Charles IICharles II
or Charles the Bald,
823–77, emperor of the West (875–77) and king of the West Franks (843–77); son of Emperor Louis I by a second marriage.
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) of the West Franks (France) and Louis the GermanLouis the German,
c.804–876, king of the East Franks (817–76). When his father, Emperor of the West Louis I, partitioned the empire in 817, Louis received Bavaria and adjacent territories.
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 of the East Franks (Germany), signed at Mersen (Dutch Meersen), now in the Netherlands. The treaty superseded the tripartite division of the empire in 843 (see Verdun, Treaty ofVerdun, Treaty of,
the partition of Charlemagne's empire among three sons of Louis I, emperor of the West. It was concluded in 843 at Verdun on the Meuse or, possibly, Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Soâne-et-Loire dept., E France.
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). It divided the kingdom of LotharingiaLotharingia
, name given to the northern portion of the lands assigned (843) to Emperor of the West Lothair I in the first division of the Carolingian empire (see Verdun, Treaty of).
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 between Charles and Louis, following the death (869) of their nephew, Lothair, king of Lotharingia. France obtained the territories roughly corresponding to the modern Netherlands, Belgium, and Lorraine and Germany received Alsace and the left bank of the Lower Rhine. The borders established did not last long.