The Treaty of Verdun, agreed in August 843, divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms between Lothair I, Louis II and Charles II, the surviving sons of the emperor Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three years of civil war and was the culmination of negotiations lasting more than a year. It was the first in a series of partitions contributing to the dissolution of the empire created by Charlemagne and has been seen as foreshadowing the formation of many of the modern countries of western Europe.
Emperor Louis I (right) blessing the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 into West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia; from the Grandes Chroniques de France, 15th century
Treaty of Verdun Memorial at Fontenoy-en-Puisaye
Lothair I was a 9th-century Carolingian emperor and king of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (843–855).
Lothair I in the Gospels of Lothair, c. 849–851, now located in the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Carolingian denier of Lothair I, struck in Dorestad (Middle Francia) after 850
Kingdom of Bavaria
Medallion portrait presumed to be of Lothair, from the binding of the Lothaire Psalter in the British Library
