Neustria
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(March 2008) |
Kingdom of Neustria Neustria, Neustrasia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 486–987 | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Status | Part ofKingdom of the Franks | ||||||||
| Capital | Soissons | ||||||||
| Official languages | Latin[1] | ||||||||
| Common languages |
| ||||||||
| Minority languages | Gaulish(until the 6th century)[4] | ||||||||
| Religion | Christianity | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Neustrian | ||||||||
| Government | Feudalhereditary monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 486–c.509 | Clovis I(first) | ||||||||
• 986–987 | Louis V of France(last) | ||||||||
| Mayor of the Palace | |||||||||
• 639–641 | Aega(first) | ||||||||
• 741–751 | Pepin III(last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||
| 486 | |||||||||
•Capetian dynastyestablished | 1 June 987 | ||||||||
| Currency | Denier | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | France | ||||||||
Neustriawas the western part of theKingdom of the Franksduring theEarly Middle Ages,in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom,Austrasia.[5]It initially included land between theLoireand theSilva Carbonaria,in the north of present-dayFrance,withParis,Orléans,Tours,Soissonsas its main cities.
The same term later referred to a smaller region between theSeineand theLoirerivers known as theregnum Neustriae,a constituent subkingdom of theCarolingian Empireand thenWest Francia.The Carolingian kings also created aMarch of Neustriawhich was a frontier duchy against theBretonsandVikingsthat lasted until theCapetianmonarchy in the late 10th century, when the term was eclipsed as a European political or geographical term.
Name
[edit]The nameNeustriais mostly explained as "new western land",[6] although Taylor (1848) suggested the interpretation of "northeastern land".[7] Nordisk familjebok(1913) even suggested "not the eastern land" (icke östland).[8]Augustin Thierry(1825) assumedNeustriais simply a corruption ofWestria,fromWest-rike"western realm".[9]In any case,Neustriacontrasts with the nameAustrasia"eastern realm". The analogy toAustrasiais even more explicit in the variantNeustrasia.[10]
Neustriawas also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period ofLombarddomination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was called Austrasia, the same term as given toeastern Francia.
Merovingian kingdom
[edit]The predecessor to Neustria was a Roman rump state, theKingdom of Soissons.In 486 its ruler,Syagrius,lost theBattle of Soissonsto theFrankishkingClovis Iand the domain was thereafter under the control of the Franks. Constant re-divisions of territories by Clovis's descendants resulted in many rivalries that, for more than two hundred years, kept Neustria in almost constant warfare with Austrasia, the eastern portion of the FrankishKingdom.
Despite the wars, Neustria and Austrasia re-united briefly on several occasions. The first was underClotaire Iduring his reign from 558 to 562. The struggle for power continued with QueenFredegundof Neustria, the widow of KingChilperic I(reigned 566–584) and the mother of the new kingClotaire II(reigned 584–628), unleashing a bitter war.
After his mother's death and burial inSaint Denis Basilicanear Paris in 597,Clotaire IIcontinued the struggle againstQueen Brunhilda,and finally triumphed in 613 when Brunhilda's followers betrayed the old queen into his hands. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to therackand stretched for three days, then chained between four horses and eventually ripped limb from limb. Clotaire now ruled a united realm, but only for a short time as he made his sonDagobert Iking of Austrasia. Dagobert's accession in Neustria resulted in another temporary unification.
In Austrasia thePippinidmayorGrimoald the Elderattempted acoupby forcing the Austrasian king Siegebert III to adopt his son Childebert who succeeded as "Childebert the Adopted". Grimoald and his son Childebert were arrested by Neustrian forces and executed in Paris.Clovis II,after this execution, again reunited the Austrasian kingdom with Neustria, although temporarily. During or soon after the reign of Clovis's sonChlothar III,the dynasty of Neustria, like that of Austrasia before it, ceded authority to its own mayor of the palace.
In 678, Neustria, under MayorEbroin,subdued the Austrasians for the last time. Ebroin was murdered in 680. In 687,Pippin of Herstal,mayor of the palace of the King of Austrasia, defeated the Neustrians atTertry.Neustria's mayorBercharwas assassinated shortly afterwards and following a marriage alliance (c. 690) between Pippin's sonDrogoand Berchar's widowAnstrud of Champagne,Pippin secured his position as mayor of the Neustrian palace.[11]
Pippin's descendants, theCarolingians,continued to rule the two realms as mayors. WithPope Stephen II's blessing, after 751 the CarolingianPippin the Shortformally deposed the Merovingians and took control of the empire, he and his descendants ruling as kings.
Neustria, Austrasia, andBurgundythen became united under one authority and, although it would split once again into various eastern and western divisions, the names "Neustria" and "Austrasia" gradually fell out of use.
Carolingian subkingdom
[edit]In 748, the brothersPepin the ShortandCarlomangave their younger brotherGrifotwelve counties in Neustria centred on that ofLe Mans.Thispolitywas termed theducatus Cenomannicus,or Duchy of Maine, and this was an alternative name for theregnumof Neustria well into the 9th century.
The term "Neustria" took on the meaning of "land between theSeineandLoire"when it was given as aregnum(kingdom) byCharlemagneto his second son,Charles the Younger,in 790. At this time, the chief city of thekingdomappears to be Le Mans, where the royal court of Charles was established. Under theCarolingian dynasty,the chief duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of theFranksover the Bretons.
In 817,Louis the Piousgranted Neustria to his eldest sonLothair I,but following his rebellion in 831, he gave it toPepin I of Aquitaine,and following the latter's death in 838, toCharles the Bald.Neustria, along withAquitaine,formed the major part of CharlesWest Frankishkingdom carved out of the Empire by theTreaty of Verdun(843). Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he madeLouis the Stammererking in 856. Louis married the daughter of theKing of Brittany,Erispoe,and received theregnumfrom the Breton monarch with the consent of the Frankish magnates. This unique relationship for Neustria stressed how it had shrunk in size to definitely exclude theÎle de Franceand Paris by this time, as it was distanced from the central authority of Charles the Bald and closer to that of Erispoe. Louis was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolingians.
Carolingian march
[edit]In 861, theCarolingiankingCharles the Baldcreated theMarches of Neustriathat were ruled by officials appointed by the crown, known aswardens,prefectsormargraves.Originally, there were two marches, one against theBretonsand one against theNorsemen,often called the Breton March and Norman March respectively.
In 911,Robert I of Francebecamemargraveof both Marches and took the titledemarchus.His family, the laterCapetians,ruled the whole of Neustria until 987, whenHugh Capetwas elected to the kingship. The subsidiary counts of Neustria had exceeded themargravein power by that time and the peak of Viking and Breton raiding had passed. After theCapetian Miracle,no further margraves were appointed and "Neustria" was eclipsed as a European political term (present, however, in some Anglo-Norman chronicles and revived as synonymous with English possession of Normandy under Henry V by the St. Albans chronicler Thomas Walsingham in his Ypodigma Neustriae).
Rulers
[edit]Merovingian kings
[edit]- Childeric I458–481
- Clovis I481–511
- Chlodomer511–524
- Childebert I511–558
- ChlotharI 558–561
- Charibert I561–567
- Chilperic I567–584
- Gontran561–592
- Chlothar II,584–629
- Dagobert I,629–639
- Clovis II,639–657
- Chlothar III,657–673
- Theuderic III,673
- Childeric II,673–675
- Theuderic III,675–691
- Clovis IV,691–695
- Childebert III,695–711
- Dagobert III,711–715
- Chilperic II,715–721
- Theuderic IV,721–737
- Childeric III,743–751
Mayors of the palace
[edit]- Landric,until 613
- Gundoland,613–639
- Aega,639–641
- Erchinoald,641–658
- Ebroin,658–673
- Wulfoald,673–675
- Leudesius,675
- Ebroin,675–680 (again)
- Waratton,680–682
- Gistemar,682
- Waratton,682–686 (again)
- Berchar,686–688
- Pepin of Heristal,688–695
- Grimoald II,695–714
- Theudoald,714–715
- Ragenfrid,715–718
- Charles Martel,718–741
- Pepin the Short,741–751
Carolingian sub-kings
[edit]- Charles the Younger,790–811
- Lothair I,817–831
- Pepin,831–838
- Charles the Bald,838–856
- Louis the Stammerer,856–879
Louis was chased fromLe Mansin 858 following the assassination of Erispoe in November 857.
Robertians
[edit]- Robert the Strong853–866
- Eudes of France888–898
- Robert of France,911–922
- Hugh the Great,922–956
- Hugh Capet,956–987
Historiography
[edit]The chief contemporary chronicles written from a Neustrian perspective are theHistory of the FranksbyGregory of Tours,theBook of the History of the Franks,theAnnals of St-Bertin,theAnnals of St-Vaast,theAnnalsbyFlodoard of Reims,and theHistory of the conflicts of the GaulsbyRicher of Reims.[12]
References
[edit]- ^Chapter 18: The Franks(PDF).p. 4.RetrievedFebruary 14,2024.
- ^"Gallo-Romance".The Free Dictionary.Retrieved2024-06-24.
- ^Battye, Adrian; Hintze, Marie-Anne; Rowlett, Paul (2000).The French Language Today(2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 12.ISBN978-1-136-90328-1.[2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it was deemed no longer make to think of the varieties spoken in Gaul as Latin. Although a precise date can't be given, there is a general consensus (see Wright 1982, 1991, Lodge 1993) that an awareness of a vernacular, distinct from Latin, emerged at the end of the eighth century.]
- ^Laurence, Hélix (2011).Histoire de la langue française.Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. p. 7.ISBN978-2-7298-6470-5.
Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.
- ^Pfister, Christian (1911)..InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 441.
- ^y J. B. Benkard,Historical Sketch of the German Emperors and Kings(1855),p.2; e.g. Will Slatyer,Ebbs and Flows of Ancient Imperial Power, 3000 BC - 900 AD(2012),p. 323; James, Edward(1988).The Franks.The Peoples of Europe. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell. p. 232.ISBN0-631-17936-4.
- ^' "Ni-oster-rike" [That is, Northeastern kingdom.]'
Taylor, William Cooke (1848).A Manual of Ancient and Modern History.New York Public Library:D. Appleton. p.342.
Oster-rike.
- ^Meijer et al. (eds.),Nordisk familjebok,Ny, rev. och rikt illustrerad upplaga (1913), p. 841.
- ^Augustin Thierry,History of the Conquest of England by the Normans(1825),p. 55.
- ^Neustrasiaappears to be preferred by some authors writing inNeo-Latin,e.g. byCaesar Baronius(d. 1607);Augustin Theiner(ed.)Caesaris S.R.E. Card. Baroniit. 11, (1867),p. 583.
- ^Costambeys, Marios (2011).The Carolingian world.Innes, Matthew; MacLean, Simon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 38–39.ISBN9780521564946.OCLC617425106.
- ^Hodgkin, vol. vii, p 25.
Further reading
[edit]- Oman, Charles.The Dark Ages 476–918.Rivingtons: London, 1914.
- Hodgkin, Thomas.Italy and her Invaders.Clarendon Press: 1895.
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