Duchy of Lorraine
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The Duchy of Lorraine or Duchy of Lotharingia was an independent duchy from around 910 to its partition in 959. Thereafter there were two Lorraines: Lower Lorraine and Upper Lorraine (sometimes Lower and Upper Lotharingia).
Between 843 and 855, Middle Francia was the territory ruled by Lothair I. Upon his death, his realm was split into three parts: the ancient Italy, Provence, and a new creation in the north, called Lotharingia from the Latin Lotharii Regnum, a designation for the son of Lothair's who ruled it: Lothair II. On Lothair's death without heirs in 869, by the Treaty of Mersen, his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German agreed to divide his realm. Thereafter, the reunion of divided Lotharingia was a prime ambition of most German and French monarchs. The Emperor Arnulf appointed his illegitimate son Zwentibold king in Lotharingia in 895 and on the latters death it passed to the king of Germany, Louis the Child. Charles III of France reunited the kingdom in 910 and appointed Reginar I as his margrave in Lotharingia. Subsequent wars saw Charles deposed and the duchy annexed in its entirety by Henry the Fowler of Germany. Thereafter, Lotharingia (or Lorraine) is a stem duchy within the German kingdom.
In 959, the duchy was divided into Upper and Lower regions which became permanent following the death of Duke Bruno. Upper Lorraine was first denominated as the Duchy of the Moselle, both in charters and narrative sources, and its duke was the dux Mosellanorum. The usage of Lotharingia Superioris and Lorraine in official documents begins later, around the fifteenth century. However, the dukes of Upper Lorraine gradually came to be known simply as the dukes of Lorraine, because the significance of the Lower duchy declined greatly in the latter half of the eleventh century. This article covers the dukes of a united Lorraine and Upper Lorraine thereafter, the dukes of Lower Lorraine have their own article.
In the 17th century, the French kings began to covet Lorraine, which lay between France proper and its possessions in Alsace. Lorraine, after siding with the Emperor in the Thirty Years' War, was largely occupied by France in 1641. In 1670, the French invaded again, forcing Duke Charles IV to flee to a Viennese exile. The French continued to occupy Lorraine for almost thirty years, only giving it up to Charles's heir by the Treaty of Ryswick which ended the Nine Years War in 1697. The Duchy was again occupied by France during the War of the Spanish Succession, although Duke Leopold Joseph continued to reign. Leopold's son and successor, Francis Stephen, was forced to give up the Duchy in 1737, after the War of the Polish Succession, in exchange for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Francis Stephen was betrothed to Archduchess Maria Theresa, daughter and heir to Charles VI, and the French would only approve the marriage if Francis gave up his rights to Lorraine. Francis and Maria Theresa's marriage resulted in the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Replacing Francis Stephen in Lunéville was the last Duke of Lorraine, Stanislaus Leszczynski, former king of Poland, Louis's son-in-law, with the understanding that it would revert to the French crown upon his death. With Stanislas's death in 1766, the long independent history of the Duchy of Lorraine came to an end, and the Duchy was annexed to France.
The House of Guise, which played an important role in the Wars of Religion of the 16th century, is a junior branch of the House of Lorraine.
