Eastern Francia

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Eastern Francia was the land of Louis the German after the Treaty of Verdun of 843, which divided the Carolingian Empire of the Franks into an East, West, and Middle. It is the precursor of the Holy Roman Empire and modern Germany. It was known variously as Francia Orientalis or the Kingdom of the East Franks. If the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire is taken to coincide with the rise of the Ottonian dynasty, The kingdom of East Francia lasted from 843 to the coronation of Duke Henry I of Saxony in 919; more commonly, the Holy Roman Empire is thought to begin in 962, with the Coronation of Otto the Great (translatio imperii).

East Francia was divided into four duchies: Swabia (Alamannia), Franconia, Saxony and Bavaria (including Moravia and Carinthia); to which after the death of Lothair II in 869 were added the eastern parts of Lotharingia.

This division persisted until 1268, the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

From the 10th century, East Francia became also known as regnum Teutonicum ("Teutonic kingdom" or "Kingdom of Germany"), a term that became prevalent in Salian times.

[edit] See also

• List of German monarchs