Context:
Assuming the only 2 start dates will be 867 and 1066, and considering the enormous political developments that gave rise to the Kingdoms of France, Germany, Burgundy, and Italy supplanting traditional kingdoms in the Frankish realm (Neustria, Austrasia, Aquitaine, Alamannia, Bavaria, Lombardy) and even the kingdoms carved out of the unified Carolingian Empire (West, East, and Middle; later Italy, Lotharingia, and Burgundy; later Cisjurane and Transjurane Burgundy), there should be plentiful series of events and mechanics to represent it.
The divided Carolingian Empire was fraught by internal conflict of the Carolingian monarchs as well as devastated by Norse raiders in the north, Slav raiders to the east, and Arab raiders/invasion forces from the Maghreb, Sicily, and Iberia. This chaos and instability caused a disruption in society not seen since the migrations of Germanic tribes and wars of foederati that caused the downfall of the Western Roman Empire.
Consequently, most free peasants sought the protection of manorial lords and (either voluntarily or coercively) tied themselves into a system of bondage already established by the law codes of Charlemagne (codified on the basis of individual subjugated Germanic tribes) and even Roman law.
This was a protection that (of course) could not be provided by the Kings or even Emperors to their subjects as they could not be omnipresent and bickered among themselves over succession to other Carolingian kingdoms and only united to counter the threat Vikings posed in 880 after the final partition treaty; The Treaty of Ribemont, which resolved most disputes and produced perhaps the most stable, lasting borders in Medieval Europe (remaining intact until the Late Middle Ages; when French Kings began aggressively pursuing inheritance in Burgundy).
On top of Vikings, there was also this Boso, the Count of Arles (no, not bozo, Boso). After the death of Louis the Stammerer in 879, Boso renounced allegiance to his two heirs and declared the independence of the "Kingdom of Provence" (at the time an area equivalent to Lower or Cisjurane Burgundy, the largest of the 3 parts of the former Kingdom of the Burgundians). Bishops and nobles assembled from around the Rhône and Saône and convened in the Synod of Mantaille to elect Boso as the first non-Carolingian monarch in traditionally Carolingian Europe. His election set the precedent for non-Carolingians to be elected as opposed to other Carolingians being invited in.
At this point Emperor of the Romans remained a(n at first) hereditary Carolingian title that was not bestowed upon a "King of the Romans" who was ex officio the elected "King of Germany", but awarded to the eldest . It passed down from Charlemagne to Louis the Pious, and Louis was bound by partible inheritance laws to divide his possessions among his 3 sons, though the hereditary imperial title was to be handed down to Lothair I. Louis the Pious outlined several plans for the division of his empire, but the final (838) one pronounced at Worms proclaimed Charles the Bald as heir to the west (including Aquitaine), Lothair the heir to the east (including Lombardy/Italy) but excluding Bavaria, left for Louis the German. In reality, after Louis the Pious' death (840), his sons plunged the Carolingian Empire into civil war, trying to take the imperial throne or at least more territory, and the empire was instead divided by the 843 Treaty of Verdun which resulted in Louis the German carving out a kingdom much larger than the Duchy of Bavaria, Lothair keeping the imperial throne, Italy, and carving out Middle Francia, and Charles carving out West Francia.
Like the Komnenian-ruled Empire, the Carolingian Empire's highest administrative divisions (Kingdoms rather than Themata, Ducates, or Katepanates) were governed by dynastic appointments and wherever applicable, Carolingian monarchs would keep as many appointments as possible within the family. Also like the Komnenian-ruled Empire, this system of dynastic administration only runned cohesively when the Imperial family could work with each other, which after Louis the Pious and mostly thanks to partible inheritance, it didn't.
*Robertians, not Carolingians
Furthermore, the landed nobility within these realms. East Francia/Germany was subdivided into stem duchies. Each stem duchy was subdivided into gau (counties), an administrative unit going back to earlier Carolingian/even Merovingian days. One of Middle Francia's successor states, Lotharingia, would become a stem duchy after the 870 Treaty of Meerssen partitioned it between Louis the German of East Francia and Charles the Bald of West Francia.
At first, these Dukes (sometimes also Margraves/Marquesses) or Margraves (in Tuscany, Verona, Vasconia, and Iberia) were more like royal governors and representatives of royal authority. The seigneurial rights and legal privileges of the landed nobility weren't nearly as developed as they were in the High Middle Ages (the period most are actually thinking of when they explain the hierarchy of feudal government and society in little detail).
Counts, too, originated as a title for royal governors, and they would govern both in county-tier "sub-realms" and Frisia. The Counts of Frisia (later Holland) had to be based in Holland as "Frisian freedom" reigned supreme in West, Middle, and East Frisia.
There's also this list of medieval German gau from elsewhere, and this (very large and detailed) map of the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire in 1000 AD.
Assuming the only 2 start dates will be 867 and 1066, and considering the enormous political developments that gave rise to the Kingdoms of France, Germany, Burgundy, and Italy supplanting traditional kingdoms in the Frankish realm (Neustria, Austrasia, Aquitaine, Alamannia, Bavaria, Lombardy) and even the kingdoms carved out of the unified Carolingian Empire (West, East, and Middle; later Italy, Lotharingia, and Burgundy; later Cisjurane and Transjurane Burgundy), there should be plentiful series of events and mechanics to represent it.
The divided Carolingian Empire was fraught by internal conflict of the Carolingian monarchs as well as devastated by Norse raiders in the north, Slav raiders to the east, and Arab raiders/invasion forces from the Maghreb, Sicily, and Iberia. This chaos and instability caused a disruption in society not seen since the migrations of Germanic tribes and wars of foederati that caused the downfall of the Western Roman Empire.
Consequently, most free peasants sought the protection of manorial lords and (either voluntarily or coercively) tied themselves into a system of bondage already established by the law codes of Charlemagne (codified on the basis of individual subjugated Germanic tribes) and even Roman law.
This was a protection that (of course) could not be provided by the Kings or even Emperors to their subjects as they could not be omnipresent and bickered among themselves over succession to other Carolingian kingdoms and only united to counter the threat Vikings posed in 880 after the final partition treaty; The Treaty of Ribemont, which resolved most disputes and produced perhaps the most stable, lasting borders in Medieval Europe (remaining intact until the Late Middle Ages; when French Kings began aggressively pursuing inheritance in Burgundy).
On top of Vikings, there was also this Boso, the Count of Arles (no, not bozo, Boso). After the death of Louis the Stammerer in 879, Boso renounced allegiance to his two heirs and declared the independence of the "Kingdom of Provence" (at the time an area equivalent to Lower or Cisjurane Burgundy, the largest of the 3 parts of the former Kingdom of the Burgundians). Bishops and nobles assembled from around the Rhône and Saône and convened in the Synod of Mantaille to elect Boso as the first non-Carolingian monarch in traditionally Carolingian Europe. His election set the precedent for non-Carolingians to be elected as opposed to other Carolingians being invited in.
At this point Emperor of the Romans remained a(n at first) hereditary Carolingian title that was not bestowed upon a "King of the Romans" who was ex officio the elected "King of Germany", but awarded to the eldest . It passed down from Charlemagne to Louis the Pious, and Louis was bound by partible inheritance laws to divide his possessions among his 3 sons, though the hereditary imperial title was to be handed down to Lothair I. Louis the Pious outlined several plans for the division of his empire, but the final (838) one pronounced at Worms proclaimed Charles the Bald as heir to the west (including Aquitaine), Lothair the heir to the east (including Lombardy/Italy) but excluding Bavaria, left for Louis the German. In reality, after Louis the Pious' death (840), his sons plunged the Carolingian Empire into civil war, trying to take the imperial throne or at least more territory, and the empire was instead divided by the 843 Treaty of Verdun which resulted in Louis the German carving out a kingdom much larger than the Duchy of Bavaria, Lothair keeping the imperial throne, Italy, and carving out Middle Francia, and Charles carving out West Francia.
Like the Komnenian-ruled Empire, the Carolingian Empire's highest administrative divisions (Kingdoms rather than Themata, Ducates, or Katepanates) were governed by dynastic appointments and wherever applicable, Carolingian monarchs would keep as many appointments as possible within the family. Also like the Komnenian-ruled Empire, this system of dynastic administration only runned cohesively when the Imperial family could work with each other, which after Louis the Pious and mostly thanks to partible inheritance, it didn't.
| West Francia (later France) | Middle Francia | East Francia (later Germany) |
|---|---|---|
|
| Louis divided his lands between his three sons, but they all ended up in the hands of the youngest by 882:
|
| After the deposition of Charles the Fat, Odo, Count of Paris, was elected King of West Francia (I assume because the Dukes thought a Count could pose no harm or re-centralize the realm). From this point on, West Francia became a definitively separate kingdom, supplanting/superseding Neustria, Aquitaine, and its share of Burgundy and Austrasia. For this reason I think "King of the West Franks" should be a titular title in 867. | For the continuation, see King of Burgundy. Lothair II subsumed his portion of Burgundy into the Kingdom of Lotharingia and at his brother Charles' death, gained some northern districts from his kingdom. When Lothair II died in 869, his realm was divided between his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German in the Treaty of Meerssen. On the death in 888 of Emperor Charles the Fat, who until 884 had united all Frankish kingdoms except for Kingdom of Provence, the nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy assembled at St Maurice and elected Rudolph, count of Auxerre, from the Elder Welf family, as king. At first, he tried to reunite Lotharingia, but opposition by Arnulf of Carinthia forced him to focus on his Burgundian territory. | On the deposition of Charles the Fat, East Francia went to his nephew: |
| As expected, the man named Boso was an incompetent ruler and Carloman of West Francia had reintegrated Provence into the West Frankish realm by 882. When Carloman died, the nobles of West Francia invited Charles the Fat to assume the kingship. Arnulf of Carinthia would depose Charles in 887 and Boso's son, Louis the Blind was elected. He would be crowned King of Lower Burgundy, blinded after violating an oath to not return to Italy after being forced from it by Berengar (Margrave of Friuli), and appoint Hugh of Arles (Count of Provence, capital from which Arelat is derived) as regent. |
|
| After this, the House of Capet ruled France. For the continuation, see the list of French monarchs. | Hugh would go on to be elected King of Italy in 924 during a civil war and eject Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy, succeed Louis in 928, try to establish ties with the Byzantine Empire, and eventually hand over Lower Burgundy to Rudolph II who united the two Burgundies into Arelat. Arelat would be subsumed into the Kingdom of Germany and thus formed an integral part of the HRE. | Louis the Child was the last East Frankish Carolingian ruler. He was succeeded by the (elected) Conrad of Franconia and then the Saxon Ottonian dynasty. For the continuation, see the list of German monarchs. |
Furthermore, the landed nobility within these realms. East Francia/Germany was subdivided into stem duchies. Each stem duchy was subdivided into gau (counties), an administrative unit going back to earlier Carolingian/even Merovingian days. One of Middle Francia's successor states, Lotharingia, would become a stem duchy after the 870 Treaty of Meerssen partitioned it between Louis the German of East Francia and Charles the Bald of West Francia.
At first, these Dukes (sometimes also Margraves/Marquesses) or Margraves (in Tuscany, Verona, Vasconia, and Iberia) were more like royal governors and representatives of royal authority. The seigneurial rights and legal privileges of the landed nobility weren't nearly as developed as they were in the High Middle Ages (the period most are actually thinking of when they explain the hierarchy of feudal government and society in little detail).
Counts, too, originated as a title for royal governors, and they would govern both in county-tier "sub-realms" and Frisia. The Counts of Frisia (later Holland) had to be based in Holland as "Frisian freedom" reigned supreme in West, Middle, and East Frisia.
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