Signed at Verdun in present-day northeastern France in August 843, this treaty ended a civil war among the three surviving sons of Emperor Louis the Pious, who were grandsons of Charlemagne. Charles the Bald received the western part of the Frankish realm, Louis the German the eastern part, and Lothair I kept the imperial title together with a long central strip running from the Low Countries through Burgundy to Italy. The settlement followed years of fighting after Louis the Pious died in 840, and the Oaths of Strasbourg in 842 had already sealed the alliance of Charles and Louis against their brother. The division is often seen as the starting point of France and Germany as separate realms, while the unstable middle kingdom was later split again and left a legacy of border disputes over regions such as Lotharingia.
Before and after
- c. 841 CEOrigins of Dublin
- from 843 CE to 962 CEEast Francia
- from 843 CE to 1707Kingdom of Scotland
- from 843 CE to 987 CEWest Francia
- August 843 CETreaty of Verdun
- from 25 September 844 CE to 11 November 844 CEViking raid on Seville
- c. 847 CEEruption of Churchill
- 848 CEConstruction of Great Mosque of Samarra
- 849 CEBirth of Alfred the Great
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 15 June 1215Magna Carta
- from 18 July 1270 to 30 October 1270Eighth Crusade
- from 24 May 1337 to 9 October 1453Hundred Years' War
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 9th century.