Middle Francia describes the realm created for Emperor Lothair I, wedged between East Francia and West Francia. The kingdom, which included the kingdom of Italy (the Lombards), Burgundy, Provence, and the west of Austrasia, was an unnatural creation of the Treaty of Verdun of 843, with no historical or ethnic identity to bind its varied peoples: Lombards, Gallo-Romans, Italians, Franks. The kingdom was split on Lothair's death into those of Lotharingia, Provence (with Burgundy divided between it and Lotharingia), and Italy. The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... Lothair I Lothair I (German: Lothar, French: Lothaire) (795 – 2 March 855), king of Italy (818 – 855) and Holy Roman Emperor (840 – 855), was the eldest son of the emperor Louis the Pious and his wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye, daughter of Ingerman, duke of Hesbaye. ... Eastern Francia were the lands of Louis the German after the Treaty of Verdun of 843. ... Western Francia was the land under the control of Charles the Bald after the Treaty of Verdun of 843, which divided the Carolingian Empire of the Franks into an East, West, and Middle. ... King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers after the fall of the Roman Empire. ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from northern Europe that entered the late Roman Empire. ... Flag of Burgundy Burgundy (French: Bourgogne) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Pre-Indo-European people, Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples, most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks. ... Provence is a former Roman province and is now a region of southeastern France, located on the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to Frances border with Italy. ... Austrasia & Neustria Austrasia formed the north-eastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. ... In the Treaty of Verdun of 843 the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious divided his territories, the Carolingian Empire, into three kingdoms. ... Events Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian empire between the 3 sons of Louis the Pious. ... For other uses, see Franks (disambiguation). ... Lotharingia was a kingdom in western Europe, named after Lothair, King of Lotharingia (reigned 855-869), who received it in 855 from his father, Lothair I (795-855), Holy Roman Emperor. ...