Middle Francia
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Middle Francia describes the realm created for the Emperor Lothair I (843-855), wedged between East Francia and West Francia. The kingdom, which included the kingdom of Italy, 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. The kingdom was split on Lothair's death into those of Lotharingia, Provence (with Burgundy divided between it and Lotharingia, as Lower Burgundy and Upper Burgundy), and Italy.
The Emperor Charles the Fat had, by 884, reunited all the Frankish kingdoms under his rule. At his death in 888, 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 the realm of Lothair II, but opposition by Arnulf of Carinthia forced him to focus on his Burgundian territory.
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