, with
Lower Burgundy encompassing Cisjuran (light orange) and southern (orange) regions By the
Treaty of Prüm (19 September 855), the realm of
Middle Francia was divided by three sons of Emperor
Lothair I: the eldest, emperor
Louis II, received
Italy; the middle son, king
Lothair II received
Lotharingia (including
Upper Burgundy); and the youngest, king
Charles, received Lower Burgundy (including
Provence). Thus, a distinctive
Carolingian kingdom, centered on Lower Burgundy, was created. King Charles of Lower Burgundy died already in 863, and his realm was divided between his brothers. In 869, king Lothair II died and almost all of his domains in Burgundy (both Upper and Lower) went to his brother Louis II, while the rest of Lothair′s realm was divided between
Louis the German and
Charles the Bald by the
Treaty of Meerssen in 870. In 875, emperor Louis II died, and his domains in Burgundy (both Upper and Lower) went to Charles the Bald, thus being integrated into
West Francia. In 877, king Charles was succeeded by his son
Louis the Stammerer, who ruled over West Francia, including Burgundy. King Louis of West Francia died in 879, and was succeeded by two minor sons, kings
Louis III and
Carloman II. Renounced allegiance to young kings, count
Boso f Vienne claimed independence in order to carve up a realm of his own in Lower Burgundy, including Provence. On 15 October 879, several bishops and influential nobles of the region around the rivers
Rhône and
Saône assembled in the
Synod of Mantaille and elected Boso as king, thus making him the first non-Carolingian king in Western Europe in more than a century. The Kingdom of Lower Burgundy, known also as the Kingdom of Provence, comprised the
ecclesiastical provinces of the archbishops of
Arles,
Aix,
Vienne,
Lyon (without Langres), and probably
Besançon, as well as the dioceses of
Tarentaise,
Uzès, and
Viviers. Boso was an unsuccessful ruler and by 882 king Carloman of West Francia reintegrated much of the Lower Burgundy into the West Frankish realm, forcing Boso to retreat into his remaining Provencal domains. When king Carloman died in 884, emperor
Charles the Fat expanded his rule over the in the entire West Frankish realm, which included much of the Lower Burgundy. In january 887, Boso died in Provence, and his claims were inherited by his son
Louis, who was still a boy, and thus under guardianship of his mother, queen
Ermengard, who appealed to emperor Charles and secured family possessions for her young son. Already in November 887,
Arnulf of Carinthia deposed his uncle, emperor Charles, but queen Ermengard managed to preserve her sons possessions by appealing to the new king Arnulf. In 890, young
Louis was old enough to be proclaimed as king. In the August of that year, at the
Diet of
Valence, a council of local and regional
bishops and
nobles proclaimed and crowned Louis as king in Lower Burgundy and
Provence. In 900, king Louis (later called the Blind) was invited into Italy by
Adalbert II of Tuscany who wished to keep
Berengar of Friuli from gaining control of the Italian peninsula. Louis defeated Berengar and was crowned
Holy Roman Emperor by
Pope Benedict IV in 901. Berengar defeated Louis the next year, forced him to flee Italy and promise to never return. In 905, Louis again invaded Italy but was defeated and blinded for breaking his oath. Louis lost his titles of King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor to Berengar. Blinded, Louis made
Hugh of Arles, the
Count of Provence, his regent. Hugh was elected King of Italy in 924, and then spent the next two years ejecting his opponent, king
Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy, from Italy. Louis died in 928 and was succeeded by Hugh. After failing to expand his power by a marriage to
Marozia (the effective ruler of
Rome), Hugh spent the next five years of his reign fighting
Magyar raids and
Andalusian pirates. In 932-933, Hugh made peace with Rudolph of Upper Burgundy by giving him the Lower Burgundy, and thus the two Burgundies were combined into the reunited
Kingdom of Burgundy, also known from the 12th century as the
Kingdom of Arles. Within the
Kingdom of Arles, the region of Lower Burgundy became fragmented into several feudal domains, both ecclesiastical and secular, one of them being known since the end of the 13th as the
Dauphiné of Viennois. ==See also==