In 869, Lothair II died without legitimate children, so his heir was his brother, Emperor Louis II of Italy. As Louis was at that time campaigning against the
Emirate of Bari, his uncles,
Louis the German and
Charles the Bald, took his inheritance. Charles had himself crowned in
Metz the same year, but was forced by his brother to partition the short-lived Lotharingia, together with the lands Lothair II acquired after the death of Charles of Provence, as they had agreed at Metz in 868. Their contract of 870 at Meerssen replaced the 843 Treaty of Verdun, after which the Carolingian Empire was also split into three parts, by dividing the northern half of Middle Francia stretching from the
Rhone valley to the North Sea, in effect recombining sundered territories of
Francia into two larger east and west divisions. However, at this time large parts of the Frisian coast were under
Viking control and therefore only divided on paper. The borderline ran roughly along the rivers
Meuse,
Ourthe,
Moselle,
Saone and
Rhone. In the north, Louis received most of Lothair's Austrasia, with his eastern part including both
Aachen and
Metz, and most of Frisia. In the south, however, while Louis received most of Upper Burgundy that was left to Lothair (after ceding the southern half to Italy), Charles received Lothair's inheritance in Lower Burgundy (including
Lyon and
Vienne) and a small western part of Upper Burgundy (parts of
Portois and Varais (including
Besançon)) – this opened him the way to Italy. Louis joined the newly acquired parts of central Austrasia to the subkingdom of his son
Louis the Younger in eastern Austrasia, while the illegitimate son of Lothair II,
Hugh, was granted the
Duchy of Alsace. ==Previous treaties==