Editing Lotharingia (section)

==Partition of 959 and later history==

[[File:Lotharingia-959 with current borders.svg|thumb|Lotharingia's division in 959<br/>Blue: [[Alsace]], ceded to [[Duchy of Swabia]] in 925<br/>Orange: [[Duchy of Lorraine|Upper Lorraine]] after 928<br/>Green: [[Lower (Northern) Lotharingia|Lower Lotharingia]] after 977<br/>Purple: Current state borders]]

In 953, Duke Conrad rebelled against Otto I, and was removed from power and replaced by Otto's brother [[Bruno the Great]], who finally pacified Lotharingia in 959 by dividing it into [[Duchy of Lorraine|''Lotharingia superior'']] (Upper Lorraine or Southern Lorraine) under [[Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine|Frederick I]], and [[Lower Lorraine|''Lotharingia inferior'']] (Lower Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lotharingia) under [[Godfrey I, Duke of Lower Lorraine|Godfrey I]].

In 978, king [[Lothair of France|Lothair]] of West Francia [[Franco-German war of 978–980|invaded the region and captured Aachen]], but [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor]], counterattacked and reached the walls of Paris. In 980, Lothair renounced his rights to Lotharingia.

Except for one brief period (1033–44, under [[Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine|Gothelo I]]), the division was never reversed and the margraves soon raised their separate fiefs into duchies. In the twelfth century the ducal authority in Lower Lotharingia (or Lower Lorraine) fragmented, causing the formation of the [[Duchy of Limburg]] and the [[Duchy of Brabant]], whose rulers retained the title [[Duke of Lothier]] (derived from "Lotharingia"). With the disappearance of a "lower" Lorraine, the duchy of Upper Lorraine became the primary referent for "Lorraine" within the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

After centuries of French invasions and occupations, Lorraine was finally ceded to France at the close of the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1737). In 1766, the duchy was inherited by the French crown and became [[Lorraine]]. In 1871, after the [[Franco-Prussian War]], the northern portions of Lorraine were merged with [[Alsace]] to become the province of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] in the [[German Empire]], which became French territory again after [[World War I]]. Today the greater part of the French side of the Franco-German border belongs to the [[Grand Est]] [[regions of France|region of France]].