Lorraine

Lorraine is a historic territory in eastern France, now located within the modern administrative region of Grand Est. It traces back to the medieval kingdom of Lotharingia, which existed from 855 to 959 AD and was named for either Emperor Lothair I or King Lothair II. That kingdom, once part of the Holy Roman Empire, originally stretched farther north than today’s Lorraine. It later split into an upper and a lower duchy; the lower duchy faded by the 12th century, while the upper one continued and evolved into the Duchy of Lorraine. In 1766, the Kingdom of France took over the Duchy of Lorraine along with the Duchy of Bar—the two had been united since the 15th century—forming the province of Lorraine and Barrois.

From 1982 until January 2016, Lorraine was an administrative region of France. That year, a reorganization merged it into the new region called Grand Est. As a region, Lorraine comprised four departments: Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle, and Vosges (historically, Haute-Marne also belongs here), with 2,337 communes. Its regional prefecture is Metz, though the largest urban area is Nancy, which served as the duchy’s seat for centuries. To the north, Lorraine borders Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In French, men from the area are called Lorrains, women Lorraines. The population is roughly 2,356,000.

Lorraine’s borders have shifted many times over its long history. Its position at the meeting point of four nations made it a crucial strategic prize. Political alliances, marriage ties, and the ability of its rulers to lean east or west gave it an outsized role in European affairs. Its leaders married into royal families across the continent, acted as kingmakers, and placed rulers on the thrones of the Holy Roman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, among others.

In 840, Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious died. The Carolingian Empire was split among his three sons by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The middle portion, Middle Francia, went to Lothair I, stretching from Frisia in northern Germany through the Low Countries, eastern France, Burgundy, Provence, northern Italy, and down to Rome. When Lothair I died, Middle Francia was divided into three parts by the Treaty of Prüm in 855; the northern third, called Lotharingia, went to Lothair II. Because Lotharingia lay between East and West Francia, its rulers began calling it a duchy from 903 onward, a