The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-10-14
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

II is certainly one of the greatest Gu
rlosities in history that exactly one thou
sand years ago, in the year of our Lord
$40, the people of France and Germany
fought under their kings upon the same
soil, that of Lorraine, for very nearly
the same reasons, and with the same re-
suit. This happened as follows: The
empire of Charlemagne, and that of his
son who succeeded him, Ludwig l., call
ed the Pious, was divided by his three
sons, the grandsons of Charlemagne, in
S4S, at the congress of Verdun, between
themselves in such a manner that Lo-
thaire received, besides the title of EN-
peror, Italy and what was then called
Middle Franconia, a strip of land run.
ming from the North Sea to the Medi.
terranean, and there joining Upper Ita-
ly, broad strip of land containing
modern Holland, Belgium and Lorraine
the Alsace, and all that part of Southern
France lying between the Rhone and
Saone and the Alps on the east. Lud-
wig received Eastern Franconia, which
was from that time called Germania, OF
Germany, and from which he, as Ger
many's first king, was called Ludwig
the German.
Carl, who was called the Bald, from
his bald head, received Western Fran
coma, from that time called Franco
mia, or France. Lothaire died in S55
and again subdivided his empire be-
tween his three sons. To Ne oldest
Ludwig, he gave Italy, and the crown
and title of Emperor; to the second
Lothaire, the northern part of his do
minion, comprising part of modern
Holland, Belgium, and the province call
ed up to this day Lorraine or Lotharin-
gen, the Alsace, and all the land extend
ing down to the Saone. To the young
est, Carl. he gave all the land south OF
The Saone to the Mediterranean, under
the title of Kingdom of Provence.
In 869 Lothaire died without heirs
after he had previously become possess.
ed also of his brother Carts kingdom oil
Provence. and it was then that Carl the
Bald, King of France, stepped forward
to take sole possession of his nephew's
kingdom, comprising all the eastern
part of modern France, and extending
from the Meuse to the Rhine, and from
the Rhone to the Alps, and from the
North Sea way down to the MeditePra-
mean. He was completely successful,
for his nephew Ludwig, the Emperor
in Italy, and his brother Ludwig, the
King of Germany, had both their hands
too full to claim their share of the rich
inheritance.
But a year later. in $40, just one thou
sand years ago, suddenly a large and
well-appointed German army crossed
the Rhine, broke into France, and de-
feated Carl the Bald and his armies al
once, and so completely that he was
compelled to sign a treaty of peace in
the same year (870) by which he coded
to his brother Ludwig, the German, all
the eastern part of those lands which he
had appropriated from his nephew, and
comprising the modern provinces OF
Alsace, Eastern Lorraine, and the terri
tories around the cities of Trier, OF
Treves, Cologne, Mastricht and Utrecht,
down to the mouth of the river Rhine.
The first grand fight for the Rhine
provinces on the part of France, and the
Alsace and Lorraine on the part of Ger.
many, which is, after all, if not the sole
cause, certainly one of the principal
causes of the present war of 1870, took
place consequently just one thousand
years ago, in $40, and with the same re.
sult.-Ne.O York World.