Middle Francia
Middle Francia or the first state of Lotharingia () was a short-lived Frankish kingdom which was created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun after an intermittent civil war between the grandsons of Charlemagne resulted in division of the united empire. Middle Francia was allocated to emperor Lothair I, the eldest son and successor of emperor Louis the Pious. His realm contained the imperial cities of Aachen (the residence of Charlemagne) and Pavia, but lacked any geographic or ethnic cohesion, which prevented it from surviving and forming a nucleus of a larger state, as was the case with West Francia and East Francia.