Neustria

Not even their conversion from Arianism under Agilulf from 590 to 615 began under the influence of a religious queen like Clotildis and Berta, the Bavarian Theoida Linda, and seconded by Pope Gregory the Great could reconcile the two races.

There was a resemblance of organization, a division into provinces, an Austria and a Neustria as among the Franks, a Tuscia as in Roman times.

The Lombard kings collected the laws of the Lombards and promulgated regulations on the relations between Italians and Lombards, but the real masters were the great Lombard dukes, dukes of Spoleto, Benevento, Friuli, who made war among themselves and on the king, and who with the king harried and tormented whatever was not in their domain.

The Lombard history had its romantic adventures, but was void of political interest or success.

It became known as Auster, Austrasia, with Reims and then with Metz for its capitals.

In speech and feeling, it was thoroughly German, and there was the focus of German influence.

The land of the Western Franks acquired an opposition to Austrasia, the name of Neusted, Neustria, a name the origin of which is not clear, the new or younger or western kingdom, and which is also found with a corresponding Austria, a western and eastern division among the Lombards of the north of Italy.

Clovis' old capital, Paris, was its natural center, but Paris was sometimes claimed as a joint possession by his descendants, and then Soissons or Tournai were the residences of its kings.

You know, it's like, uh, and there, and there are other places that have completely dropped off the map.

Like, there's a very important region of the, um, the sort of Frankish kingdoms that, that, uh, uh, predate France called Neustria, which I think gets replaced by sort of Brittany and Normandy.

But, like, no, you never hear about Neustria now.

It's just completely gone from memory.

It's a purely historic term.

Burgundy and Aquitaine, though they do not formally resume their independence, are often seen as separate kingdoms under a Frankish king.

But the more important division, the more fateful rivalry, separates the two northern kingdoms which eventually receive the names of Neustria and Austrasia.

In Neustria, which contained the regions of Flanders, Normandy, Champagne, and central France as far as the Loire, there was doubtless a very large Gallo-Roman population, though its numbers may not have so enormously preponderated over those of the Teutonic immigrants as in Aquitaine and Burgundy.

The Roman language and some remains of Roman culture survived here in Neustria and were preparing the ground for the formation of the medieval kingdom of France.

Austrasia, on the other hand, the territory of the Rhine and the Moselle, seems to have remained essentially German.

The Latin speech in this country must have been confined to ecclesiastics and a few of the more cultivated courtiers.

Sometimes, especially in the earlier years of this period, they are the vigorous upholders of the rights of the crown against a turbulent aristocracy, and then the mayor of the palace seems to anticipate Richelieu.

Sometimes they appear at the head of the aristocracy and force their way, almost in spite of the king, into the palace from which they take their title, and then they remind us of the Guises and the Condé of a later day.

Not even their conversion from Arianism under Agilulf, from 590 to 615, began under the influence of a religious queen like Clotildis and Berta, the Bavarian Theoida Linda, and seconded by Pope Gregory the Great could reconcile the two races.

There was a resemblance of organization, a division into provinces, an Austria and a Neustria as among the Franks, a Tuscia as in Roman times.

The Lombard kings collected the laws of the Lombards and promulgated regulations on the relations between Italians and Lombards, but the real masters were the great Lombard dukes, dukes of Spoleto, Benevento, Friuli, who made war among themselves and on the king, and who with the king harried and tormented whatever was not in their domain.

The Lombard history had its romantic adventures, but was void of political interest or success.

It became known as Auster, Austrasia, with Reims and then with Metz for its capitals.

In speech and feeling it was thoroughly German, and there was the focus of German influence.

The land of the Western Franks acquired an opposition to Austrasia the name of Neusted, Neustria, a name the origin of which is not clear, the new or younger or western kingdom, and which is also found with a corresponding Austria, a western and eastern division among the Lombards of the north of Italy.

Clovis' old capital Paris was its natural center, but Paris was sometimes claimed as a joint possession by his descendants, and then Soissons or Tournai were the residences of its kings.

Still the contest went on till the death of Brunhilda, who was brutally done to death by Clotar in 614, left the son of Fredegonda as sole ruler of the Frankish realm.

In these long years of contest the Merovingian kingdom gradually fell into three divisions, Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, the first comprising the Teutonic lands of the east, the second the Latinized lands west of the Scheldt and Meuse, the last the lands farther south watered by the Rhone.

The condition of Western Europe at this period is well summarized in Milman's History of Latin Christianity.

It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious state of society than that of France under the Merovingian kings, the descendants of Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours.

Columban's Irish customs soon brought him into contest with the bishops of Gaul, and to this was added a contest with Brunhilda and her grandson, who had succeeded Gontram in 593 as king in Burgundy.

As a result, he was expelled from Luxeuil.

After visiting the kings of Neustria and Austrasia, he determined to undertake the directly missionary work to which he had long been drawn, and settled at Bregenz among the still heathen Alamanni.

His chief helper was Gaul, the apostle of Swiss Christianity and founder of the far-famed monastery of St. Gaul.

Burgundy and Aquitaine, though they do not formally resume their independence, are often seen as separate kingdoms under a Frankish king.

But the more important division, the more fateful rivalry, separates the two northern kingdoms, which eventually receive the names of Neustria and Austrasia.

In Neustria, which contained the regions of Flanders, Normandy, Champagne, and central France as far as the Loire, there was doubtless a very large Gallo-Roman population, though its numbers may not have so enormously preponderated over those of the Teutonic immigrants as in Aquitaine and Burgundy.

The Roman language and some remains of Roman culture survived here in Neustria and were preparing the ground for the formation of the medieval kingdom of France.

Austrasia, on the other hand, the territory of the Rhine and the Moselle, seems to have remained essentially German.

The Latin speech in this country must have been confined to ecclesiastics and a few of the more cultivated courtiers.

Sometimes, especially in the earlier years of this period, they are the vigorous upholders of the rights of the crown against a turbulent aristocracy, and then the mayor of the palace seems to anticipate Richelieu.

Sometimes they appear at the head of the aristocracy and force their way, almost in spite of the king, into the palace from which they take their title, and then they remind us of the Guises and the Condé of a later day.

Burgundy and Aquitaine, though they do not formally resume their independence, are often seen as separate kingdoms under a Frankish king.

But the more important division, the more fateful rivalry, separates the two northern kingdoms, which eventually receive the names of Neustria and Austrasia.

In Neustria, which contained the regions of Flanders, Normandy, Champagne, and central France as far as the Loire, there was doubtless a very large Gallo-Roman population, though its numbers may not have so enormously preponderated over those of the Teutonic immigrants as in Aquitaine and Burgundy.

The Roman language and some remains of Roman culture survived here in Neustria and were preparing the ground for the formation of the medieval kingdom of France.

Austrasia, on the other hand, the territory of the Rhine and the Moselle, seems to have remained essentially German.

The Latin speech in this country must have been confined to ecclesiastics and a few of the more cultivated courtiers.

Sometimes, especially in the earlier years of this period, they are the vigorous upholders of the rights of the crown against a turbulent aristocracy, and then the mayor of the palace seems to anticipate Richelieu.

Sometimes they appear at the head of the aristocracy and force their way, almost in spite of the king, into the palace from which they take their title, and then they remind us of the Guises and the Condé of a later day.

Weland and his warriors then moved even further inland before being defeated by West Saxon forces.

Back in West Francia, King Charles the Bald ordered local ruler Robert the Strong of Neustria to attack Weland and his Vikings, who then submitted to Charles and were forced to accept Christianity and be baptized.

A tribute called Danegeld was raised as a tax and paid to stop Viking raiding in Neustria.

This pattern of military submission, payment, and baptism was used throughout Rollo's lifetime in an attempt to control the Vikings in West Francia.

But Viking raids in West Francia continued, with some Viking leaders establishing short-lived settlements, though it was not until Rollo and the establishment of Normandy that a permanent Viking settlement was created in France.

In the end, several coastal provinces in the region were ceded to Rollo and the Vikings, including Bayeux.

Chronicler Dudo recorded that while ruling Bayeux, Rollo carried off the daughter of the Count of Rennes, a beautiful woman named Poppa.

Although her parentage is debated, it is possible that she was the daughter of Count Berengar II of Neustria, who was captured by Rollo.