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AUSTRASIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 970 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AUSTRASIA . The word See also:

Austria signifies the See also:realm of the See also:east (Ger. Ost Reich). In See also:Gregory of See also:Tours this word is still used vaguely, but the sense of it is gradually defined, and finally the name of Austria or Austrasia was given to the eastern-most See also:part of the Frankish See also:kingdom. It usually had See also:Metz for its See also:capital, and the inhabitants of the kingdom were known as the Austrasii. Retrospectively, later historians have given this name to the kingdom of Theuderich I. (511–534), of his son Theudebert (534–548), and of his See also:grandson Theudebald (548–555); then, after the See also:death of See also:Clotaire I., to the kingdom of See also:Sigebert (561-J75), and of his son See also:Childebert (575–597). They have even tried to interpret the See also:long struggle between See also:Fredegond and See also:Brunhilda as a rivalry between the two See also:kings of See also:Neustria and Austrasia. When these two words are at last found in the texts in their precise signification, Austrasia is applied to that part of the Frankish kingdom which Clotaire II. entrusted to his son Dagobert, subject to the guardianship of See also:Pippin and See also:Arnulf (623-629), and which Dagobert in his turn handed on to his son Sigebert (6.34–639), under the guardianship of Cunibert, See also:bishop of See also:Cologne, and Ansegisel, See also:mayor of the See also:palace. After the death of Dagobert, Austrasia and Neustria almost always had See also:separate kings, with their own mayors of the palace, and then there arose a real rivalry between these two provinces, which ended in the See also:triumph of Austrasia. The Austrasian mayors of the palace succeeded in enforcing their authority in the western as well as in the eastern part, and in re-establishing to their own ad-vantage the unity of the Frankish kingdom. The mayor Pippin the See also:Short was even powerful enough to take the See also:title of See also:king over the whole.

At the See also:

time of See also:Charlemagne, the word Austrasia underwent a See also:change of meaning and became synonymous with See also:Francia orientalis, and was applied to the Frankish dominions beyond the See also:Rhine (See also:Franconia). This Franconia was in 843 included in the kingdom of See also:Louis the See also:German, and was then increased by the addition of the territories of See also:Mainz, See also:Spires and See also:Worms, on the right See also:bank of the See also:river. See A. Huguenin, Histoire du royaume merovingien d'Austrasie (See also:Paris, 1857) ; Aug. Digot, Histoire du royaume d'Austrasie, 4 vols. (See also:Nancy, 1863) ; L. Drapeyron, Essai sur l'origine, le developpement et See also:les risultats de la lutte entre la Neustrie et l'Austrasie (Paris, 1867) ; Auguste Longnon, See also:Atlas historique, 1st and 2nd parts. (C.

End of Article: AUSTRASIA

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