Neustria - Carolingian March

Carolingian March

The march of Neustria was a creation of the Carolingian king Charles the Bald in 861. Originally, there were two marches, one against the Bretons and one against the Norsemen. These two marches are often called the Breton March and Norman March respectively. They were ruled by officials appointed by the crown, known as wardens, prefects, or margraves.

In 911, Robert I of France became margrave of both marches and took the title demarchus. His family, the later Capetians, ruled the whole of Neustria until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected to the kingship. The subsidiary counts of Neustria had exceeded the margrave in power by that point and the peak of Viking and Breton raiding had passed. After the Capetian Miracle, no further margraves were appointed and "Neustria" disappeared as a European political term.