Lothringen - Administrative History

Administrative History

The borders of the area called Lorraine changed much in its long history. In 843, Charlemagne had died, and the Holy Roman Empire was divided among his three grandsons. One of them was Lothair, and his realm, reaching from Frisia to Rome, was called Lotharingia. In 870, it was decided that the realm should be a duchy within the kingdom of East Francia. In 962, when Otto the Great restored the Empire (restauratio imperii), Lorraine remained a duchy within the Holy Roman Empire until 1766.

Lotharingia experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under the Hohenstaufen emperors, but this prosperity was terminated in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the Black Death. During the Renaissance, prosperity returned to Lothringia under Habsburg administration, until the Thirty Years' War. From 1766 the whole Lorraine was a part of France. The population was mixed, but in the north of Lorraine was largely German-speaking. Nationalism only had begun to replace the feudalist system which had formed the borders. But the insurrection against the French occupation influenced much of the early German identity, which before was divided into regional identities like the Bavarians, Saxons, Frisians and many more. From 1871, the German Empire regained a part of the Lorraine region (corresponding to the current Moselle department). It was called the Imperial Province Elsaß-Lothringen, which created a revanchist movement in France as well. The administration strongly discouraged French language and culture over German, which became the administrative language, and the only language in schools. In the 1918 Versailles treaty, the Empire suffered severe territorial (and other) losses including Alsace and Lorraine. With the exception of the Second World War 1939-1945, the area remained a part of France.