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39-676: Roman artifacts dating to AD 150 on the hill "Am Hüttenberg" attest to the early origins of Waxweiler. In the Middle Ages Waxweiler was part of Austrasia in the Frankish Empire. Around 700, Saint Willibrord (657–739), a Benedictine monk from Northumbria , brought Christianity to Waxweiler (see also Dancing procession of Echternach ) and at that time the Church was founded in the town. The first official documents mention Waxweiler in 943. From 962 Waxweiler belonged to

78-647: A council at Mainz . In attendance were the three archbishops of the East Frankish kingdom— Wilbert of Cologne , Liutbert of Mainz and Ratbod of Trier —and the West Frankish archbishops of Reims ( Fulk ) and Rouen (John I) along with the bishops of Beauvais and Noyon . According to Walter Ullmann , the presence of the West Franks was on account of the "barren ecclesiastical thought" of the East, and

117-545: A massive fire destroyed the bell tower of the church and caused extensive damage. The church and tower were rebuilt within two years. It has been used as a special stage for the Rallye Deutschland . This Bitburg-Prüm location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Austrasia Austrasia was the northeastern kingdom within the core of the Frankish Empire during

156-488: A part of the Frankish Empire founded by Clovis I (481–511). At the same time, the initial powerbase of Clovis himself was the more Romanized part of northern Gaul, lying southwest of Austrasia, which came to be known as Neustria . These two sub-kingdoms, along with several others, were subsequently ruled by the descendants of Clovis, the Merovingian dynasty , followed in the 8th and 9th centuries by their successors

195-682: A separate kingdom within the Frankish realm by the Merovingian king Sigebert I (561–575). The last emperor to hold the entire Frankish empire including Austrasia was Louis the Pious . For several generations his descendants negotiated different ways of dividing the empire. In 880, the Treaty of Ribemont was the last such major agreement, which established formal boundaries eastern, central, and western sub-kingdoms that remained important throughout

234-400: A stage coach operated from Waxweiler to nearby villages. World War II started in 1939 and on January 8, 1945 a massive bomb attack occurred on Waxweiler. In 1945 and 1946, to make emergency repairs for extensive destruction by bombing and artillery, every able-bodied male inhabitant, age 16 to 60, was obligated to perform repairs or equivalent work without pay. Shortly before Christmas in 2004,

273-633: The Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire into three kingdoms. The east–west division with the Treaty of Verdun in 843, enforced by the Germanic - Latin language split, "gradually hardened into the establishment of separate kingdoms", with East Francia becoming (or being) the Kingdom of Germany and West Francia becoming

312-572: The Carolingian dynasty , under Austrasian hegemony. While the Frankish kings continued to divide up the Frankish realm in different ways over subsequent generations, the term Austrasia was only used occasionally after the Carolingian dynasty. East Francia East Francia ( Latin : Francia orientalis ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks ( Regnum Francorum orientalium ) was a successor state of Charlemagne 's empire ruled by

351-458: The Carolingian dynasty , whose own powerbase was in Austrasia itself. The two Frankish dynasties did not always have a single ruler ruling the whole Frankish empire. They also often allowed different family members to rule sub-kingdoms, and these were sometimes even in conflict with each other despite the underlying continuity of the overall Frankish empire. Already by 561, Austrasia was ruled as

390-628: The Early Middle Ages , centring on the Meuse , Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had been the northernmost part of Roman Gaul , and cities such as Cologne , Trier and Metz . It also stretched beyond the old Roman borders on the Rhine into Frankish areas which had never been formally under Roman rule. It came into being as

429-604: The Holy Roman Empire until 1804 and the time of Napoleon . Prior to the opening of the Trier – Gerolstein railroad in 1871, four-span stage coaches traversed the routes Trier– Köln and Trier– Aachen . These passed through Waxweiler daily, one going and once coming. Shortly after the start of World War I , two German soldiers on guard duty were killed by friendly fire in Waxweiler. Until the end of World War I in 1919,

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468-538: The Kingdom of France . The term orientalis Francia originally referred to Franconia and orientales Franci to its inhabitants, the ethnic Franks living east of the Rhine. The use of the term in a broader sense, to refer to the eastern kingdom, was an innovation of Louis the German 's court. Since eastern Francia could be identified with old Austrasia, the Frankish heartland, Louis's choice of terminology hints at his ambitions. Under his grandson, Arnulf of Carinthia,

507-499: The Middle Ages . West Francia , which contained Neustria, was the basis of the later medieval Kingdom of France . Lotharingia , which corresponded to Austrasia, was folded into the larger kingdom of East Francia . These became the core of the Holy Roman Empire , which also had claims over the kingdoms of Burgundy , and Italy . The name Austrasia is not well attested in the Merovingian period . The first surviving record of

546-538: The "(new) western land". Austrasia was centered on the Middle Rhine , including the basins of the Moselle , Main and Meuse rivers. It bordered on Frisia and Saxony to the north, Thuringia to the east, Swabia and Burgundy to the south and to Neustria to the southwest. The exact boundary between Merovingian Neustria and Austrasia is unclear with respect to areas such as the medieval counties of Flanders , Brabant and Hainaut , and areas immediately to

585-411: The "different people" ( diversae nationes populorum ) of East Francia, mostly Germanic- and Slavic-speaking, could be "distinguished from each other by race, customs, language and laws" ( genere moribus lingua legibus ). In 869, Lotharingia was divided between West and East Francia under the Treaty of Meersen . The short lived Middle Francia turned out to be the theatre of Franco-German wars up until

624-521: The "eastern kingdom of the Franks" ( orientale Francorum regnum ) was "now called the kingdom of the Germans" ( regnum Teutonicorum ). In August 843, after three years of civil war following the death of emperor Louis the Pious on 20 June 840, the Treaty of Verdun was signed by his three sons and heirs. The division of lands was largely based on the Meuse , Scheldt , Saone and Rhone rivers. While

663-695: The 20th century. All the Frankish lands were briefly reunited by Charles the Fat , but in 888 he was deposed by nobles and in East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia was elected king. The increasing weakness of royal power in East Francia meant that dukes of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia , Saxony and Lotharingia turned from appointed nobles into hereditary rulers of their territories. Kings increasingly had to deal with regional rebellions. In 911 Saxon, Franconian, Bavarian and Swabian nobles no longer followed

702-445: The council proceeded to adopt West Frankish ideas of royal sacrality and anointing . It was "the first phase in the process of assimilation of the two halves of the Carolingian inheritance". In another church council at Tribur in 895, the prelates declared that Arnulf was chosen by God and not by men and Arnulf in turn swore to defend the church and its privileges from all its enemies. When Arnulf died in 899, his minor son, Louis IV ,

741-424: The death of the Frankish king Clovis I in 511, his four sons partitioned his kingdom amongst themselves, with Theuderic I receiving the lands that were to become Austrasia. Descended from Theuderic, a line of kings ruled Austrasia until 555, when it was united with the other Frankish kingdoms of Chlothar I , who inherited all the Frankish realms by 558. He redivided the Frankish territory amongst his four sons, but

780-488: The eastern part". The West Frankish Annales Bertiniani describe the extent of Louis's lands: "at the assigning of portions, Louis obtained all the land beyond the Rhine river, but on this side of the Rhine also the cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz with their counties". The kingdom of West Francia went to Louis's younger half-brother Charles the Bald, and between their realms a kingdom of Middle Francia, incorporating Italy ,

819-547: The eldest son Lothair I kept the imperial title and the kingdom of Middle Francia , Charles the Bald received West Francia and Louis the German received the eastern portion of mostly Germanic-speaking lands: the Duchy of Saxony , Austrasia , Alamannia , the Duchy of Bavaria , and the March of Carinthia . The contemporary East Frankish Annales Fuldenses describes the kingdom being "divided in three" and Louis "acceding to

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858-678: The first majores domus or mayors of the palace appeared. These officials acted as mediators between the king and the people in each realm. The first Austrasian mayors came from the Pippinid family, which experienced a slow but steady ascent until it eventually displaced the Merovingians on the throne. In 623, the Austrasians asked Chlothar II for a king of their own and he appointed his son Dagobert I to rule over them with Pepin of Landen as regent. Dagobert's government in Austrasia

897-482: The four kingdoms coalesced into three on the death of Charibert I in 567: Austrasia under Sigebert I , Neustria under Chilperic I , and Burgundy under Guntram . These three kingdoms defined the political division of Francia until the rise of the Carolingians and even thereafter. From 567 to the death of Sigebert II in 613, Neustria and Austrasia fought each other almost constantly, with Burgundy playing

936-497: The history of the Frankish sub-kingdoms, but Austrasia can be taken to correspond roughly to the territory of present-day Luxembourg , parts of eastern Belgium , north-eastern France ( Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne ), west-central Germany (the Rhineland , Hesse and Franconia ) and the southern Netherlands ( Limburg , North Brabant , with a salient north of the Rhine including Utrecht and parts of Gelderland ). After

975-684: The mayor Grimoald the Elder succeeded in putting his son Childebert the Adopted on the throne, where he remained until 662. Thereafter, Austrasia was predominantly the kingdom of the Arnulfing mayors of the palace and their base of power. With the Battle of Tertry in 687, Pepin of Heristal defeated the Neustrian king Theuderic III and established his mayoralty over all the Frankish kingdoms. This

1014-473: The most capable successor. This kingship changed from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne. Henry, who was elected to kingship by only Saxons and Franconians at Fritzlar , had to subdue other dukes and concentrated on creating a state apparatus which was fully utilized by his son and successor Otto I . By his death in July 936, Henry had prevented collapse of royal power, as

1053-554: The peacemaker between them. These struggles reached their climax in the wars between Brunhilda and Fredegund , queens, respectively, of Austrasia and Neustria. Finally, in 613, a rebellion by the nobility against Brunhilda saw her betrayed and handed over to her nephew and foe in Neustria, Chlothar II . Chlothar then took control of the other two kingdoms and set up a united Frankish kingdom with its capital in Paris . During this period

1092-458: The royal family and the kingdom. Collectively, these were known by the technical term servitium regis ("king's service"). According to the evidence of the Notitia de servitio monasteriorum , a list of monasteries and the services they owed drawn up around 817, the burden of military and monetary service was more severe in west Francia than in east Francia. Only four monasteries listed as "beyond

1131-758: The south of these. Metz served as the Austrasian capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Reims , Trier and Cologne . Other important cities included Verdun , Worms and Speyer . Fulda monastery , an important royal monastery, was founded in eastern Austrasia in the final decade of the Merovingian period. In the High Middle Ages , its territory became divided among the duchies of Lotharingia and Franconia in Germany , with some western portions including Reims and Rethel passing to France . Its exact boundaries were somewhat fluid over

1170-403: The symbols and rituals of East Frankish kingship were created from scratch. From an early date, the East Frankish kingdom had a more formalised notion of royal election than West Francia. Around 900, a liturgy for the coronation of a king, called the early German ordo , was written for a private audience. It required the coronator to ask the "designated prince" ( princeps designatus ) whether he

1209-477: The term is by Gregory of Tours , writing in about 580. It was later used by Aimoin of Fleury around 1000. It is presumably the latinization of an Old Frankish name, reconstructed as *Oster-rike ("Eastern Kingdom"). As with the name Austria , it contains the word for " east ", and means "eastern land". The term designated the original territory of the Franks in contrast to Neustria , which apparently meant

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1248-438: The terminology was largely dropped and the kingdom, when it was referred to by name, was simply Francia . When it was necessary, as in the Treaty of Bonn (921) with the West Franks, the "eastern" qualifier appeared. Henry I refers to himself as rex Francorum orientalium , "king of the East Franks", in the treaty. By the 12th century, the historian Otto of Freising , in using the Carolingian terminology, had to explain that

1287-459: The tradition of electing someone from the Carolingian dynasty as a king to rule over them and on 10 November, 911 elected one of their own ( Conrad I ) as the new king. Because Conrad I was one of the dukes, he found it very hard to establish his authority over them. Duke Henry of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and struggle against Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria cost Conrad I his life. On his deathbed, Conrad I chose Henry of Saxony as

1326-544: Was crowned, but not anointed, and placed under the tutelage of Archbishop Hatto I of Mainz . Louis's coronation was the first in German history. When Louis died in late September 911, Duke Conrad I, then the Duke of Franconia , was elected to replace him on 10 November and he became the first German king to receive unction. The three basic services monasteries could owe to the sovereign in the Frankish realms were military service, an annual donation of money or work, and prayers for

1365-481: Was even regarded by contemporaries as the beginning of his "reign". It also signalled the dominance of Austrasia over Neustria, which would last until the end of the Merovingian era. In 718, Charles Martel had Austrasian support in his war against Neustria for control of all the Francian realms. He was not king himself, but appointed Chlothar IV to rule in Austrasia. In 719, Francia was united by Martel's family,

1404-582: Was given to their elder brother, the Emperor Lothair I. While Eastern Francia contained about a third of the traditional Frankish heartland of Austrasia, the rest consisted mostly of lands annexed to the Frankish empire between the fifth and the eighth century. These included the duchies of Alamannia, Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia , as well as the northern and eastern marches with the Danes and Slavs. The contemporary chronicler Regino of Prüm wrote that

1443-644: Was happening in West Francia , and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. After Otto I was crowned as the Emperor in Rome in 962, the era of the Holy Roman Empire began. The regalia of the Carolingian empire had been divided by Louis the Pious on his deathbed between his two faithful sons, Charles the Bald and Lothair. Louis the German, then in rebellion, received nothing of the crown jewels or liturgical books associated with Carolingian kingship. Thus

1482-401: Was widely admired. In 629, he inherited Neustria and Burgundy. Austrasia was again neglected until, in 633, the people demanded the king's son as their own king again. Dagobert complied and sent his elder son Sigebert III to Austrasia. Historians often categorise Sigebert as the first roi fainéant , or do-nothing king, of the Merovingian dynasty. His court was dominated by the mayors. In 657,

1521-477: Was willing to defend the church and the people and then to turn and ask the people whether they were willing to be subject to the prince and obey his laws. The latter then shouted, " Fiat , fiat !" (Let it be done!), an act that later became known as "Recognition". This is the earliest known coronation ordo with a Recognition in it, and it was subsequently incorporated in the influential Pontificale Romano-Germanicum . In June 888, King Arnulf of Carinthia convened

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