In ancient Chinese society, from the Western Zhou Dynasty onwards, the imperial succession system has always been the inheritance system of the eldest son. With the exception of the Qing Dynasty, the rulers of successive Chinese dynasties strictly enforced this system. When the eldest son came to power, his brothers could only be assigned to various places to be kings of the domain, or were confined to the capital as idle princes. In Western history, because there has been no real unification for thousands of years, when a king or emperor dies, his country will be divided up by his sons immediately. Today, Xiaobian will introduce you to a matter of three brothers dividing up family property.
Charlemagne, also known as Charlemagne or Charles the Great, was born in 741 AD in Herstal, Belgium. His father, Pi Ping, the dwarf, was a courtier of the Merovingian dynasty, usurped the throne in 751 and established the Carolingian dynasty, declaring himself King of the Franks. After Pepin's death, Charles and his brother Carloman divided the Frankish kingdom. In 771, Carloman died suddenly, making Charles the only legitimate heir to the Frankish kingdom.
Charles became the only monarch of the Franks and immediately began the road of conquest. During his 44-year reign, he provoked 55 wars against lombards, Saracens, Saxons, and others. He then established the vast Charlemagne Empire, which encompassed much of Western Europe, and even the Pope of Rome crowned him "Emperor of the Romans" in 800 AD. Charlemagne laid a huge foundation for future generations, but he made old mistakes when it came to succession.
Charlemagne had five sons, and they fought for territory. Since Charles lived too long, all four sons died before him, so louis the pious eventually inherited the throne of the Frankish kingdom. Louis the Pious originally had three sons, the eldest son Lothair, the second son Pepin, and the third son Louis the German, and intended for the three brothers to inherit their country in the future. Later, Louis's little wife gave birth to a little son, Charles the Bald, and Louis the Pious planned to give him a little more territory from the other sons. His three sons disagreed, imprisoning him and bald Charlie.
After the death of Louis the Pious, the eldest son Lothair succeeded to the throne. Louis the Germanic and Charles the Bald formed an alliance against Lothair and engaged in a civil war with him. After several years of conquest, the three brothers reached an agreement to divide the Charlemagne Empire into three: the Kingdom of West Francia, the Kingdom of Middle Francia, and the Kingdom of East Francia. The king of the West Frankish kingdom was Charles the Bald, the king of the Middle Frankish kingdom was Lothair, and the king of the East Frankish kingdom was Louis the German. These three kingdoms were also the prototypes of France, Italy and Germany.