Research Catalog

Title

Lotharingia : a personal history of Europe's lost country / Simon Winder.

Author

Winder, Simon

Publication

• New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 504 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

• "From the bestselling author of Germania, Lotharingia is the third installment in Simon Winder's personal history of Europe"--
• At the heart of Western Europe lies a huge swath of land that stretches from the mud and fog of the North Sea coast; down through countless market towns, ports, fortresses, an ancient cathedrals; through a mass of river systems and forests; all the way to the great barrier of the Alps. Divided by languages, religions, and frontiers, everyone living there shares on thing: they are inhabitants of a lost part of Europe - Lotharingia. In his highly entertaining new book, the author tells the story of this ghostly but persistent presence. In AD 843, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbling over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited what became France, another Germany, and the third Lotharingia, the chunk that initially divided the other two chunks - "the lands of Lothar." The dynamic between these three great zones has dictated much of our subsequent fate. This book is a history of the in-between land, joining the equally fascinating "Germania" and "Danubia" in the author's personal exploration of Europe. In this beguiling, hilarious, and compelling book we retrace how any number of ambitious characters from both west and east have tried and failed to grapple with its people. Over many centuries, not only has Lotharingia brought forth some of Europe's greatest artists, inventors, and thinkers, it has also reduced many a would-be conqueror to helpless tears of rage and frustration.

Subject

• Lothair II, King of Lorraine, approximately 825-869
• 476-1492
• Europe > History > 476-1492
• Europe, Western > History
• Benelux countries > History
• Germany > History
• Lorraine (France) > History
• Benelux countries
• Europe
• Western Europe
• France > Lorraine
• Germany

Genre/Form

History.

Note

• "Originally published in 2019 by Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, Great Britain"--Title page verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [473]-480) and index.

Contents

Introduction : A note on myself and France -- A note on place names. Chapter 1 : Ice-sheets to Asterix -- The warlord -- Bees and buckles -- The rule of the saints -- Rhinegold -- The call of the oliphant. Chapter 2 : The split inheritance -- Margraves, landgraves, dukes and counts -- Imperial grandeur and decay -- Boulogne boy makes good -- The Cistercians. Chapter 3 : The Sibyl of the Rhine -- Some nuts and bolts -- Stories of Wolf Inngrim -- Street scenes -- Amiens Cathedral and its aftermath -- Famine, plague and flood -- The bold and the mad. Chapter 4 : The fearless and the good -- Prayer nuts -- A word of advice from Mehemt the Conqueror -- Poor local decision-making -- The bold and the Swiss. Chapter 5 : The great inheritance -- Mary the Rich and the future of the world -- New management at Hawk Castle -- "Beware, beware, God sees!" -- Uses for paper. Chapter 6 : The New World -- Margaret of Austria -- The life and adventures of Charles V -- The Oranges -- Rebellion -- The Catholic case. Chapter 7 : The sufferings of Lady Belge -- Life in "The garden" -- Birds, beasts and flowers -- Croissants of crisis -- Whitewash and clear glass. Chapter 8 : "A harvest of joys" -- Fencers and soap-boilers -- Elizabeth and her children -- Uncle Toby's hobby-horse -- "Too late to be ambitious". Chapter 9 : Nancy and Lorraine -- Rebuilding the Rhine -- Sperm by candlelight -- Gilt and beshit -- Adventures in tiny states -- In the time of the periwigs. Chapter 10 : Heroic and ominous -- "The old times have gone" -- The great French gingerbread-baker -- Armies of the Ocean Coast -- Europe reordered -- "What is there to fear if you are a slave?" Chapter 11 : Strange happenings underground -- The New Rhine -- The Translation Bureau of Barbarian Books -- Baden in turmoil -- A Newfoundland dog in Luzern -- Grand Duchies, empires and kingdoms. Chapter 12 : Kilometre pigs -- French exiles -- Metz and the nationalist frontline -- Expanses of baize -- Bullets, tusks and rubber -- Rays and masks. Chapter 13 : "Barracks, barracks, barracks" -- War plans -- The Battle of the Frontiers -- Kilomètre 0 -- Red, yellow and blue -- Shame on the Rhine. Chapter 14 : Dreams of Corfu -- Walls and bridges -- The Kingdom of Mattresses -- The road to Strasbourg -- Armageddon -- Charlemagne comes home. Postscript. Acknowledgements -- Bibliography -- Index.

Call Number

JFE 19-9206

ISBN

• 9780374192181
• 0374192189

LCCN

2018052632

OCLC

1079411032

Author

Winder, Simon, author.

Title

Lotharingia : a personal history of Europe's lost country / Simon Winder.

Publisher

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Edition

First American edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [473]-480) and index.

Chronological Term

476-1492

Research Call Number

JFE 19-9206