The German territories became part of Austrasia ( meaning " eastern land "), the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks.

It was contrasted with the northeast, which was likewise called Austrasia, the same term as given to eastern Francia.

Constant re-divisions of territories by Clovis's descendants resulted in many rivalries that, for more than two hundred years, kept Neustria in almost constant warfare with Austrasia, the eastern portion of the Frankish kingdom.

Austrasia formed the north-eastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day western Germany, eastern and northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

With the partition of the Empire among the sons of Clovis I in 512, Speyer fell to the eastern Frankish kingdom of Austrasia.

The rest of Provence, the Auvergne, and eastern Aquitaine were assigned to the third son, Sigebert I, who also inherited Austrasia with its chief cities of Reims and Metz.

Dagobert, in his dealings with the Saxons, Alemans, and Thuringii, as well as the Slavic peoples beyond the borders of Francia, upon whom he tried to force tribute but who instead defeated him under their king Samo at the Battle of Wogastisburg, made all the far eastern peoples subject to the court of Neustria and not of Austrasia.

Brunhilda ( c. 543 – 613 ) was a Visigothic princess, married to king Sigebert I of Austrasia who ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy in the names of her sons and grandsons.

Following Clovis, territorial divisions in the Frankish domain sparked intense rivalry between the western part of the kingdom, Neustria, and the eastern part, Austrasia.

Within East Francia four stem duchies had ( re -) developed: Swabia ( Alamannia ), Franconia ( the eastern part of former Austrasia ), Saxony and Bavaria.

Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia.

Indeed, it is in the 640s that " Neustria " first appears in writing, its late appearance relative to " Austrasia " probably due to the fact that Neustrians ( who formed the bulk of the authors of the time ) called their region simply " Francia ".

During the 7th century, the office of Mayor of the Palace developed into the true power behind the throne in Austrasia, the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Franks under the Merovingian dynasty.

When Clotaire I died in 561, his kingdom was divided, in accordance with Frankish custom, among his four sons: Sigebert became king of the northeastern portion, known as Austrasia, with its capital at Rheims, to which he added further territory on the death of his brother, Charibert, in 567 or 568 ; Charibert himself had received the kingdom centred on Paris ; Guntram received the Kingdom of Burgundy with its capital at Orléans ; and the youngest son, the aforementiond Chilperic, received Soissons, which became Neustria when he received his share of Charibert's kingdom.

His two sons divided the kingdom, with the elder Theudebert II taking Austrasia plus Childebert's portion of Aquitaine, while his younger brother Theuderic II inherited Burgundy and Guntram's Aquitaine.

The Kingdom of the Franks expanded from Austrasia, established by the Merovingian dynasty.

Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alemanni during the 5th century, culminating with the Battle of Tolbiac, and Alsace became part of the Kingdom of Austrasia.

His share was based in the centre of the Frankish Kingdom, with his capital at Soissons, and consisted of the Parisian basin, the Massif Central, the Languedoc, Provence, Burgundy, southern Austrasia, Alsace and Alemannia ; the regions were poorly integrated and surrounded by those bequeathed to Charlemagne, and, although Carloman's territories were easier to defend than those of Charlemagne, they were also poorer in income.

The kingdom, which included the Kingdom of Italy, Burgundy, the Provence, and the west of Austrasia, was an unnatural creation of the Treaty of Verdun, with no historical or ethnic identity.

He succeeded his father as the head of the three Frankish kingdoms — Neustria and Austrasia, unified since Pippin's victory at Tertry in 687, and the Kingdom of Burgundy — in 711, at the age of twelve.

Authority over Austrasia passed back and forth from autonomy to kingly subjugation, as Frankish lands were alternately united and subdivided by the Merovingian kings.

A Celtic oppidum, an important Gallo-Roman city, the Merovingian capital of the Austrasia kingdom, the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty, a cradle of the Gregorian chant, and one of the oldest republics of the common era in Europe, Metz has a rich 3, 000-year-history.

Since King Sigibert I, Metz was frequently the residence of the Merovingian kings of Austrasia.

Pepin ( also Peppin, Pipin, or Pippin ) of Landen ( c. 580 – 27 February 640 ), also called the Elder or the Old, was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingian king Dagobert I from 623 to 629.

Theuderic I ( c. 485 – 533 / 4 ) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia — as it is variously called — from 511 to 533 or 534.

Theudebert I () ( c. 500 – 547 or 548 ) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 533 to his death in 548.

It also signaled the dominance of Austrasia over Neustria which was to last until the end of the Merovingian era.

Childebert II ( 570 – 95 ) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia, which included Provence at the time, from 575 until his death in 595, the eldest and succeeding son of Sigebert I, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted and succeeding son of his uncle Guntram.

Following the failed coup of the Pippinid mayor Grimoald the Elder in Austrasia, the Merovingian court resided in Neustria.

* Pippin of Landen, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingian Kings ( 7th century )

Pippin, lord of Héristal, the powerful Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia and of Neustria under Merovingian king Theuderic III, probably chose this location as his main residence because of its proximity to the major cities of Tongeren, Maastricht, and Liège.

Saint Arnulf of Metz ( c. 582 – 640 ) was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia, who retired to the Abbey of Remiremont.

In his younger years he was called to the Merovingian court of king Theudebert II ( 595-612 ) of Austrasia and sent to serve as dux at the Schelde.

His queen Goiswintha gave him two daughters — Brunhilda and the murdered Galswintha — who were married to two Merovingian brother-kings: Sigebert I of Austrasia and Chilperic, king of the Neustrian Franks.

Galswintha was the sister of Brunhilda, queen of Austrasia ; and the wife of Chilperic I, the Merovingian king of Neustria.

First use was as the title of the rulers of Austrasia ( c. 750 ), one of the Merovingian ( Frankish ) realms resulting from the complex successions in the house of Clovis, roughly comprising Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries.

Lambert was related to Hugobert and Plectrude, Pepin of Heristal's lawful wife and thus an in-law of hereditary mayors of the palace who controlled the Merovingian kings of Austrasia.

Brunhilda ruled Austrasia until Childebert came of age in 583, at the traditional Merovingian majority of thirteen.

Having unified the Franks under his banner, Charles was determined to punish the Saxons who had invaded Austrasia.

* Clotaire II, king of the Franks, makes his son Dagobert I king of Austrasia.

However, Waratton's successor, Berthar, and the Neustrian king Theuderic III, who, since 679, was nominal king of all the Franks, made war on Austrasia.

Pepin was created mayor in all three Frankish kingdoms ( Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy ) and began calling himself Duke and Prince of the Franks ( dux et princeps Francorum ).

Austrasia, homeland of the Franks ( darkest green ), and subsequent conquests ( other shades of green ).

Dagobert I ( c. 603 – 19 January 639 ) was the king of Austrasia ( 623 – 634 ), king of all the Franks ( 629 – 634 ), and king of Neustria and Burgundy ( 629 – 639 ).

In that year, Chlothar II became the first king of all the Franks since his grandfather Chlothar I died in 561 by ordering the murder of the infant Sigebert II ( son of Theuderic ), whom the aging Brunhilda had attempted to set on the thrones of Austrasia and Burgundy, causing a rebellion among the nobility.

Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him " the Nero and Herod of his time " ( History of the Franks book VI. 46 ): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics.

Childeric II ( c. 653 – 675 ) was the king of Austrasia from 662 and of Neustria and Burgundy from 673 until his death, making him sole King of the Franks for the final two years of his life.

In 687 he was defeated by Pepin of Heristal, the Arnulfing mayor of Austrasia and the real power in that kingdom, at the Battle of Tertry and was forced to accept Pepin as sole mayor and dux et princeps Francorum: " Duke and Prince of the Franks ", a title which signifies, to the author of the Liber Historiae Francorum, the beginning of Pepin's " reign ".

Although Clovis IV is called " King of the Franks ", he was really a puppet — a roi fainéant — of his uncle Pepin II, mayor of the palace of Austrasia.

The Marca Hispanica resulted from the expansion south of the Frankish realm from their heartland in Neustria and Austrasia starting with Charles Martel in 732 and after various decades fighting between the Franks and Muslims ( Moors ) in the Iberian Peninsula.

The young king and his brother Corbo were both killed: Thus ended the long and bloody feud between Austrasia and Neustria, and, reuniting the two kingdoms, Clotaire held the entire realm of the Franks.

When his father, Clotaire II, King of the Franks, died in 629, Charibert made a bid for the kingdom of Neustria against his elder brother Dagobert I, who had already been king of Austrasia since 623.

However, the population make-up of the Frankish Empire, or even early Frankish kingdoms such as Neustria and Austrasia, was not dominated by Franks.

Except for the period of 639-673, when a division between Neustria and Austrasia occurred, the Franks remained unified until the Treaty of Verdun in 843.