Austrasia

Austrasia, the eastern Frankish kingdom in the Merovingian period (6th–8th century ad) of early medieval Europe, as distinct from Neustria, the western kingdom. Its mayors of the palace, leading household and government officials under the king, were ancestors of the Carolingian dynasty. Covering present northeastern France, Belgium, and areas of western and central Germany, the kingdom included the old homeland of the Ripuarian (Rhineland) Franks. Ruled from 561 to 613 by Sigebert I and his descendants, it was briefly reunited with the other Frankish kingdoms in the early 7th century. From 634, when Dagobert, sole king of the Franks from 629, gave to the Austrasians his son Sigebert III as their separate king, Austrasia had a main centre at Metz and its own mayor of the palace. Its ascendancy over the other Frankish kingdoms was assured when the Carolingian Austrasian mayor of the palace, Pippin II, defeated the Neustrians at Tertry in 687. His grandson, Pippin III the Short, in 751 deposed the last Merovingian king and was himself elected king instead. See also Merovingian dynasty. Under the Carolingians, Austrasia and Neustria were incorporated into the greater Frankish empire and gradually disappeared as distinct entities.