Editing Limburg (Belgium) (section)

===Middle Ages===
{{See also|Lotharingia|County of Loon}}
By the 9th century, the Frankish [[Carolingian dynasty]], who had lands in and around Belgian Limburg, ruled an empire that included much of [[Western Europe]]. The [[Franks]] originally had several smaller kingdoms ruling each of the old Roman [[civitas|civitates]] ("cities"), but under the [[Merovingians]] one empire formed, which was divided each generation among family members. In the period around 881 and 882 the areas along the Maas and in the Haspengouw were plundered by [[Vikings]], who established a base on the Maas river. [[Early Christianity]] was established first in the Romanised southern parts of Limburg, around Tongeren, and missionaries went north from there to convert the Franks. The church capital moved from the Roman capital Tongeren to nearby Maastricht, and then [[Liège]]. This was the area of activity of [[St Servatius]], and later, [[Lambert of Maastricht]].

Limburg was part of the central [[Austrasia]]n kingdom of the Franks which lay between the parts which would become France and Germany. The divisions of the Frankish empire were eventually fixed in the 9th century when this Middle Kingdom came to be known as [[Lotharingia]] after its first king, [[Lothair II]]. During the 10th-century the region slowly came under the permanent control of [[Eastern Francia]], which was to become the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Under the [[Ottonians]] the archbishops became responsible for a very large territory stretching up to the delta of the river [[Meuse|Maas]]. Another early saint in the south of Limburg was St [[Trudo]], whose name survives in one of the major towns in southern Limburg, [[Saint Truiden]].

Belgian Limburg corresponds closely to the medieval territory of the [[County of Loon]] (French ''Looz'') which starts to appear in records only in the 11th century. This county originally centred on the fortified town of [[Borgloon]], which was originally simply known as Loon. Although the exact details are unclear today, from an early time Loon was subservient, not only spiritually but also politically, to the powerful [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]]. When the male line of the counts ended with [[Louis IV, Count of Loon|Louis IV]] in 1336, the bishops began to take direct control, and the last claimant to that inheritance, [[Arnold VI of Rummen, Count of Loon|Arnold of Rumigny, count of Chiny]] gave up his claim.