Alsace

The House of Alsace, also called the House of Châtenois, was an Ardennes branch centred on Metz and the Moselle valley. In 1048 Emperor Henry III granted Upper Lorraine to Adalbert of Metz and then his brother Gerard, whose descendants held it until Duke Charles II died in 1431.

A younger son of the ducal house, Thierry of Alsace, won the County of Flanders in 1128; a Second Crusade veteran, he died in 1168. His sons Philip and Matthew, the latter marrying the Countess of Boulogne, extended the family's power to the North Sea, his daughter Margaret's marriage carrying Flanders to the counts of Hainaut in 1194.

The Vaudémont cadet branch recovered the duchy in 1473 and ruled until 1737, and the House of Guise became a leading force in the French Wars of Religion. The last duke, Francis of Lorraine, married Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736, founding the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, which supplied Holy Roman emperors until 1806.