Italy, unlike Burgundy, formed part of the reunited dominion of Charles the Fat; but it altogether passed away from Frankish rule at the division of 887. It must be remembered that, though Lombardy was conquered by Charles the Great, yet it was not merged in the Frankish dominions, but was held as a separate kingdom by the King of the Franks and Lombards. ♦Carolingian Kings of Italy.♦ Till the reunion under Charles the Fat, Italy, as a separate kingdom, was ruled by kings of the Carolingian house, some of whom were crowned at Rome as Emperors. After the final division, it had separate kings of its own, being not uncommonly disputed between two rival kings. ♦Italian Emperors.♦ Some of these kings even obtained Imperial rank. ♦Extent of the Italian kingdom.♦ The Italian kingdom, it must be remembered, was far from taking in the whole Italian peninsula. Its southern boundary was much the same as the old boundaries of Latium and Picenum, reaching somewhat further to the south on the Hadriatic coast. ♦Separate principalities of Benevento and Salerno.♦ To the south were the separate principalities of _Benevento_ and _Salerno_, and the lands which still clave to the Eastern Emperors. The kingdom thus took in Lombardy, Liguria, _Friuli_ in the widest sense, taking in _Trent_ and _Istria_, though these latter lands are sometimes counted as a German march, while the Venetian islands still kept up their connexion with the Eastern Empire. It took in also _Tuscany_, _Romagna_ or the former Exarchate of Ravenna, _Spoleto_, and _Rome_ itself. ♦The Kingdom of Italy represents the Lombard Kingdom.♦ The Italian kingdom thus represented the old Lombard kingdom, together with the provinces which were formally transferred from the Eastern to the Western Empire by the election of Charles the Great. But it may be looked on as essentially a continuation of the Lombard kingdom. ♦Milan its capital.♦ The rank of capital of the Italian kingdom, as distinguished from the Roman Empire, passed away from the old Lombard capital of _Pavia_ to the ecclesiastical metropolis of _Milan_, and Milan became the crowning-place of the Kings of Italy. * * * * * ♦Abeyance of the Empire.♦