FONTENAY, Ntnā̇′ A small town near Auxerre, in Lower Burgundy. It is memorable for the battle fought there in 841, between the three sons of Louis the Pious, which decided the fate of the Carolingian Empire. The Emperor Lothair, who was defeated, was obliged in 843 to consent to divide the Empire with his two brothers by the Treaty of Verdun (q.v.). From this treaty the kingdoms of modern France and Germany arose.