Franks and Merovingians
The Franks had been living for some time in northern
Germany when the weakness of the Roman
Empire tempted them to move into it in the 400's AD.
Compared to the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths,
and even the Vandals, the Franks were relatively
late arrivals on the Roman scene.
Because they had not been involved with Rome, they were still worshipping
the old gods
in the 400's AD, and had not yet been
converted to Christianity.
At first they stayed in northern France and Belgium,
but around 490 AD, under a new, young,
and ambitious king named
Clovis, the Franks converted to Catholicism
and began to fight their way south. They probably wanted to reach southern
France mainly because it is warmer
there and easier to live. But they also hoped to reach the Mediterranean,
and be able to sail all over and get the fancy stuff from Asia,
like silk, which was hard to
get over land. Maybe Clovis even thought of reaching Rome and becoming
Emperor.
The Franks fought the Visigoths at the battle
of Vouille in 509 AD and won, killing the Visigothic king Alaric
II. The Visigoths pretty much gave up and moved to Spain, and the Franks
under Clovis took over all of France (except Burgundy). Even Anastasius,
the Roman Emperor, wrote to congratulate Clovis and do him honor.
Clovis died in the Roman fort at Paris in 511 AD. The sons and successors of Clovis became known as the Merovingians (merr-oh-VINGE-yans). They ruled France for the next almost 200 years. Often the daughters of Merovingian kings married Visigothic princes, and the other way around too. The early Merovingian kings were pretty strong, like Childebert, who built the abbey of St. Germain des Pres. But like the Visigothic kings, the Merovingian kings weakened themselves by giving away their land to reward their supporters. Eventually they became weaker than their own ministers, and finally their ministers pushed the last of the Merovingians aside and became kings by themselves: these are the Carolingians.
