This article is about the geographical and political development of the lands of the Franks. For the Frankish people and society, seeFranks. For other uses, seeFrancia (disambiguation).
Originally, the core Frankish territories inside the formerWestern Roman Empire were located close to theRhine andMeuse rivers in the north,[3] but Frankish chiefs such asChlodio would eventually expand their influence within Roman territory as far as theSomme river in the 5th century.
Childeric I, aSalian Frankish king, was one of several military leaders commanding Roman forces of various ethnic affiliations in the northern part of what is now France. His son,Clovis I, succeeded in unifying most of Gaul under his rule in the 6th century by notably conqueringSoissons in 486 andAquitaine in 507 following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, as well as establishing leadership over all the Frankish kingdoms on or near the Rhine frontier; thus founding what would come to be known as the Merovingian dynasty. The dynasty subsequently gained control over a significant part of what is now western and southern Germany. It was by building upon the basis of these Merovingian deeds that the subsequentCarolingian dynasty— through the nearly continuous campaigns ofPepin of Herstal, his sonCharles Martel, grandsonPepin the Short, and great-grandsonCharlemagne— secured the greatest expansion of the Frankish state by the early 9th century. Charlemagne also received the Roman imperial crown in 800, thus creating theFrankish-Roman Empire,[4] which is also referred to as theCarolingian Empire, or just theFrankish Empire (Latin:Imperium Francorum).
During the reign of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, the Frankish realm was one largepolity, generally subdivided into several smaller kingdoms ruled by different members of the ruling dynasties. Whilst these kingdoms coordinated, they also regularly came into conflict with one another. The old Frankish lands, for example, were initially contained within the kingdom ofAustrasia, centred on theRhine andMeuse, roughly corresponding to laterLower Lotharingia. The bulk of the Gallo-Roman territory to its south and west was calledNeustria. The exact borders and number of these subkingdoms varied over time, until a basic split between eastern and western domains became persistent. After various treaties and conflicts in the late-9th and early-10th centuries,West Francia came under control of theCapetian dynasty, becoming theKingdom of France, whileEast Francia andLotharingia came under the control of the non-FrankishOttonian dynasty, becoming theKingdom of Germany, which would conquer Burgundy and Italy to then form the medievalHoly Roman Empire. Competing French and German nationalisms in later centuries would claim succession from Charlemagne and the original kingdom, but nowadays both have become seen by many asPan-European symbols.[5]
The term "Franks" emerged in the 3rd century AD as a term for severalGermanic tribes who settled on the northern Rhine frontier of theRoman Empire, including theBructeri,Ampsivarii,Chamavi,Chattuarii andSalians. While all of them had a tradition of participating in the Roman military, the Salians were allowed to settle within the Roman Empire. In 358, having already been living in thecivitas of Batavia for some time,Emperor Julian defeated the Chamavi and Salians,[6] allowing the latter to settle further away from the border, inToxandria.[7]
Some of the early Frankish leaders, such asFlavius Bauto andArbogast, were committed to the cause of the Romans, but other Frankish rulers, such asMallobaudes, were active on Roman soil for other reasons.[clarification needed] After the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing ahereditary countship atTrier and after the fall of the usurperConstantine III some Franks supported the usurperJovinus (411). Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it increasingly difficult to manage the Franks within their borders.[further explanation needed] The Frankish kingTheudemer was executed by the sword, in c. 422.
Around 428, the kingChlodio, whose kingdom may have been in thecivitas Tungrorum (with its capital inTongeren), launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far asCamaracum (Cambrai) and theSomme river. ThoughSidonius Apollinaris relates thatFlavius Aetius defeated a wedding party of his people (c. 431), this period marks the beginning of a situation that would endure for many centuries: the Germanic Franks ruled over an increasing number ofGallo-Roman subjects.[who?]
TheMerovingians, believed by some in the latter half of the 6th century to be relatives of Chlodio as reported byGregory of Tours (although, he himself did not share this belief),[8] arose from within the Gallo-Roman military, with Childeric and his son Clovis being called "King of the Franks" in the Gallo-Roman military, even before having any Frankish territorial kingdom. Once Clovis defeated his Roman competitor for power in northern Gaul,Syagrius, he turned to the kings of the Franks to the north and east, as well as other post-Roman kingdoms already existing in Gaul:Visigoths,Burgundians, andAlemanni.
The original core territory of the Frankish kingdom later came to be known asAustrasia (the "eastern lands"), while the large Romanised Frankish kingdom in the west came to be known asNeustria.
The political divisions ofGaul at the inception ofClovis's career (481). Note that only theBurgundian kingdom and the province ofSeptimania remained unconquered at his death (511).
Chlodio's successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is thatChilderic I, possibly his grandson, ruled a Salian kingdom fromTournai as afoederatus of the Romans. Childeric is chiefly important to history for bequeathing the Franks to his sonClovis, who began an effort to extend his authority over the other Frankish tribes and to expand theirterritorium south and west intoGaul. Clovis converted toChristianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects.
In a thirty-year reign (481–511) Clovis defeated the Roman generalSyagrius and conquered theKingdom of Soissons, defeated theAlemanni (Battle of Tolbiac in 496) and established Frankish hegemony over them. Clovis defeated the Visigoths (Battle of Vouillé in 507) and conquered all of their territory north of the Pyrenees saveSeptimania, and conquered theBretons (according toGregory of Tours) and made them vassals of the Franks. He also incorporated the various Roman military settlements (laeti) scattered over Gaul: the Saxons ofBessin, theBritons and theAlans ofArmorica andLoire valley or theTaifals ofPoitou to name a few prominent ones. By the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and theBurgundian kingdom in the southeast.
The exact date on which Clovis became "king of all Franks" is not known, but it happened sometime after theBattle of Vouillé, which is securely dated to 507.[9] One year after this battle, Clovis made Paris his capital,[10] and in theChristmas Day of the same year he converted toCatholicism,[11] and some time later he orchestrated the murders of Frankish kingsSigobert andRagnachar, uniting all Franks under his rule.[12] The sole source for this early period isGregory of Tours, who wrote around the year 590. His chronology for the reigns of the early kings is almost certainly fabricated, often contradicting itself and other sources.[13] Clovis' baptism, traditionally dated to 496, is now believed to have taken place in 508.[14][13]
The Merovingians were ahereditary monarchy. The Frankish kings adhered to the practice ofpartible inheritance: dividing their lands among their sons. Even when multiple Merovingian kings ruled, the kingdom—not unlike the lateRoman Empire—was conceived of as a single realm ruled collectively by several kings and the turn of events could result in the reunification of the whole realm under a single king. The Merovingian kings ruled by divine right and their kingship was symbolised daily by their long hair and initially by their acclamation, which was carried out by raising the king on a shield in accordance with the ancient Germanic practice of electing a war-leader at an assembly of the warriors.
At the death of Clovis, his kingdom was divided territorially by his four adult sons in such a way that each son was granted a comparable portion offiscal land, which was probably land once part of the Roman fisc, now seized by the Frankish government.
The division of the Frankish kingdom onClovis's death (511). The kingdoms were not geographic unities because they were formed in an attempt to create equal-sized fiscs. The discrepancy in size reveals the concentration of Roman fiscal lands.
Clovis's sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul.Theuderic I made his capital atReims,Chlodomer atOrléans,Childebert I atParis, andChlothar I atSoissons. During their reigns, theThuringii (532),Burgundes (534), andSaxons andFrisians (c. 560) were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom. The outlying trans-Rhenish tribes were loosely attached to Frankish sovereignty, and though they could be forced to contribute to Frankish military efforts, in times of weak kings they were uncontrollable and liable to attempt independence. The Romanised Burgundian kingdom, however, was preserved in its territoriality by the Franks and converted into one of their primary divisions, incorporating the central Gallic heartland of Chlodomer's realm with its capital at Orléans.
The fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. On the early death of Chlodomer, his brother Chlothar had his[clarification needed] young sons murdered in order to take a share of his kingdom, which was, in accordance with custom, divided between the surviving brothers. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult sonTheudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom ofAustrasia.
Theudebert was the first Frankish king to formally sever his ties to theRoman Emperor inConstantinople by striking gold coins with his own image on them and calling himselfmagnus rex (great king) because of his supposed suzerainty over peoples as far away asPannonia. Theudebert interfered in theGothic War on the side of theGepids andLombards against theOstrogoths, receiving the provinces ofRaetia,Noricum, and part ofVeneto.
His son and successor,Theudebald, was unable to retain them and on his death all of his vast kingdom passed to Chlothar, under whom, with the death of Childebert in 558, the entire Frankish realm was reunited under the rule of one king.
The division of Gaul onChlothar I's death (561). Though more geographically unified realms were created out of the second fourfold division, the complex division ofProvence created many problems for the rulers ofBurgundy andAustrasia.
In 561 Chlothar died and his realm was divided, in a replay of the events of fifty years prior, between his four sons, with the chief cities remaining the same. The eldest son,Charibert I, inherited the kingdom with its capital at Paris and ruled all of western Gaul. The second eldest,Guntram, inherited the old kingdom of the Burgundians, augmented by the lands of central France around the old capital of Orléans, which became his chief city, and most ofProvence.
The rest of Provence, theAuvergne, and eastern Aquitaine were assigned to the third son,Sigebert I, who also inherited Austrasia with its chief cities of Reims andMetz. The smallest kingdom was that of Soissons, which went to the youngest son,Chilperic I. The kingdom Chilperic ruled at his death (584) became the nucleus of laterNeustria.
This second fourfold division was quickly ruined by fratricidal wars, waged largely over the murder ofGalswintha, the wife of Chilperic, allegedly by his mistress (and second wife)Fredegund. Galswintha's sister, the wife of Sigebert,Brunhilda, incited her husband to war and the conflict between the two queens continued to plague relations until the next century. Guntram sought to keep the peace, though he also attempted twice (585 and 589) to conquer Septimania from the Goths, but was defeated both times.
All the surviving brothers benefited at the death of Charibert, but Chilperic was also able to extend his authority during the period of war by bringing the Bretons to heel again. After his death, Guntram had to again force the Bretons to submit. In 587, theTreaty of Andelot — the text of which explicitly refers to the entire Frankish realm asFrancia — between Brunhilda and Guntram secured his protection of her young sonChildebert II, who had succeeded the assassinated Sigebert (575). Together the territory of Guntram and Childebert was well over thrice as large as the small realm of Chilperic's successor,Chlothar II. During this period Francia took on the tripartite character it was to have throughout the rest of its history, being composed of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy.
When Guntram died in 592, Burgundy went to Childebert in its entirety, but he died in 595. His two sons divided the kingdom, with the elderTheudebert II taking Austrasia plus Childebert's portion of Aquitaine, while his younger brotherTheuderic II inherited Burgundy and Guntram's Aquitaine. United, the brothers sought to remove their father's cousin Chlothar II from power and they did succeed in conquering most of his kingdom, reducing him to only a few cities, but they failed to capture him.
In 599 they routed his forces atDormelles and seized theDentelin, but they then fell foul of each other and the remainder of their time on the thrones was spent in infighting, often incited by their grandmother Brunhilda, who, angered over her expulsion from Theudebert's court, convinced Theuderic to unseat him and kill him. In 612 he did and the whole realm of his father Childebert was once again ruled by one man. This was short-lived, however, as he died on the eve of preparing an expedition against Chlothar in 613, leaving a young son namedSigebert II.
During their reigns, Theudebert and Theuderic campaigned successfully inGascony, where they had established theDuchy of Gascony and brought theBasques to submission (602). This original Gascon conquest included lands south of thePyrenees, namelyBiscay andGipuzkoa, but these were lost to the Visigoths in 612.
On the opposite end of his realm, the Alemanni had defeated Theuderic in a rebellion and the Franks were losing their hold on the trans-Rhenish tribes. In 610 Theudebert had extorted theDuchy of Alsace from Theuderic, beginning a long period of conflict over which kingdom was to have the region of Alsace, Burgundy or Austrasia, which was only terminated in the late seventh century.
During the brief minority of Sigebert II, the office of theMayor of the Palace, which had for sometime been visible in the kingdoms of the Franks, came to the fore in its internal politics, with a faction of nobles coalescing around the persons ofWarnachar II,Rado, andPepin of Landen, to give the kingdom over to Chlothar in order to remove Brunhilda, the young king's regent, from power. Warnachar was himself already the mayor of the palace of Austrasia, while Rado and Pepin were to find themselves rewarded with mayoral offices after Chlothar's coup succeeded and Brunhilda and the ten-year-old king were killed.
Immediately after his victory, Chlothar II promulgated theEdict of Paris (614), which has generally been viewed as a concession to the nobility, though this view has come under recent criticism. The Edict primarily sought to guarantee justice and end corruption in government, but it also entrenched the regional differences between the three kingdoms of Francia and probably granted the nobles more control over judicial appointments.
By 623 the Austrasians had begun to clamour for a king of their own, since Chlothar was so often absent from the kingdom and, because of his upbringing and previous rule in the Seine basin, was more or less an outsider there. Chlothar thus granted that his sonDagobert I would be their king and he was duly acclaimed by the Austrasian warriors in the traditional fashion. Nonetheless, though Dagobert exercised true authority in his realm, Chlothar maintained ultimate control over the whole Frankish kingdom.
During the joint reign of Chlothar and Dagobert, who have been called "the last ruling Merovingians", the Saxons, who had been loosely attached to Francia since the late 550s, rebelled underBerthoald, Duke of Saxony, and were defeated and reincorporated into the kingdom by the joint action of father and son. When Chlothar died in 628, Dagobert, in accordance with his father's wishes, granted a subkingdom to his younger brotherCharibert II. This subkingdom, commonly called Aquitaine, was a new creation.
Dagobert, in his dealings with the Saxons, Alemans, and Thuringii, as well as theSlavs beyond the borders of Francia, upon whom he tried to force tribute but who instead defeated him under their kingSamo at theBattle of Wogastisburg in 631, made all the far eastern peoples subject to the court of Neustria and not of Austrasia. This, first and foremost, incited the Austrasians to request a king of their own from the royal household.
The subkingdom of Aquitaine corresponded to the southern half of the old Roman province of Aquitania and its capital was atToulouse. The other cities of his kingdom wereCahors,Agen,Périgueux,Bordeaux, andSaintes; the duchy of Vasconia was also part of his allotment. Charibert campaigned successfully against the Basques, but after his death they revolted again (632). At the same time the Bretons rose up against Frankish suzerainty. In 635 an army sent by Dagobert subdued the Basques, while threats of military action induced the Breton leaderJudicael to relent, make peace with the Franks, and pay tribute.
Meanwhile, Dagobert had Charibert's infant successorChilperic assassinated and reunited the entire Frankish realm again (632), though he was forced by the strong Austrasian aristocracy to grant his own sonSigebert III to them as a subking in 633. This act was precipitated largely by the Austrasians' desire to be self-governing at a time when Neustrians dominated at the royal court. Chlothar had been the king at Paris for decades before becoming the king at Metz as well and the Merovingian monarchy was ever after him to be a Neustrian monarchy first and foremost.
Indeed, it is in the 640s that "Neustria" first appears in writing, its late appearance relative to "Austrasia" probably due to the fact that Neustrians (who formed the bulk of the authors of the time) called their region simply "Francia".Burgundia too defined itself in opposition to Neustria at about this time. However, it was the Austrasians, who had been seen as a distinct people within the realm since the time of Gregory of Tours, who were to make the most strident moves for independence.
The young Sigebert was dominated during his minority by the mayor,Grimoald the Elder, who convinced the childless king to adopt his own Merovingian-named sonChildebert as his son and heir. After Dagobert's death in 639, theduke of Thuringia,Radulf, rebelled and tried to make himself king. He defeated Sigebert in what was a serious reversal for the ruling dynasty (640).
The king lost the support of many magnates while on campaign and the weakness of the monarchic institutions by that time are evident in his inability to effectively make war without the support of the magnates; in fact, he could not even provide his own bodyguard without the loyal aid of Grimoald andAdalgisel. He is often regarded as the firstroi fainéant: "do-nothing king", not insofar as he "did nothing", but insofar as he accomplished little.
Clovis II, Dagobert's successor in Neustria and Burgundy, which were thereafter attached yet ruled separately, was a minor for almost the whole of his reign. He was dominated by his motherNanthild and the mayor of the Neustrian palace,Erchinoald. Erchinoald's successor,Ebroin, dominated the kingdom for the next fifteen years of near-constant civil war. On his death (656), Sigbert's son was shipped off to Ireland, while Grimoald's son Childebert reigned in Austrasia.
Ebroin eventually reunited the entire Frankish kingdom for Clovis's successorChlothar III by killing Grimoald and removing Childebert in 661. However, the Austrasians demanded a king of their own again and Chlothar installed his younger brotherChilderic II. During Chlothar's reign, the Franks had made an attack on northwestern Italy, but were driven off byGrimoald, King of the Lombards, nearRivoli.
In 673, Chlothar III died and some Neustrian and Burgundian magnates invited Childeric to become king of the whole realm, but he soon upset some Neustrian magnates and he was assassinated (675).
The reign ofTheuderic III was to prove the end of the Merovingian dynasty's power. Theuderic III succeeded his brother Chlothar III in Neustria in 673, but Childeric II of Austrasia displaced him soon thereafter—until he died in 675, and Theuderic III retook his throne. When Dagobert II died in 679, Theuderic received Austrasia as well and became king of the whole Frankish realm. Thoroughly Neustrian in outlook, he allied with his mayorBerchar and made war on the Austrasian who had installedDagobert II, Sigebert III's son, in their kingdom (briefly in opposition toClovis III).
In 687 he was defeated byPepin of Herstal, theArnulfing mayor of Austrasia and the real power in that kingdom, at theBattle of Tertry and was forced to accept Pepin as sole mayor anddux et princeps Francorum: "Duke and Prince of the Franks", a title which signifies, to the author of theLiber Historiae Francorum, the beginning of Pepin's "reign". Thereafter the Merovingian monarchs showed only sporadically, in our surviving records, any activities of a non-symbolic and self-willed nature.
During the period of confusion in the 670s and 680s, attempts had been made to re-assert Frankish suzerainty over the Frisians, but to no avail. In 689, however, Pepin launched a campaign of conquest inWestern Frisia (Frisia Citerior) and defeated theFrisian kingRadbod nearDorestad, an important trading centre. All the land between theScheldt and theVlie was incorporated into Francia.
Then, circa 690, Pepin attacked central Frisia and tookUtrecht. In 695 Pepin could even sponsor the foundation of theArchdiocese of Utrecht and the beginning of the conversion of the Frisians underWillibrord. However,Eastern Frisia (Frisia Ulterior) remained outside of Frankish suzerainty.
Having achieved great successes against the Frisians, Pepin turned towards the Alemanni. In 709 he launched a war againstWillehari, duke of theOrtenau, probably in an effort to force the succession of the young sons of the deceasedGotfrid on the ducal throne. This outside interference led to another war in 712 and the Alemanni were, for the time being, restored to the Frankish fold.
However, in southern Gaul, which was not under Arnulfing influence, the regions were pulling away from the royal court under leaders such asSavaric of Auxerre,Antenor of Provence, andOdo of Aquitaine. The reigns ofClovis IV andChildebert III from 691 until 711 have all the hallmarks of those ofrois fainéants, though Childebert is founding making royal judgements against the interests of his supposed masters, the Arnulfings.
When Pepin died in 714, however, the Frankish realm plunged into civil war and the dukes of the outlying provinces becamede facto independent. Pepin's appointed successor,Theudoald, under his widow,Plectrude, initially opposed an attempt by the king,Dagobert III, to appointRagenfrid as mayor of the palace in all the realms, but soon there was a third candidate for the mayoralty of Austrasia in Pepin's illegitimate adult son,Charles Martel.
After the defeat of Plectrude and Theudoald by the king (nowChilperic II) and Ragenfrid, Charles briefly raised a king of his own,Chlothar IV, in opposition to Chilperic. Finally, ata battle near Soisson, Charles definitively defeated his rivals and forced them into hiding, eventually accepting the king back on the condition that he receive his father's positions (718). There were no more active Merovingian kings after that point and Charles and hisCarolingian heirs ruled the Franks.
After 718 Charles Martel embarked on a series of wars intended to strengthen the Franks' hegemony in western Europe. In 718 he defeated the rebellious Saxons, in 719 he overran Western Frisia, in 723 he suppressed the Saxons again, and in 724 he defeated Ragenfrid and the rebellious Neustrians, ending the civil war phase of his rule. In 720, when Chilperic II died, he had appointedTheuderic IV king, but this last was a mere puppet of his. In 724 he forced his choice ofHugbert for the ducal succession upon the Bavarians and forced the Alemanni to assist him in his campaigns in Bavaria (725 and 726), where laws were promulgated in Theuderic's name. In 730 Alemannia had to be subjugated by the sword and its duke,Lantfrid, was killed. In 734 Charles fought against Eastern Frisia and finally subdued it.
In the 730s theUmayyad conquerors of Spain, who had also subjugatedSeptimania, began advancing northwards into central Francia and theLoire valley. It was at this time (circa 736) thatMaurontus, thedux of Provence, called in the Umayyads to aid him in resisting the expanding influence of the Carolingians. However, Charles invaded theRhône Valley with his brotherChildebrand and a Lombard army and devastated the region. It was because of the alliance against the Arabs that Charles was unable to supportPope Gregory III against the Lombards.
In 732 or 737—modern scholars have debated over the date—Charles marched against an Arab army betweenPoitiers andTours and defeated it in awatershed battle that turned back the tide of the Arab advance north of thePyrenees. But Charles's real interests lay in the northeast, primarily with the Saxons, from whom he had to extort the tribute which for centuries they had paid to the Merovingians.
Shortly before his death in October 741, Charles divided the realm as if he were king between his two sons by his first wife, marginalising his younger sonGrifo, who did receive a small portion (it is unknown exactly what). Though there had been no king since Theuderic's death in 737, Charles's sonsPepin the Younger andCarloman were still only mayors of the palaces. The Carolingians had assumed the regal status and practice, though not the regal title, of the Merovingians. The division of the kingdom gaveAustrasia,Alemannia, andThuringia to Carloman and Neustria, Provence, and Burgundy to Pepin. It is indicative of thede facto autonomy of the duchies of Aquitaine (underHunoald) and Bavaria (underOdilo) that they were not included in the division of theregnum.
After Charles Martel was buried, in theAbbey of Saint-Denis alongside the Merovingian kings, conflict immediately erupted between Pepin and Carloman on one side and Grifo their younger brother on the other. Though Carloman captured and imprisoned Grifo, it may have been enmity between the elder brothers that caused Pepin to release Grifo while Carloman was on a pilgrimage to Rome. Perhaps in an effort to neutralise his brother's ambitions, Carloman initiated the appointment of a new king,Childeric III, drawn from a monastery, in 743. Others have suggested that perhaps the position of the two brothers was weak or challenged, or perhaps there Carloman was merely acting for a loyalist or legitimist party in the kingdom.
In 743 Pepin campaigned against Odilo and forced him to submit to Frankish suzerainty. Carloman also campaigned against the Saxons and the two together defeated a rebellion led by Hunoald at the head of theBasques and another led by Alemanni, in whichLiutfrid of Alsatia probably died, either fighting for or against the brothers. In 746, however, the Frankish armies were still, as Carloman was preparing to retire from politics and enter the monastery ofMonte Soratte. Pepin's position was further stabilised and the path was laid for his assumption of the crown in 751.
The growth of Frankish power, 481–814, showing Francia as it originally was after the crumbling of theWestern Roman Empire. It was located northeasterly of that during the time ofConstantine the Great.Frankish expansion from the early kingdom ofClovis I (481) to the divisions ofCharlemagne's Empire (843/870)
Pepin reigned as an elected king. Although such elections happened infrequently, a general rule in Germanic law stated that the king relied on the support of his leading men. These men reserved the right to choose a new "kingworthy" leader out of the ruling clan if they felt that the old one could not lead them in profitable battle. While in later France the kingdom became hereditary, the kings of the laterHoly Roman Empire proved unable to abolish theelective tradition and continued as elected rulers until the empire's formal end in 1806.
Pepin solidified his position in 754 by entering into an alliance withPope Stephen II, who presented the king of the Franks a copy of the forged "Donation of Constantine" at Paris and in a magnificent ceremony atSaint-Denis anointed the king and his family and declared himpatricius Romanorum ("protector of the Romans"). The following year Pepin fulfilled his promise to the pope and retrieved theExarchate of Ravenna, recently fallen to theLombards, and returned it to the Papacy.
Pepin donated the re-conquered areas around Rome to the Pope, laying the foundation for thePapal States in the "Donation of Pepin" which he laid on the tomb of St Peter. The papacy had good cause to expect that the remade Frankish monarchy would provide a deferential power base (potestas) in the creation of a new world order, centred on the Pope.
Upon Pepin's death in 768, his sons, Charles andCarloman, once again divided the kingdom between themselves. However, Carloman withdrew to a monastery and died shortly thereafter, leaving sole rule to his brother, who would later become known asCharlemagne or Charles the Great, a powerful, intelligent, and modestly literate figure who became a legend for the later history of both France and Germany. Charlemagne restored an equal balance between emperor and pope.
From 772 onwards, Charles conquered and eventually defeated theSaxons to incorporate their realm into the Frankish kingdom. This campaign expanded the practice of non-Roman Christian rulers undertaking the conversion of their neighbours by armed force; Frankish Catholic missionaries, along with others from Ireland andAnglo-Saxon England, had entered Saxon lands since the mid-8th century, resulting in increasing conflict with the Saxons, who resisted the missionary efforts and parallel military incursions.
Charles's main Saxon opponent,Widukind, accepted baptism in 785 as part of a peace agreement, but other Saxon leaders continued to fight. Upon his victory in 787 atVerden, Charles ordered the wholesalekilling of thousands ofpagan Saxon prisoners. After several more uprisings, the Saxons suffered definitive defeat in 804. This expanded the Frankish kingdom eastwards as far as theElbe river, something theRoman Empire had only attempted once, and at which it failed in theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD). In order to more effectively Christianize the Saxons, Charles founded severalbishoprics, among themBremen,Münster,Paderborn, andOsnabrück.
At the same time (773–774), Charles conquered theLombards and thus included northern Italy in his sphere of influence. He renewed the Vatican donation and the promise to the papacy of continued Frankish protection.
In 788,Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria rebelled against Charles. Crushing the rebellion incorporated Bavaria into Charles's kingdom. This not only added to the royalfisc, but also drastically reduced the power and influence of theAgilolfings (Tassilo's family), another leading family among the Franks and potential rivals. Until 796, Charles continued to expand the kingdom even farther southeast, into today's Austria and parts ofCroatia.
Charles thus created a realm that reached from thePyrenees in the southwest (actually, including an area in Northern Spain (Marca Hispanica) after 795) over almost all of today's France (exceptBrittany, which the Franks never conquered) eastwards to most of today's Germany, including northern Italy and today's Austria. In the hierarchy of the church, bishops and abbots looked to the patronage of the king's palace, where the sources of patronage and security lay. Charles had fully emerged as the leader of WesternChristendom, and his patronage of monastic centres of learning gave rise to the "Carolingian Renaissance" of literate culture. Charles also created a large palace at Aachen, a series of roads, and a canal.
On Christmas Day, 800,Pope Leo III crowned Charles as "Emperor of the Romans" in Rome in aceremony presented as a surprise (Charlemagne did not wish to be indebted to the bishop of Rome), a further papal move in the series of symbolic gestures that had been defining the mutual roles of papalauctoritas and imperialpotestas. Though Charlemagne preferred the title "Emperor, king of the Franks and Lombards", the ceremony formally acknowledged the ruler of the Franks as the Roman Emperor, triggering disputes with theByzantine Empire, which had maintained the title since the division of the Roman Empire into East and West. The pope's right to proclaim successors was based on theDonation of Constantine, a forged Roman imperial decree. After an initial protest at the usurpation, theByzantine EmperorMichael I Rhangabes acknowledged in 812 Charlemagne as co-emperor, according to some. According to others,Michael I reopened negotiations with theFranks in 812 and recognizedCharlemagne asbasileus (emperor), but not as emperor of the Romans. The coronation gave permanent legitimacy to Carolingian primacy among the Franks. TheOttonians later resurrected this connection in 962.
Charlemagne had several sons, but only one survived him. This son,Louis the Pious, followed his father as the ruler of a united empire. But sole inheritance remained a matter of chance, rather than intent. When Louis died in 840, the Carolingians adhered to the custom ofpartible inheritance, and after a brief civil war between the three sons, they made an agreement in 843, theTreaty of Verdun, which divided the empire in three:
Louis's second son,Louis the German, became King of theEast Frankish Kingdom or East Francia. This area formed the kernel of the laterHoly Roman Empire by way of theKingdom of Germany enlarged with some additional territories from Lothair's Middle Frankish Realm: much of these territories eventually evolved into modern Austria, Switzerland and Germany. For a list of successors, see theList of German monarchs.
Subsequently, at theTreaty of Mersen (870) the partitions were recast, to the detriment of Lotharingia. On 12 December 884,Charles the Fat (son ofLouis the German) reunited most of the Carolingian Empire, aside fromBurgundy. In late 887, his nephewArnulf of Carinthia revolted and assumed the title as King of the East Franks. Charles retired and soon died on 13 January 888.
Odo, Count of Paris was chosen to rule in the west, and was crowned the next month. At this point, West Francia was composed of Neustria in the west and in the east by Francia proper, the region between theMeuse and theSeine. The Carolingians were restored ten years later in West Francia, and ruled until 987, when the last Frankish King,Louis V, died.
Middle Francia was the territory ruled byLothair I, wedged between East and West Francia. The kingdom, which included theKingdom of Italy, Burgundy, theProvence, and the west ofAustrasia, was an unnatural creation of the Treaty of Verdun, with no historical or ethnic identity. The kingdom was split on the death ofLothair II in 869 into those ofLotharingia, Provence (with Burgundy divided between it and Lotharingia), and north Italy.
The different Frankish tribes, such as the Salii,Ripuarii, and Chamavi, had different legal traditions, which were only later codified, largely under Charlemagne. TheLeges Salica,Ribuaria, andChamavorum were Carolingian creations, their basis in earlier Frankish reality being difficult for scholars to discern at the present distance. Under Charlemagne codifications were also made ofthe Saxon law andthe Frisian law.
It was also under Frankish hegemony that the other Germanic societies east of the Rhine began to codify their tribal law, in such compilations as theLex Alamannorum andLex Baiuvariorum for the Alemanni and Bavarii respectively. Throughout the Frankish kingdoms there continued to beGallo-Romans subject toRoman law and clergy subject tocanon law. After the Frankish conquest ofSeptimania andCatalonia, those regions which had formerly been under Gothic control continued to utilise theVisigothic law code.
During the early period, Frankish law was preserved by therachimburgs, officials trained to remember it and pass it on. The Merovingians adopted thecapitulary as a tool for the promulgation and preservation of royal ordinances. Its usage was to continue under the Carolingians and even the laterSpoletan emperorsGuy andLambert under a programme ofrenovation regni Francorum ("renewal of the Frankish kingdom").
The last Merovingian capitulary was one of the most significant: theedict of Paris, issued by Chlothar II in 614 in the presence of his magnates, had been likened to a FrankishMagna Carta entrenching the rights of the nobility, but in actuality it sought to remove corruption from the judiciary and protect local and regional interests. Even after the last Merovingian capitulary, kings of the dynasty continued to independently exercise some legal powers. Childebert III even found cases against the powerfulArnulfings and became renowned among the people for his justness. But law in Francia was to experience arenaissance under the Carolingians.
Among the legal reforms adopted by Charlemagne were the codifications of traditional law mentioned above. He also sought to place checks on the power of local and regional judiciaries by the method of appointingmissi dominici in pairs to oversee specific regions for short periods of time. Usuallymissi were selected from outside their respective regions in order to prevent conflicts of interest. A capitulary of 802 gives insight into their duties. They were to execute justice, enforce respect for the royal rights, control the administration of thecounts anddukes (then still royal appointees), receive the oath of allegiance, and supervise the clergy.
In the 7th century, the territory of the Frankish realm was (re-)Christianized with the help ofIrish and Scottish missionaries. The result was the establishment of numerous monasteries, which would become the nucleus ofOld High German literacy in theCarolingian Empire.Columbanus was active in Frankish lands from 590, establishing monasteries until his death atBobbio in 615. He arrived on the continent with twelve companions and founded Annegray,Luxeuil, and Fontaines in France andBobbio in Italy. During the 7th century the disciples of Columbanus and other Scottish and Irish missionaries founded several monasteries orSchottenklöster in what are now France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland.The Irish influence in these monasteries is reflected in the adoption ofInsular style in book production, visible in 8th-century works such as theGelasian Sacramentary. TheInsular influence on theuncial script of the later Merovingian period eventually gave way to the development of theCarolingian minuscule in the 9th century.
Immediately after the fall of Rome and through the Merovingian dynasty, trading towns were re-established in the ruins of ancient cities. These specialised in exchange of goods, craft and agriculture, and were mostly independent of aristocratic control.[15] Carolingian Francia saw royal sponsorship for the construction of monastic cities, built to showcase a revival of the architecture of ancient Rome.[16] Administration was conducted by bishops. The old Gallo-Roman aristocrats had survived in prestige and as an institution by taking up the episcopal offices, and they were now put in charge of fields such as justice, infrastructure, education and social services. Kings were legitimized by their links with the religious institutions. Episcopal elections became supervised by the kings, and royal confirmation helped to strengthen the bishops' authority as well.[17]There were improvements in agriculture, notably the adoption of a new heavyplough and the growing use of thethree-field system.
Byzantine coinage was in use in Francia beforeTheudebert I began minting his own money at the start of his reign. Thesolidus andtriens were minted in Francia between 534 and 679. Thedenarius (ordenier) appeared later, in the name ofChilderic II and various non-royals around 673–675. A Carolingian denarius replaced the Merovingian one, and the Frisianpenning, in Gaul from 755 to the eleventh century.
The denarius subsequently appeared in Italy issued in the name of Carolingian monarchs after 794,[18] later by so-called "native" kings in the tenth century, and later still by theGerman Emperors fromOtto I (962). Finally, denarii were issued in Rome in the names of pope and emperor fromLeo III andCharlemagne onwards to the late tenth century.[19]
^Gregory of Tours was apparently skeptical of Childeric's connection to Chlodio, and only says that some say there was such a connection. ConcerningBelgica Secunda, which Chlodio had conquered first for the Franks, Bishop Remigius, the leader of the church in the same province, stated in a letter to Childeric's son Clovis that "Great news has reached us that you have taken up the administration ofBelgica Secunda. It is no surprise that you have begun to be as your parents ever were." (Epistolae Austriacae, translated by AC Murray, and quoted in Murray's "From Roman to Merovingian Gaul" p. 260). This is normally interpreted to mean that Childeric also had this administration. (See for example Wood "The Merovingian Kingdoms" p. 41.) Both the passage of Gregory and the letter of Remigius note the nobility of Clovis's mother when discussing his connection to this area.
^Joachim Henning (2007).Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium: The heirs of the Roman West. Walter de Gruyter. p. 29.ISBN978-3110183566.
^Hendrik W. Dey (2015).The Afterlife of the Roman City. Cambridge University Press. pp. 219–222.ISBN978-1107069183.
^Kreiner, Jamie. “About the Bishop: The Episcopal Entourage and the Economy of Government in Post-Roman Gaul.”, vol. 86, no. 2, Medieval Academy of America, 2011, pp. 321–60,http://www.jstor.org/stable/41105589.
^Spufford, Peter (1989) [1988]. "Appendix I".Money and its use in medieval Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 398,400–402.ISBN978-0-521-30384-2.
Collins, Roger.Early Medieval Europe 300–1000. London: MacMillan, 1991.
Fouracre, Paul. "The Origins of the Nobility in Francia."Nobles and Nobility in Medieval Europe: Concepts, Origins, Transformations, ed. Anne J. Duggan. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000.ISBN0-85115-769-6.
Geary, Patrick J.Before France and Germany: the Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.ISBN0-19-504458-4
Murray, Archibald C. andGoffart, Walter A.After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History. 1999.
Nixon, C. E. V. and Rodgers, Barbara.In Praise of Later Roman Emperors. Berkeley, 1994.
Laury Sarti, "Perceiving War and the Military in Early Christian Gaul (ca. 400–700 A.D.)" (= Brill's Series on the Early Middle Ages, 22), Leiden/Boston 2013,ISBN978-9004-25618-7.
Schutz, Herbert.The Germanic Realms in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400–750. American University Studies, Series IX: History, Vol. 196. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.
