The Franks (Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while: Franci or gens Francorum) were a West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of languages and include languages such as English, Dutch and Afrikaans, German, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish. The other two of these three traditional branches of the Germanic languages are the North and East Germanic languages tribal confederation first attested in the third century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul Gaul is a historical name used in the context of Ancient Rome in references to the region of Western Europe approximating present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. Only the Salian Franks The Salian Franks or Salii were a subgroup of the early Franks who originally had been living north of the limes in the coastal area above the Rhine in the northern Netherlands, where today there still is a region called Salland. The Merovingian kings, responsible for the conquest of Gaul were of Salian ancestry. From the 3rd century on, the formed a kingdom on Roman-held soil that was acknowledged by the Romans after 357. In the climate of the collapse of imperial authority in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin) largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the fifth century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family. During the final century of the Merovingian rule, the dynasty was increasingly and conquered all of Gaul except Septimania Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Under the Visigoths it was known as simply Gallia or Narbonensis. It corresponded roughly with the modern French region of Languedoc-Roussillon. It passed in the 6th century. The Salian political elite would be one of the most active forces in spreading Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy (which parted ways with Catholicism in 1054 A.D.) and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th over western Europe Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe. Another definition was created during the Cold War.

The Merovingian The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin) largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the fifth century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family. During the final century of the Merovingian rule, the dynasty was increasingly dynasty, descended from the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies Germanic monarchy, also called barbarian monarchy, was a monarchical system of government which was predominant among the Germanic tribes of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It is often contrasted with feudal monarchy and national monarchy, the later medieval systems which developed out of it which replaced the Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire from the fifth century. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over large parts of western Europe by the end of the eighth century, developing into the Carolingian Empire Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany. Depending on one's perspective, this Empire can be seen as the later history of the Frankish Realm or the early history of France and of the Holy Roman which dominated most of Western Europe. This empire would gradually evolve into France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, and the Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire (HRE; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich , Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum (IRS), Italian: Sacro Romano Impero (SRI)) was for about a millennium a realm in Central Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in.

Contemporary definitions of the ethnicity of the Franks vary by period and point of view. Many in the East used the term "Franks" to describe or refer to Western Europeans and Roman Catholic Christians The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called in general. It is unclear, though, to what extent different Western European groups described or referred to themselves as the Franks. Within Francia Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom (Latin: regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the Franks"), Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland (Persian: فرنگستان, Frangistan, "Land of the Franks"), was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century. Under the, the Franks appear to have initially been a distinct group with their own culture but the Frankish identity gradually changed from an ethnic identity to a national identity, much as happened with the Roman The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor, Augustus identity during the course of their empire.

Austrasia Austrasia , formed the north-eastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and Cologne also. Austrasia was also used as a term in 752 Neustria The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities. Thus Neustria formed the western part of the kingdom of the Franks under the rule of the in 752

Contents

Name

The ethnonym Frank has sometimes been traced to the Latin Latin or sometimes Roman is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Although often considered a dead language, in view of the fact that it has no native, fluent speakers, Latin continues to be taught in schools and has been, and currently is, used in the process of new word production in modern languages from many francisca (from the Germanic *frankon, akin to the Old English Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon franca), meaning "javelin." While the throwing axe of the Franks is known as the francisca The francisca is a throwing axe used as a weapon during the Early Middle Ages by the Franks, among whom it was a characteristic national weapon at the time of the Merovingians from about 500 to 750 AD and is known to have been used during the reign of Charlemagne (768 - 814). Although generally associated with the Franks, it was also used by other, the weapon conversely may have been named after the tribe. A. C. Murray says, "The etymology of Franci" is uncertain ('the fierce ones' is the favourite explanation), but the name is undoubtedly of Germanic origin."[1]

Mythological origins

Like many Germanic peoples, the Franks developed an origin story to connect themselves with peoples of antiquity. In the case of the Franks, these peoples were the Sicambri The Sicambri were a Germanic people living in what is now called the Netherlands at the turn of the first millennium. Originating in the Germanic-Celtic contact zone (cf. Nordwestblock), they had become Frankish by the 4th century, associated with the Low Franconian Salians and the Trojans Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in what is now northwest Turkey. It is best known for being the focus of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Trojan refers to the inhabitants and culture of Troy. Metrical evidence from the Iliad and the. An anonymous work of 727 called Liber Historiae Francorum states that following the fall of Troy Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in what is now northwest Turkey. It is best known for being the focus of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Trojan refers to the inhabitants and culture of Troy. Metrical evidence from the Iliad and the, 12,000 Trojans led by chiefs Priam In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous" and Antenor In Greek mythology, Antenor was a son of the Dardanian noble Aesyetes by Cleomestra. He was one of the wisest of the Trojan elders and counsellors. Antenor was husband of Theano, daughter of Cisseus of Thrace, who bore him numerous children, mostly sons (most of whom perished during the Trojan War). Before and during the Trojan War, he was a moved to the Tanais (Don) river, settled in Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located over the territory of the present-day western half of Hungary with parts in Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Bosnia and near the Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is the world's shallowest sea, linked by the Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south. It is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Crimean peninsula. The Don River is the major river that flows into it. The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world with an average depth of and founded a city called "Sicambria". In just two generations (Priam and his son Marcomer) from the fall of Troy (by modern scholars dated in the late Bronze Age) they arrive in the late fourth century at the Rhine. An earlier variation of this story can be read in Fredegar. In Fredegar's version an early king named Francio serves as namegiver for the Franks, just as Romulus Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth. They are descendants of the Trojan prince and refugee Aeneas, and are fathered by the god Mars or the demi-god Hercules on a royal Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia, whose uncle exposes them to die in the wild. They are found by a she-wolf who suckles and cares for them. The has lent his name to Rome Rome (English pronunciation: /ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma listen , pronounced [ˈroːma]; Latin: Rōma) is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality (central area), with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). While the population of the urban area was estimated by Eurostat to have been 3.46.

History

Main article: Francia Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom (Latin: regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the Franks"), Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland (Persian: فرنگستان, Frangistan, "Land of the Franks"), was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century. Under the

The Franks enter recorded history around the year 50 due to an invasion across the Rhine The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,232 km (766 mi), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 m3/s (71,000 cu ft/s) into the Roman Empire. They are first mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia (Persia, India) and North Africa. The map is named after Konrad Peutinger, a German 15–16th-century as the Chamavi qui est Pranci (meaning "Chamavi, who are Pranci", probably an error for Franci). Over the next century other Frankish tribes besides the Chamavi surface in the records. The major primary sources include Panegyrici Latini The Panegyrici Latini or Latin Panegyrics is a collection of twelve ancient Roman panegyric orations. The authors of most of the speeches in the collection are anonymous, but appear to have been Gallic in origin. Aside from the first panegyric, composed by Pliny the Younger in 100 CE, the other speeches in the collection date to points between 289, Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. His is the second-to-last major historical account written during Antiquity (the last was written by Procopius). His work chronicled in Latin the history of Rome from 96 to 378, although only the sections covering the period 353 - 378 are extant, Claudian Claudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho, Zosimus, Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris (November 5 of an unknown year, perhaps 430 – August, 489), a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius was "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg. He was one of four fifth- to sixth-century Gallo-Roman aristocrats whose and Gregory of Tours Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather. He wrote in an ungrammatical and barbarized style of late Latin; however, it has been argued that this was a deliberate ploy. As early as 357 a Frankish king from the Salians enters Roman-held soil to stay.

Origins

Modern scholars of the Migration Period The Migration period, also called the Barbarian Invasions or German: Völkerwanderung , was a period of human migration that occurred roughly between the years 300 to 700 CE in Europe, marking the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. These movements were catalyzed by profound changes within both the Roman Empire and the so- are in agreement that the Frankish identity emerged at the first half of the 3rd century out of various earlier, smaller Germanic The Germanic peoples are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages, which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The descendants of these peoples became, and in many areas contributed to, the ethnic groups of North groups, including the Salii The Salian Franks or Salii were a subgroup of the early Franks who originally had been living north of the limes in the coastal area above the Rhine in the northern Netherlands, where today there still is a region called Salland. The Merovingian kings, responsible for the conquest of Gaul were of Salian ancestry. From the 3rd century on, the, Sicambri The Sicambri were a Germanic people living in what is now called the Netherlands at the turn of the first millennium. Originating in the Germanic-Celtic contact zone (cf. Nordwestblock), they had become Frankish by the 4th century, associated with the Low Franconian Salians, Chamavi, Bructeri, Chatti The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of the Weser River and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder, Fulda and Weser River regions, a district approximately corresponding to Hesse-Kassel, though probably, Chattuarii, Ampsivarii, Tencteri, Ubii and Batavi The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean in front, and by the river Rhine in the, who inhabited the lower Rhine valley between the Zuyder Zee and the river Lahn The Lahn River is a 245.6-kilometer -long, right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km) and extended eastwards as far as the Weser The Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by (the confluence of) the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic (Hanseatic League) port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport. On the opposite (west) bank is the town, but were the most densely settled around the IJssel River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel ("Gelderland IJssel") to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel. River IJssel flows from Westervoort, east of the city of Arnhem, until it discharges into the IJsselmeer ( and between the Lippe The Lippe is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and 255 km (158 miles) in length and the Sieg. The Frankish confederation probably began to coalesce in the 230s.

The Salian Franks invaded the Roman Empire and were accepted as Foederati Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire. Early in the history of the Roman Republic, a foederatus identified one of the tribes bound by treaty (foedus), who were neither Roman colonies nor had they been granted Roman citizenship (civitas) but by Julian the Apostate in 358. By the end of the fifth century, the Salian Franks extended their footprint on Roman soil to a territory including the Netherlands south of the Rhine, Belgium and Northern Gaul, where they encountered other peoples also of the Frankish ethnicity. They gave rise to the Merovingian dynasty[2] in the 5th century.

Franks appear in Roman texts as both allies and enemies (laeti or dediticii). Around 250, one group of Franks, taking advantage of a weakened Roman Empire, penetrated as far as Tarragona in present-day Spain, plaguing this region for about a decade before Roman forces subdued them and expelled them from Roman territory. About seventy years later, the Franks had the region of the Scheldt river (present day west Flanders and southwest Netherlands) under control, and were raiding the Channel, disrupting transportation to Britain. Roman forces pacified the region, but did not expel the Franks[citation needed], who continued to be feared as pirates along the shores at least until the time of Julian the Apostate (358), when Salian Franks were granted to settle as foederati in Toxandria, according to Ammianus Marcellinus.[3]

In the 5th century, numerous small Frankish kingdoms existed, among them the ones in Cologne, Tournai, Le Mans and Cambrai. The kings of Tournai eventually came to subdue the other Frankish kings. This was probably enabled by their association with Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul; King Childeric I fights on Aegidius' side in 463. It is assumed that Childeric and Clovis I, his son, were commanders of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda, and thus subordinate to the magister militum. Clovis later turned against the Roman military leaders and won a battle against Syagrius in 486/487. After this battle, Clovis had Chararic, another Frankish king, imprisoned; he was later executed. A few years later, Ragnachar, Frankish king of Cambrai, and his brothers were killed by Clovis. By the 490s, Clovis had conquered all the Frankish kingdoms to the west of the River Maas, leaving only the Ripuarian Franks.

Merovingian kingdom (481–751)

Territorial situation of the Frankish Empire, AD 481–814.
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Main article: Merovingians

Clovis I became the first king of all Franks in 509, when he conquered the kingdom of Cologne. He had conquered the Kingdom of Soissons of the Roman general Syagrius and expelled the Visigoths from southern Gaul at the Battle of Vouillé, thus establishing Frankish hegemony over most of Gaul, excluding Burgundy, Provence, and Brittany, which he left to his successors, the Merovingians, to conquer.

Clovis divided his realm between his four sons in a manner which would become familiar, as his sons and grandsons in turn divided their kingdoms between their sons. Clovis' sons united to defeat Burgundy in 534, but internecine feuding came to the fore during the reigns of the brothers Sigebert I and Chilperic I and their sons and grandsons, largely fueled by the rivalry of the queens Fredegunda and Brunhilda. This period saw the emergence of three distinct regna (realms or subkingdoms): Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy. Each region developed in its own way and often sought to exert influence over the others. The rising star of the Arnulfing clan of Austrasia meant that the centre of political gravity in the kingdom gradually shifted eastwards from Paris and Tours to the Rhineland.

The Frankish realm was united again in 613 by Chlothar II, son of Chilperic. Chlothar granted the Edict of Paris to the nobles in an effort to cut down on corruption and unite his vast realm under his authority. After the militarily successful reign of his son and successor Dagobert I, royal authority rapidly declined under a series of kings traditionally known as rois fainéants. By 687, after the Battle of Tertry, the chronicler could say that the mayor of the palace, formerly the king's chief household official, "reigned." Finally, in 751, with the approval of the papacy and the nobility, the mayor Pepin the Short deposed the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, and had himself crowned, inaugurating a new dynasty, the Carolingians.

Carolingian empire (751–843)

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Main article: Carolingian Empire

The unification of most of what is now western and central Europe under one chief ruler provided a fertile ground for the continuation of what is known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Despite the almost constant internecine warfare that beset the Carolingian Empire, the extension of Frankish rule and Roman Christianity over such a large area ensured a fundamental unity throughout the Empire. Each part of the Carolingian Empire developed differently; Frankish government and culture depended very much upon individual rulers and their aims. Those aims shifted as easily as the changing political alliances within the Frankish leading families. However, those families, the Carolingians included, all shared the same basic beliefs and ideas of government. These ideas and beliefs had their roots in a background that drew from both Roman and Germanic tradition, a tradition that began before the Carolingian ascent and continued to some extent even after the deaths of Louis the Pious and his sons.

The sons of Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's grandsons, fought a civil war after Louis' death over their inheritance, which only ended in exhaustion. The Frankish lands were divided between them. Charles the Bald was given the western lands, "West Francia", that would later become France. Louis the German received the eastern lands, which would become Germany. Lothair I was given the lands between the two, "Middle Francia" which consisted of Lotharingia, Provence, and northern Italy. Middle Francia was not united in any way, and in the next generation disintegrated into smaller lordships, with West Francia and East Francia fighting for control over them. Arguably, France and Germany continued to fight over these lands up until World War II.

Military

In general Germanic peoples on the borders are known to have served in the Roman army since the days of Julius Caesar. The tribes at the Rhine delta that later became Franks are no exception to that general rule. Despite the fact that from the 3rd century onward large numbers of Germanic peoples served in the Roman army, others kept on invading and raiding Roman soil. This caused confrontations between Franks and their neighbours on Roman soil as the Batavi and Menapii. When Roman administration collapsed in Gaul in 260 due to a joint invasion of Franks and Alamanni, The Germanic Batavian Postumus was forced to usurp power to restore order. From that moment on Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, most notably Franks, were visibly promoted from the ranks. A few decades later the Menapian Carausius (born in Batavia) created a Batavian-British rumpstate on Roman soil that was supported by Frankish soldiers and pirates. In the mid 4th century Frankish soldiers like Magnentius, Silvanus and Arbitio held a dominant position in the Roman army. From description of Ammianus Marcellinus it becomes clear that both Frankish and Alamannic armies were organised like Romans and fought comparably.

After the invasion of Chlodio the Roman armies at the Rhine-border became a Frankish "franchise", and Franks were known to levy Roman-like troops that were supported by a Roman-like armour-industry. This lasted at least till the days of Procopius, when the Roman Empire was gone for more than a century, because this historian reported that the former Rhine-army was still in operation and that legions kept on using the same standard and insignia as had their forefathers during Roman time.

Militarily, the Franks under the Merovingians melded Germanic custom with Roman organisation and several important innovations. Before the conquest of Gaul, the Franks fought primarily as a tribe unless they were part of a Roman military unit fighting in conjunction with other regiments.

Early Frankish warfare

The primary sources for Frankish military custom and armament are Ammianus Marcellinus, Agathias, and Procopius, the latter two Eastern Roman historians writing about Frankish intervention in the Gothic War.

Writing of 539, Procopius says:

At this time the Franks, hearing that both the Goths and Romans had suffered severely by the war . . . forgetting for the moment their oaths and treaties . . . (for this nation in matters of trust is the most treacherous in the world), they straightway gathered to the number of one hundred thousand under the leadership of Theudebert I and marched into Italy: they had a small body of cavalry about their leader, and these were the only ones armed with spears, while all the rest were foot soldiers having neither bows nor spears, but each man carried a sword and shield and one axe. Now the iron head of this weapon was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides, while the wooden handles was very short. And they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and thus to shatters the shields of the enemy and kill the men.[4]

His contemporary, Agathias, says:

The military equipment of this people [the Franks] is very simple. . . . They do not know the use of the coat of mail or greaves and the majority leave the head uncovered, only a few wear the helmet. They have their chests bare and backs naked to the loins, they cover their thighs with either leather or linen. They do not serve on horseback except in very rare cases. Fighting on foot is both habitual and a national custom and they are proficient in this. At the hip they wear a sword and on the left side their shield is attached. They have neither bows nor slings, no missile weapons except the double edged axe and the angon which they use most often. The angons are spears which are neither very short nor very long they can be used, if necessary, for throwing like a javelin, and also in hand to hand combat.[5]

While the above quotations have been used as a statement of the military practices of the Frankish armies in the sixth century and have even been extrapolated to the entire period preceding Charles Martel's reforms (early – mid eighth century), post-Second World War historiography has emphasised the inherited Roman characteristics of the Frankish military from the date of the beginning of the conquest of Gaul. The Byzantine authors present several contradictions and difficulties. Procopius denies the Franks the use of the spear while Agathias makes it one of their primary weapons. They agree that the Franks were primarily infantrymen, threw axes, and carried a sword and shield. Both writers also contradict the authority of Gallic authors of the same general time period (Sidonius Apollinaris and Gregory of Tours) and the archaeological evidence. Scramasaxes and arrowheads are numerous in Frankish graves even though the Byzantine historians do not assign them to the Franks.

The evidence of Gregory and of the Lex Salica implies that the early Franks were a cavalry people. In fact, some modern historians have hypothesised that the Franks possessed so numerous a body of horses that they could use them to plough fields and thus were agriculturally technologically advanced over their neighbours. Perhaps the Byzantine writers considered the Frankish horse to be insignificant relative to the Greek cavalry, which is probably accurate.[6]

Merovingian military

Composition and development

The Frankish military establishment incorporated many of the pre-existing Roman institutions in Gaul, especially during and after the conquests of Clovis I in the late fifth and early sixth centuries. Frankish military strategy revolved around the holding and taking of fortified centres (castra) and in general these centres were held by garrisons of milities or laeti, that is, former Roman soldiers usually of Germanic origin. Throughout Gaul the descendants of Roman soldiers continued to wear their uniforms and perform their ceremonial duties.

Immediately beneath the Frankish king in the military hierarchy were the leudes, sworn followers of the king, generally "old soldiers" in service away from court.[7] They could be Gallo-Romans or Franks, laymen or clergy.[citation needed] Some historians[who?] have gone to the length of relating their oath-making to the later development of feudalism. The king also had an elite bodyguard called the truste (trustis). Members of the truste, antrustiones, often served in centannae, garrison settlements of Franks (or others) established for military and police purposes throughout the realm. The actual day-to-day bodyguard of the king was made up antrustiones (senior soldiers who were aristocrats in military service) and pueri (junior soldiers and not aristocrats, who in time would be promoted to antrustiones).[8] All high-ranking men had pueri.

The Frankish military was not composed solely of Franks and Gallo-Romans, but also contained Saxons, Alans, Taifals, and Alemanni. After the conquest of Burgundy (534) the well-organised military institutions of that kingdom were integrated into the Frankish realm. Chief among these was the standing army under the command of the Patrician of Burgundy.

In the late sixth century, during the wars instigated by Fredegund and Brunhilda, the Merovingian monarchs introduced a new element into their militaries: the local levy. A levy consisted in all the able-bodied men of a district who at the call had to report for military service. The local levy applied only to a city and its environs. Initially only in certain cities in western Gaul, in Neustria and Aquitaine, did the kings possess the right or power to call up the levy. The commanders of the local levies were always different from the commanders of the urban garrisons. Often the former were commanded by the counts of the districts. A much rarer occurrence was the general levy, which applied to the entire kingdom and included peasants (pauperes and inferiores). General levies could also be made within the still-pagan trans-Rhenish stem duchies at the bequest of a monarch. The Saxons, Alemanni, and Thuringii all had the levy and it could be depended upon by the Frankish monarchs until the mid-seventh century, when the stem dukes began to sever their ties to the monarchy. Radulf of Thuringia called up the levy for a war against Sigebert III in 640.

Soon the local levy spread to Austrasia and the less Romanised regions of Gaul. On an intermediate level, the kings began calling up territorial levies from the regions of Austrasia (which did not have major cities of Roman origin). However, all the forms of the levy gradually disappeared in the course of the seventh century after the reign of Dagobert I. Under the so-called rois fainéants, the levies disappeared by mid-century in Austrasia and later in Burgundy and Neustria. Only in Aquitaine, which was fast becoming independent of the central Frankish monarchy, did complex military institutions persist into the eighth century. In the final half of the seventh century and first half of the eighth in Merovingian Gaul, the chief military actors became the lay and ecclesiastical magnates with their bands of armed followers called retainers. The other aspects of the Merovingian military, mostly Roman in origin or innovations of powerful kings, disappeared from the scene by the eighth century.

Strategy, tactics, and equipment

The equipment of the Merovingian armies was as varied as the composition. Magnates were known to provide their retainers with coats of mail, helmets, shields, lances, swords, bows and arrows, and war horses. The magnates' private armies resembled in armament those of the Gallo-Roman potentiatores of the late Empire. The descendants of Roman soldiers continued to use their service weapons. There was a strong element of Alanic cavalry settled in Armorica which influenced the fighting style of the Bretons down into the twelfth century. Local urban levies could be reasonably well-armed and even mounted, but the more general levies were composed of pauperes and inferiores who were mostly farmers by trade and carried into battle whatever weapons they had at hand, often tools or farming implements which made them militarily ineffective and thus rarely called upon. The peoples east of the Rhine — Franks, Saxons, and even Wends — who were sometimes called upon to serve wore less and more rudimentary armour and carried more primitive weaponry, including spears and axes. Few of these men were mounted and they were not affected very much by Roman traditions and technologies.

Merovingian strategy was wound up in the militarised nature of the entire society. The Franks, unlike their Germanic neighbours to a great extent in this respect, were disposed to call annual meetings each 1 March (the so-called Marchfeld, because assemblies so large had to meet in open fields) whereat the nobles in the presence of the king determined the military target or targets for the coming season of campaigning. This also served as a "show of strength" on behalf of the monarch, and a way for the monarch to retain the loyalty of common troops.[9] In their civil wars with one another, the Merovingian kings concentrated on the holding of fortified places and cities (castra) and siege warfare was a primary aspect in all their endeavours. Siege engines of Roman type were used extensively and the greatest emphasis on tactics was tied to sieges. In offensive wars waged against external foes, the objective was typically the acquisition of booty or the enforcement of tribute. Only in the lands beyond the Rhine did the Merovingians seek to extend their political control over their neighbours.

Tactically, the Merovingians borrowed heavily from the Romans, especially regarding siege warfare. However, they were not bereft of innovation and there seems to be little remnant of tribal custom in their battle tactics, which were highly flexible and designed to meet the specific circumstances under which battle was being given. Subterfuge, as a tactic, was endlessly employed. Cavalry formed a large segment of the Merovingian military, but mounted troops readily dismounted when appropriate to fight on foot with the infantry. The Merovingians were capable of raising naval forces when necessary. The most significant naval campaign was waged against the Danes by Theuderic I in 515 and involved ocean-worthy ships. More regular was the use of rivercraft on the Loire, Rhone, and Rhine.

Culture

Language and literature

See also: List of French words of Germanic origin

The language spoken by the early Franks is known as Old Frankish and is only attested in a few words in the Lex Salica and in personal names, and is mostly reconstructed from Old Low Franconian and loanwords in Old French and Latin. In the Low Countries it evolved into Old Dutch.

Though it lent its name to a number of widely spoken dialects in modern Germany (Ripuarian, Moselle-Franconian, Rhine-Franconian, East-Franconian, South-Franconian), France (Lorrainian) and Luxemburg (Luxembourgish) these languages are not directly related to the ancient language of the Franks.[10]

Early in their history the Salians adopted Latin as a second language, as in the case of the Ubii and the Batavi. South of the language border, in what became northern France (langues d'oïl), Frankish was fully replaced by Old French from the 8th century on. Thereafter the language border between the French and Dutch languages slowly moved north to its current location.

There is no surviving work of literature in the Frankish language and perhaps no such works ever existed. Latin was the written language of Gaul before and during the Frankish period (e.g. Salic law). Of the Gallic works which survive, there are a few chronicles, many hagiographies and saints' lives, and a small corpus of poems.

The word Frank has the meaning of "free" (e.g. English frank, frankly, franklin, or the Dutch expression "Frank en Vrij": Frank and Free). This arose because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.[11]

Religion

Paganism

Main article: Frankish mythology Drawings of golden bees or flies discovered in the tomb of Childeric I.

Echoes of Frankish paganism arise in the primary sources, but their meaning is not always clear. Modern scholars vary wildly about their interpretation, but it is very likely that Frankish paganism shared most of its characteristics with the other varieties of Germanic paganism. The mythology of the Franks was probably a form of Germanic polytheism, later adapted and supplanted in the wake of their incursion into the Roman Empire.

It was highly ritualistic and many daily activities centred around the multiple deities, chiefest of which may have been the Quinotaur, a water-god from whom the Merovingians were reputed to have derived their ancestry.[12] Most of the pagan gods were associated with local cult centres and their sacred character and power were associated with specific regions, outside of which they were neither worshipped nor feared. Most of the gods were "worldly", possessing form and having concrete relation to earthly objects, in contradistinction to the transcedent God of Christianity.[13]

Archaeologically, Frankish paganism has been observed in the burial site of Childeric I, where the king's body was found covered in a cloth decorated with numerous bees or flies. The symbolism of these insects is unknown.

Christianity

See also: Germanic Christianity Statue in the Cathedral of Reims depicting the baptism of Clovis I by Saint Remi there around 496.

Some Franks converted early to Christianity, like the usurper Silvanus in the 4th century. In 496, Clovis I, who had married a Burgundian Catholic named Clotilda three years earlier, was baptised into the (Trinitarian) Catholic faith by Saint Remi after a decisive victory over the Alemanni at the Battle of Tolbiac. According to Gregory of Tours, over 3000 of his soldiers were baptised alongside him.[14] Clovis' conversion to Catholicism would prove to have an enormous effect on the course of European history, for at the time the Franks were the only major Christianized Germanic tribe without a predominantly Arian aristocracy (their contemporary rivals, the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians and Lombards, had converted to Arian Christianity), and this led to a naturally amicable relationship between the Church of Rome and the increasingly powerful Franks.

Though a sizeable portion of the Frankish aristocracy quickly followed Clovis in converting to Christianity, the conversion of the whole of the people under Frankish rule required a considerable amount of time and effort - in some places two centuries or more.[15] Early efforts towards organized resistance were quickly squelched: the Chronicle of St. Denis relates that, following Clovis' conversion, a number of devout pagans, unhappy with this turn of events, rallied around Ragnachairus (or Ragnachar), a powerful figure who had played an important role in Clovis' initial rise to power. Though the text remains unclear as to the precise pretext, Clovis soon had Ragnachairus thrown in chains and then executed.[16] As for the remaining pockets of resistance, they were overcome region by region - primarily due to the work of the quickly expanding network of monasteries.[17]

The Frankish church of the Merovingians was shaped by a number of internal and external forces: it had to come to terms with an established Gallo-Roman Christian hierarchy entrenched in a culturally resistant aristocracy; it had to Christianize pagan Frankish sensibilities and effectively suppress their expression; it had to provide a new theological basis for Merovingian forms of kingship, which were deeply rooted in pagan Germanic tradition; it had to accommodate Irish and Anglo-Saxon missionary activities on the one hand and papal requirements on the other.[18] The Carolingian reformation of monastic life and teaching and church-state relations can be seen both as the culmination of the Frankish church and a transformation of it.

The increasing personal wealth of the Merovingian elite allowed the endowment of many monasteries, such as those of the Irish missionary Saint Columbanus. The fifth, sixth and seventh centuries saw two major waves of hermitism in the Frankish world, a movement which was eventually reorganised by legislation requiring that all monks and hermits follow the Rule of St Benedict.[19]

The period of Frankish rule saw the gradual replacement, always pushed for by Rome, of the Gallican rite of the Gallo-Roman church with the Roman rite; this does not seem to have stirred passions outside the clergy.

The Church seems to have had a somewhat uneasy relationship with the Merovingian kings, whose claim to rule depended on a mystique of royal descent that the Church had not yet come to terms with, and who tended to revert to the polygamy of their pagan ancestors. When the mayors took over, the Church was supportive, and an Emperor crowned by the Pope was much more to their liking.

Art and architecture

Chalice (c. 525) from the Treasure of Gourdon, perhaps a late Gallo-Roman piece, but displaying clear barbarian markers and influences. Main articles: Merovingian art and architecture and Carolingian art

Early Frankish art and architecture belong to that phase of European art called Migration Period art, and have left very few remains. The later period is called Carolingian art, or, especially in architecture, the Pre-Romanesque.

Merovingian

Very little is preserved in the way of Frankish architecture of the Merovingian period. The works of Gregory of Tours praise the churches of his day, which mostly seem to have been timber-built, with larger examples using the basilica plan, but the most completely surviving example of Merovingian architecture is a baptistery dedicated to Saint John in Poitiers. It is a small building with three apses, now much rebuilt, essentially continuing Gallo-Roman style. In the South of France a number of small baptistries have survived, as separate baptistries fell permanently out of fashion in later periods, so they were not updated as the main churches have been.

What is preserved of the visual and plastic arts largely consists of archaeological finds of jewellery (such as brooches), weapons (such as swords with decorative hilts), and apparel (such as capes and sandals) found in grave sites, such as the famous grave of the queen Aregund, discovered in 1959, or the Treasure of Gourdon, deposited soon after 524. Not many illuminated manuscripts survive from the Merovingian period, though the few that do, like the Gelasian Sacramentary, contain a great deal of zoomorphic representations. Compared to the similar hybrid works of Insular art from the British Isles, Frankish works in all these media show more continuing use of late Antique style and motifs, and a lesser degree of skill and sophistication in design and manufacture. The numbers surviving are so small, however, that the best quality of work may not be represented.[20]

Carolingian

The pinnacle of Carolingian architecture: the palatine chapel at Aachen, Germany.

The work of the main centres of the Carolingian Renaissance represents a great transformation from that of the earlier period, and has survived in far greater quantity. The visual and literary arts were lavishly funded and encouraged by Charlemagne, using imported artists where necessary, and Carolingingian developments were in many areas decisive for the future course of Western art.

The main surviving monument of Carolingian architecture is the Palatine Chapel in Aachen, which is an impressive and confident adaptation of San Vitale, Ravenna, from where some of the pillars were brought. Many other important buildings can be largely reconstructed, such as the monasteries of Centula or St Gall, or the old Cologne Cathedral, now rebuilt. These were now large structures and complexes with a distinctive and sophisticated style, including an emphasis on the vertical and the frequent use of towers.[21]

Carolingian illuminated manuscripts and ivory plaques survive in reasonable numbers, and now approach those of Constantinople in quality, as was certainly the intention.

Society

Law

See also: Lex Salica and Lex Ripuaria

Like other Germanic peoples, the legal models of the Franks were originally housed only in the memory of designated specialists, rachimburgs, parallel to Scandinavian lawspeakers.[22] By the time codes began to be written down in the sixth century, there persisted two basic legal subdivisions within the Frankish nation: Salian Franks were subject to Salic law, Ripuarian Franks to Ripuarian law. Gallo-Romans south of the Loire River and the clergy remained subject to traditional Roman law.[23] Germanic law was overwhelmingly concerned with private law, which protects individuals, over public law, which protects the interest of the state. According to Michel Rouche, "Frankish judges devoted as much care to a case involving the theft of a dog as Roman judges did to cases involving the fiscal responsibility of curiales, or municipal councilors."[24]

Legacy

Because the Frankish kingdom dominated Western Europe for centuries, terms derived from "Frank" were used by many in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond as a synonym for Roman Christians (e.g., al-Faranj in Arabic, farangi in Persian, Frenk in Turkish, Feringhi in Hindustani, and Frangos in Greek). See also Thai ฝรั่ง Farang.[25] During the crusades, which were at first led mostly by nobles from northern France who claimed descent from Charlemagne, both Muslims and Christians used these terms as ethnonyms to describe the Crusaders. This usage is often followed by modern historians, who call Western Europeans in the eastern Mediterranean "Franks" regardless of their country of origin. Compare with Rhomaios, Rûmi ("Roman"), used for Orthodox Christians. Catholics on various islands in Greece are still referred to as Φράγκοι, "Frangoi" (Franks). Examples include the naming of a Catholic from the Island of Syros as "Frangosyrianos" (Φραγκοσυριανός). The term Frangistan was used by Muslims to refer to the land where the Crusaders came from, i.e. Christian Europe. Mediterranean Lingua Franca ("Frankish language") was a pidgin spoken among "Franks" and Muslims in the Mediterranean ports.

Look up frank, frankly, or Francis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Notes

  1. ^ A. C. Murray, From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader. Broadview Press Ltd, 2000. p. 1. The name may also be derived from the Sanskrit Firang, meaning foreign
  2. ^ Previté-Orton. The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, vol. I. p. 151.
  3. ^ Previté-Orton. The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, vol. I. pp. 51–52.
  4. ^ Procopius HW, VI, xxv, 1ff, quoted in Bachrach (1970), 436.
  5. ^ Agathias, Hist., II, 5, quoted in Bachrach (1970), 436–437.
  6. ^ Bachrach (1970), 440.
  7. ^ Halsall, Guy. Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900 (London: Routledge, 2003), p.48
  8. ^ Halsall, pp.48-9
  9. ^ Halsall, p.43
  10. ^ Korte geschiedenis van de Nederlandse taal, by J.vander Horst, page 42. Published 2000, ISNB 9057970716.
  11. ^ Michel Rouche (1987). "The Early Middle Ages in the West". in Paul Veyne. A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. Belknap Press. p. 425. ISBN 0674399749. OCLC 59830199.
  12. ^ Schutz, 152.
  13. ^ Gregory of Tours, in his History of the Franks, relates: "Now this people seems to have always been addicted to heathen worship, and they did not know God, but made themselves images of the woods and the waters, of birds and beasts and of the other elements as well. They were wont to worship these as God and to offer sacrifice to them." (Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, Book I.10)
  14. ^ Gregory of Tours. "Book II, 31". History of the Franks. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html#book2.
  15. ^ Sönke Lorenz (2001), Missionierung, Krisen und Reformen: Die Christianisierung von der Spätantike bis in Karolingische Zeit in Die Alemannen, Stuttgart: Theiss; ISBN 3-8062-1535-9; pp.441-446
  16. ^ The Chronicle of St. Denis, I.18-19, 23
  17. ^ Lorenz (2001:442)
  18. ^ J.M. Wallace-Hadrill covers these areas in The Frankish Church (Oxford History of the Christian Church; Oxford:Clarendon Press) 1983.
  19. ^ Michel Rouche, 435-436.
  20. ^ Otto Pächt, Book Illumination in the Middle Ages (trans fr German), 1986, Harvey Miller Publishers, London, ISBN 0-19-921060-8
  21. ^ Eduard Syndicus; Early Christian Art; pp. 164-74; Burns & Oates, London, 1962
  22. ^ Michel Rouche, 421.
  23. ^ Michel Rouche, 421-422.
  24. ^ Michel Rouche, 422-423
  25. ^ ฝรั่ง fa rang, thai-language.com, 2008

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Early Germanic culture
Languages Germanic Parent Language · Proto-Germanic · North Germanic · West Germanic (Ingvaeonic · South Germanic) · Northwest Germanic · East Germanic · Germanic philology · Germanic Europe
Prehistory Nordic Bronze Age · Pre-Roman Iron Age · Jastorf · Nordwestblock · Przeworsk · Wielbark · Oksywie
Roman Iron Age Magna Germania · Wars with Rome · Teutoburg Wald · Germania · Irminones · Ingvaeones · Istvaeones · Chatti · Marcomanni · Suebi
Migration Period Germanic Iron Age · Goths (Visigoths · Ostrogoths · Valagoths · Gothic Wars) · Franks · Alamanni · Burgundians · Lombards · Vandals · Suebi · Anglo-Saxons (Angles · Jutes · Saxons) · Dani · Suiones · Frisians · Geats · Gotlanders · Varangians · Christianization of the Germanic peoples · Romanization
Society and culture Mead hall · Poetry · Migration Period art · Runes (Runic calendar) · Sippe · Law (Lawspeaker · Thing) · Calendar · King · Names · Numbers · Romano-Germanic culture
Religion Wodanaz · Veleda · Tuisto · Mannus · Paganism (Anglo-Saxon · Continental Germanic mythology · Frankish · Norse) · Christianity (Arianism · Gothic)
Dress Bracteates · Fibula · Suebian knot
Warfare Gothic · Anglo-Saxon · Viking · Spear · Sword
Burial practices Tumulus · Ship burial · Viking Age · Alemannic · Sutton Hoo · Spong Hill
List of Germanic peoples · Portal:Ancient Germanic culture
Tribal hegemony in the former Western Roman Empire from the decline of Rome to 843
Huns 376-454 • Vandals 406-475 • Visigoths 410-711 • Franks 509-843 • Ostrogoths 493-553 • Byzantines 553-568 • Lombards 568-774 • Moors 711-1492

Categories: Ancient Germanic peoples | Ethnic groups in Europe | Franks | History of the Germanic peoples | Early Middle Ages

 

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