Septimania in 537

Septimania (French: Septimanie, IPA: [sɛptimani]; Occitan: Septimània, IPA: [septiˈmanjɔ]; Catalan: Septimània, IPA: [səptiˈmaniə]) 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 briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba in the eighth century before its conquest by the Franks, who by the end of the ninth century termed it Gothia or the Gothic March (Marca Gothica).

Septimania was a march of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia down to the thirteenth century, though it was culturally and politically separate from northern France and the central royal government. The region was under the influence of the Toulousain, Provence, and Catalonia. It was part of the cultural and linguistic region named Occitania that was finally brought within the control of the French kings in the early 13th century as a result of the Albigensian Crusade after which it came under French governors. From the end of the thirteenth century it was known as Languedoc and its history is tied up with that of France.

The name "Septimania" may derive from part of the Roman name of the city of Béziers, Colonia Julia Septimanorum Beaterrae, which in turn alludes to the settlement of veterans of the Roman VII Legion in the city. Another possible derivation of the name is in reference to the seven cities (civitates) of the territory: Béziers, Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Maguelonne, and Nîmes. Septimania extended to a line half-way between the Mediterranean and the Garonne River in the northwest; in the east the Rhône separated it from Provence; and to the south its boundary was formed by the Pyrenees.

Visigothic Narbonensis[link]

Gothic acquisition of Septimania[link]

Under Theodoric II, the Visigoths settled in Aquitaine as foederati of the Western Roman Empire (450s). Sidonius Apollinaris refers to Septimania as "theirs" during the reign of Avitus (455–456), but Sidonius is probably considering Visigothic settlement of and around Toulouse.^[1] The Visigoths were then holding the Toulousain against the legal claims of the Empire, though they had more than once offered to exchange it for the Auvergne.^[2]

In 462 the Empire, controlled by Ricimer in the name of Libius Severus, granted the Visigoths the western half of the province of Gallia Narbonensis to settle. The Visigoths occupied Provence (eastern Narbonensis) as well and only in 475 did the Visigothic king, Euric, cede it to the Empire by a treaty whereby the emperor Julius Nepos recognised the Visigoths' full independence.

Kingdom of Narbonne[link]

The Visigoths, perhaps because they were Arian, met with the opposition of the Catholic Franks in Gaul.^[3] The Franks allied with the Armorici, whose land was under constant threat from the Goths south of the Loire, and in 507 Clovis I, the Frankish king, invaded the Visigothic kingdom, whose capital lay in Toulouse, with the consent of the leading men of the tribe.^[4] Clovis defeated the Goths in the Battle of Vouillé and the child-king Amalaric was carried for safety into Iberia while Gesalec was elected to replace him and rule from Narbonne.

Clovis, his son Theuderic I, and his Burgundian allies proceeded to conquer most of Visigothic Gaul, including the Rouergue (507) and Toulouse (508). The attempt to take Carcassone, a fortified site guarding the Septimanian coast, was defeated by the Ostrogoths (508) and Septimania thereafter remained in Visigothic hands, though the Burgundians managed to hold Narbonne for a time and drive Gesalec into exile. Border warfare between Gallo-Roman magnates, including bishops, had existed with the Visigoths during the last phase of the Empire and it continued under the Franks.^[5]

The Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great reconquered Narbonne from the Burgundians and retained it as the provincial capital. Theudis was appointed regent at Narbonne by Theodoric while Amalaric was still a minor in Iberia. When Theodoric died in 526, Amalaric was elected king in his own right and he immediately made his capital in Narbonne. He ceded Provence, which had at some point passed back into Visigothic control, to the Ostrogothic king Athalaric. The Frankish king of Paris, Childebert I, invaded Septimania in 531 and chased Amalaric to Barcelona in response to pleas from his sister, Chrotilda, that her husband, Amalaric, had been mistreating her. The Franks did not try to hold the province, however. Under Amalaric's successor, however, the centre of gravity of the kingdom crossed the Pyrenees and Theudis made his capital in Barcelona.

Gothic province of Gallia[link]

In the Visigothic kingdom, which became centred on Toledo by the end of the reign of Leovigild, the province of Gallia Narbonensis, usually shortened to just Gallia or Narbonensis and never called Septimania,^[1] was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whose metropolitan was the Archbishop of Narbonne. Originally, the Goths may have maintained their hold on the Albigeois, but if so it was conquered by the time of Chilperic I.^[6] There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507.^[6]

The province of Gallia held a unique place in the Visigothic kingdom, as it was the only province outside of Iberia, north of the Pyrenees, and bordering a strong foreign nation, in this case the Franks. The kings after Alaric II favoured Narbonne as a capital, but twice (611 and 531) were defeated and forced back to Barcelona by the Franks before Theudis moved the capital there permanently. Under Theodoric Septimania had been safe from Frankish assault, but was raided by Childebert I twice (531 and 541). When Liuva I succeeded the throne in 568, Septimania was a dangerous frontier province and Iberia was wracked by revolts.^[7] Liuva granted Iberia to his son Leovigild and took Septimania to himself.^[7]

During the revolt of Hermenegild (583–585) against his father Leovigild, Septimania was invaded by Guntram, King of Burgundy, possible in support of Hermenegild's revolt, since the latter was married to his niece Ingundis. The Frankish attack of 585 was repulsed by Hermenegild's brother Reccared, who was ruling Narbonensis as a sub-king. Hermenegild died at Tarragona that year and it is possible that he had escaped confinement in Valencia and was seeking to join up with his Frankish allies.^[8] Alternatively, the invasion may have occurred in response to Hermenegild's death.^[9] Reccared meanwhile took Beaucaire (Ugernum) on the Rhône near Tarascon and Cabaret (a fort called Ram's Head), both of which lay in Guntram's kingdom.^[8][9] Guntram ignored two pleas for a peace in 586 and Reccared undertook the only Visigothic invasion of Francia in response.^[9] However, Guntram was not motivated solely by religious alliance with the fellow Catholic Hermenegild, for he invaded Septimania again in 589 and was roundly defeated near Carcassonne by Claudius, Duke of Lusitania.^[10] It is clear that the Franks, throughout the sixth century, had coveted Septimania, but were unable to take it and the invasion of 589 was the last attempt.

In the seventh century Gallia often had its own governors or duces (dukes), who were typically Visigoths. Most public offices were also held by Goths, far out of proportion to their part of the population.^[11]

Culture of Gothic Septimania[link]

The native population of Gallia was referred to by Visigothic and Iberian writers as the "Gauls" and there is a well-attested hatred between the Goths and the Gaul which was atypical for the kingdom as a whole.^[11] The Gauls commonly insulted the Goths by comparing the strength of their men to that of Gaulish women, though the Spaniards regarded themselves as the defenders and protectors of the Gauls. It is only in the time of Wamba and Julian of Toledo, however, that a large Jewish population becomes evident in Septimania: Julian referred to it as a "brothel of blaspheming Jews."^[12]

Thanks to the preserved canons of the Council of Narbonne of 590, a good deal can be known about surviving pagan practices in Visigothic Septimania. The Council may have been responding in part to the orders of the Third Council of Toledo, which found "the sacrilege of idolatry [to be] firmly implanted throughout almost the whole of Iberia and Septimania."^[13] The Roman pagan practice of not working Thursdays in honour of Jupiter was still prevalent.^[14] The council set down penance to be done for not working on Thursday save for church festivals and commanded the practice of Martin of Braga, rest from rural work on Sundays, to be adopted.^[14] Also punished by the council were fortunetellers, who were publicly lashed and sold into slavery.

Different theories exist concerning the nature of the frontier between Septimania and Frankish Gaul. On the one hand, cultural exchange is generally reputed to have been minimal,^[15] but the level of trading activity has been disputed. There have been few to no objects of Neustrian, Austrasian, or Burgundian provenance discovered in Septimania.^[16] However, a series of sarcophagi of a unique regional style, variously laballed Visigothic, Aquitainian, or south-west Gallic, are prevalent on both sides of the Septimania border.^[17] These sarcophagi are made of locally quarried marble from Saint-Béat and are of varied design, but with generally flat relief which distinguishes them from Roman sarcophagi.^[17] Their production has been dated to either the 5th, 6th, or 7th century, with the second of these being considered the most likely today.^[18] However, if they were made in the 5th century, while both Aquitaine and Septimani were in Visigothic hands, their existence provides no evidence for a cultural osmosis across the Gothic-Frankish frontier. A unique style of orange pottery was common in the 4th and 5th centuries in southern Gaul, but the later (6th century) examples culled from Septimania are more orange than their cousins from Aquitaine and Provence and are not found commonly outside of Septimania, a strong indicator that there was little commerce over the frontier or at its ports.^[19] In fact, Septimania helped to isolate both Aquitaine and Iberia from the rest of the Mediterranean world.^[20]

Visigothic coinage did not circulate in Gaul outside of Septimania and Frankish coinage did not circulate in Iberia or Septimania. If there had been a significant amount of commerce over the frontier, the monies paid had to have been melted down immediately and re-minted for foreign coins have not been preserved across the frontier.^[21]

Moorish Septimania[link]

The Moors, under Al-Samh ibn Malik the governor-general of al-Andalus, sweeping up the Iberian peninsula, by 719 overran Septimania; al-Samh set up his capital from 720 at Narbonne, which the Moors called Arbuna, offering the still largely Arian inhabitants generous terms and quickly pacifying the other cities. Following the conquest, al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Lusitania, Castile and Léon, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania.^[22] With Narbonne secure, and equally important, its port, for the Arab mariners were masters now of the Western Mediterranean, he swiftly subdued the largely unresisting cities, still controlled by their Visigoth counts: taking Alet and Béziers, Agde, Lodève, Maguelonne and Nîmes. By 721 he was reinforced and ready to lay siege to Toulouse, a possession that would open up bordering Aquitaine to him on the same terms as Septimania. But his plans were overthrown in the disastrous Battle of Toulouse (721), with immense losses, in which al-Samh was so seriously wounded that he soon died at Narbonne. Arab forces soundly based in Narbonne and easily resupplied by sea, struck in the 720s, conquering Carcassonne on the north-western fringes of Septimania and penetrating eastwards as far as Autun (725). But in 731, the Berber wali of Narbonne and the region of Cerdagne, Uthman ibn Naissa, called "Munuza" by the Franks, who was recently linked by marriage to duke Eudes of Aquitaine (also called Odo the Great), revolted against Córdoba, and was defeated and killed. In October 732, an Arab force under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi encountered Charles Martel between Tours and Poitiers, and was defeated. This "Battle of Tours" (also called the Battle of Poitiers) is celebrated in popular history and traditionally credited with stopping the Moorish advance in Europe.

After the territory round Toulouse was taken by the Franks in 732, Pippin III directed his attention to Narbonne, but the city held firm in 737, defended by its Goths, and Jews under the command of its governor Yusuf, 'Abd er-Rahman's heir. Around 747 the government of the Septimania region (and the Upper Mark, from Pyrénées to Ebro River) was given to Aumar ben Aumar. In 752 Pippin turned his attention to Septimania. Gothic counts of Nîmes, Melguelh, Agde and Béziers refused allegiance to the emir at Córdoba and declared their loyalty to the Frankish king—the count of Nîmes, Ansemund, having some authority over the remaining counts. The Gothic counts and the Franks then began to besiege Narbonne, where Miló was probably the count (as successor of the count Gilbert). However, the strongly Gothic Narbonne under Muslim rule resisted to the Carolingian thrust. Moreover, attacks on the rearguard by a Basque army under the Aquitanian duke Waifer didn't make things easy to Pippin.

In 754 an anti-Frank reaction, led by Ermeniard, killed Ansemund, but the uprising was without success and Radulf was designated new count by the Frankish court. About 755 Abd al-Rahman ben Uqba replaced Aumar ben Aumar. Narbonne capitulated in 759 only after Pippin promised the defenders of the city to uphold the Gothic law, and the county was granted to Miló, the Gothic count in Muslim times, thus earning the loyalty of Septimania's Goths against Waifer.

Gothia in Carolingian times[link]

The region of Roussillon was taken by the Franks in 760. In 767, after waging a war against Waifer of Aquitaine, Albi, Rouergue, Gévaudan and the city of Toulouse were conquered. In 777 the wali of Barcelona, Sulayman al-Arabi, and the wali of Huesca Abu Taur, offered their submission to Charlemagne and also the submission of Husayn, wali of Zaragoza. When Charlemagne invaded the Upper Mark in 778, Husayn refused allegiance and he had to retire. In the Pyrenees, the Basques defeated his forces in Roncesvalles (August 15, 778).

The Frankish king found Septimania and the borderlands so devastated and depopulated by warfare, with the inhabitants hiding among the mountains, that he made grants of land that were some of the earliest identifiable fiefs to Visigothic and other refugees. Charlemagne also founded several monasteries in Septimania, around which the people gathered for protection. Beyond Septimania to the south Charlemagne established the Spanish Marches in the borderlands of his empire.

The territory passed to Louis, king in Aquitaine, but it was governed by Frankish margraves and then dukes (from 817) of Septimania.

The Frankish noble Bernat of Gothia (also, Bernat of Septimania) was the ruler of these lands from 826 to 832. His career (he was beheaded in 844) characterized the turbulent 9th century in Septimania. His appointment as Count of Barcelona in 826 occasioned a general uprising of the Catalan lords at this intrusion of Frankish power. For suppressing Berenguer of Toulouse and the Catalans, Louis the Pious rewarded Bernat with a series of counties, which roughly delimit 9th century Septimania: Narbonne, Béziers, Agde, Magalona, Nîmes and Uzés. Rising against Charles the Bald in 843, Bernard was apprehended at Toulouse and beheaded.

Septimania became known as Gothia after the reign of Charlemagne. It retained these two names while it was ruled by the counts of Toulouse during early part of the Middle Ages, but the southern part became more familiar as Roussillon and the west became known as Foix, and the name "Gothia" (along with the older name "Septimania") faded away during the 10th century, except as a traditional designation as the region fractured into smaller feudal entities, which sometimes retained Carolingian titles, but lost their Carolingian character, as the culture of Septimania evolved into the culture of Languedoc.

The name was used because the area was populated by a higher concentration of Goths than in surrounding regions. The rulers of this area, when joined with several counties, were titled the Marquesses of Gothia (and, also, the Dukes of Septimania).

See also[link]

• Septimania timeline

Sources[link]

• Bachrach, Bernard S. Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971.
• Collins, Roger. The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97. Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Collins, Roger. Visigothic Spain, 409–711. Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
• James, Edward. "Septimania and its Frontier: An Archaeological Approach." Visigothic Spain: New Approaches. Edward James (ed). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980.
• Lewis, Archibald Ross. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
• McKenna, Stephen. Paganism and Pagan Survivals in Spain up to the Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom. Catholic University of America Press: 1938.
• Thompson, E. A. The Goths in Spain. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
• Zuckerman, Arthur J. A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France 768-900 Columbia University Press, New York, 1965, 1972 [ISBN 0-231-03298-6].

Notes[link]

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Coordinates: 43°36′N 3°12′E / 43.6°N 3.2°E / 43.6; 3.2

Jonathan Thomas

Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Thomas
Date of birth	(1982-12-27) December 27, 1982 (age 29)
Place of birth	Pembroke, Wales
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	17 st 5 lb (110 kg)
School(s) attended	Pembroke Comprehensive School, Stackpole VC School
Club information
Position(s)	Second row, Number 8 or Flanker
Current club	Ospreys
Youth clubs
Years Club Pembroke RFC
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2003 ‐ Swansea RFC Ospreys 87 (20)
Representative teams**
2003 ‐ Wales 67 (35)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 16:55, 20 Aug 2011 (UTC).

Jonathan Thomas (born 27 December 1982 in Pembroke) is a Welsh international rugby union player who plays at flanker for the Ospreys. He has also played at number eight and lock.

He started out playing for Pembroke RFC juniors before playing for Swansea RFC and played for Wales at Under 16, Under 19 and Under 21 level. He made his international debut against Australia in 2003. He became noticed by many during the 2003 Rugby World Cup in the match against New Zealand.

Thomas has been part of two Six Nations Grand Slams in 2005 where he only started one of the matches and more recently in 2008 where he started every game and was one of the best players. He has been noted for his ball-carrying skills.

On 18 January 2010 he was named in the 35 man Wales national Squad for the 2010 Six Nations tournament.^[1]

In his appearances for Wales he has scored 7 tries.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ospreys profile
• Wales profile

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Territorial development of the Frankish Kingdom, AD 481–814.

The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum) were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as populating a broad strip of land on the right bank of the Lower and Middle Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks 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 and conquered all of Gaul except Septimania in the 6th century. The Salian political elite was one of the most active forces in spreading Christianity over western Europe. The Franks had created one of the most strong and stable barbaric kingdoms.

The Merovingian dynasty, descended from the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies which replaced the Western Roman 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 which dominated most of Western Europe. This empire would gradually evolve into France and the Holy Roman Empire.

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

[edit] Name

The name, Franci, applied by the tribes consequently considered Frankish to themselves and their confederacy; i.e., the endonym was never intended to be an ethnonym.^[1] Comprising multiple tribes each with its own ethnonym, it was in origin a socio-political term. To the people who shortly were to counter the invasions of the Franks–the Romans, the Celts, and the Suebi, who in the first two instances spoke significantly different languages–the Franks must have seemed to be all alike; they looked the same and had the same language, so that the word was in fact treated as an ethnonym.

Within a few centuries the names of the original tribes had been eclipsed by the name, Franci. The Franks themselves had developed a new ethnic identity, which they retained until language development created new ethnicities along the geographic lines of the modern Germanic languages, which were now mutually unintelligible to the casual speaker. The old tribal names often remained as local geographic names; for example, Hesse from the name of the Chatti, a constituent tribe of the Franks. The same process happened to the name of the Franks: Franconia is a local name within the ethnic identity of German, or Deutsch.

Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm,^[2] the name of the Franks is universally agreed to be the same word as English frank and counterparts in numerous other languages.^[3] The word is Germanic; however, it cannot credibly be traced back further. Frank has a range of meanings, all of which have been proposed at one time or another as the basis for the name of the confederacy: free, honest, bold. There is even a suggestion that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.^[4] Another theory is that it came from the Germanic word for "javelin" (cf. Old English franca, Old Norse frakka); however the opposite may be the case, as in the Latin francisca "throwing axe", which was named after the tribe. A weapon-based tribal name would be comparable to that of the Saxons and have an Indo-European precedent in the name of the Skythians ("shooters" or "bowmen"), even though an Indo-European etymology is missing.

There is some historical reason for selecting "bold, fierce" (cf. Middle Dutch vrac, Old English frǣc, Old Norwegian frakkr).^[5] Eumenius rhetorically addresses the Franks^[6] regarding the execution of some Frankish prisoners in the circus at Trier by Constantine I in 306 and certain other measures such as bridging the Rhine and stationing a fleet there:^[7] Ubi nunc est illa ferocia? Ubi semper insida mobilitas?, "Where now is that famed ferocity of yours, that ever untrustworthy fickleness?" Feroces was used often of the Franks.^[8]

Contemporary definitions of the ethnicity of the Franks vary by period and point of view. Wickham points out that^[9]

...the word 'Frankish' quickly ceased to have an exclusive ethnic connotation. North of the Loire everyone seems to have been considered a Frank by the mid-seventh century at the latest; Romani were essentially the inhabitants of Aquitaine after that."

On the other hand, Marculf's Formulary of circa 700 still mandates that:^[10]

"all the peoples who dwell there [i.e. in the official's province], Franks, Romans, Burgundians, and those of other nations, live ... according to their law and their custom;..."

which implies a continuation of national identities within a mixed population. Viewing the region from the outside, many Eastern peoples used (and still use) the term "Franks" with reference to Western Europeans and Roman Catholic Christians in general; for example, the Arabic word for "Europe" to this day is Firanja.^[11]

Appearance of the Franks[link]

Sidonius Apollinaris described the appearance of the Franks in his time (5th century):^[12]

"Their eyes are faint and pale, with a glimmer of greyish blue. Their faces are shaven all round, and instead of beards they have thin moustaches which they run through with a comb. Close fitting garments confine the tall limbs of the men, they are drawn up high so as to expose the knees, and a broad belt supports their narrow middle."

[edit] Mythological origins

A mythological origin story is a fiction devised by a source to account for an unknown ethnic origin. It is characterized by being patently fictional. The remaining early Frankish sources include two of these, which are subsequent to the main source, Gregory of Tours (6th century), and fill in for events for which Gregory could find no information: a 7th century work termed the Chronicle of Fredegar and an anonymous 8th century work called the Gesta Regum Francorum or the Liber Historiae Francorum. Neither of these works can be totally ignored for their historical value, but neither, because of their tendencies to mythologize, can they be trusted as much as Gregory's Historia Francorum.

The farthest Gregory goes in the direction of speculative origin is to relate a belief ("It is commonly said...."^[13]) that the Franks came from Pannonia (vicinity of Hungary), which would involve their migrating up the Danube and down the Rhine. This view is not supported by the archaeology: the Germanics populating the Rhine migrated there from North Germany; nor is it consistent with other sources on the early Germanics, such as Tacitus. The Celtic Boii inhabited the Danube lands (Bavaria) until almost the time of Julius Caesar, from which they were driven by the incursions of the Suebi, the central tribe of the Alamanni, enemies of the Franks.

The author of the Chronicle of Fredegar goes further afield to the fall of Troy (by modern scholars dated in the late Bronze Age). He claims Vergil and Hieronymous as sources, but only by twisting the names. The Franks as such are not to be found in those works, except in general mention by Hieronymous.^[14] Priam was a Frankish king. After the fall of Troy, the Franks migrated to Macedonia under King Friga (from which the Frigians or Phrygians). Quite apart from the language differences, the migration in history was in the opposite direction, as the Phrygians became one ancestral stream of the Armenians. Subsequently false genealogies of Frankish kings to Armenian ones became common. In Macedonia the putative Franks divided again. The European Franks reached their known location by the river route under King Francio, who serves as namegiver for the Franks, just as Romulus has lent his name to Rome. Another branch under King Turchot became the Turks, an anachronism as well as a language error. Fredegar does state that Theudemer, named king of the Franks by Gregory, was descended from Priam, Friga and Francio.

The author of the Gesta has Aeneas ruling as the king of Troy at its fall. Aeneas led a party ultimately to Latium, but 12000 Trojans led by chiefs Priam and Antenor sailed to the Tanais (Don) river, and with total disregard of geography sailed up it to Pannonia, which is on the Danube, not the Don, and settled there near the Maeotis, now the Sea of Azov and not near Pannonia either. There they founded a city called "Sicambria". Eventually an emperor named Valentinianus (mythical as stated) drove the anachronistic Alamanni into the marshes of Maeotis offering a 10-year abatement of taxes to those who could drive them out. The Trojans joined the Roman army in accomplishing the task, for which exploit they received the name of Franks, which, the author relates, is Attic Greek for feri, "savage." Ten years later the Romans attempting to reinstitute taxes against the will of the Franks killed Priam and drove the Franks downstream under Marcomer, son of Priam, and Sunno, son of Antenor.

After this fantasy it has been difficult for serious scholars to accept the two works as historical. Nevertheless, the Trojan origin of the Franks appears often, especially in contexts where the pedigree of Germanic kings is a topic of social interest. In view of the fact that until the late 20th century the Roman ideology of fallen Trojans remained seriously unquestioned, the Trojan Franks seemed more likely to the general public, even though many scholars had it tagged as a myth from an early date. Starting with circumstances vouched for by Gregory, the two works in question appear more reliable and are often used as historical supplements.

[edit] History

The major primary sources on the early Franks include Panegyrici Latini, Ammianus Marcellinus, Claudian, Zosimus, Sidonius Apollinaris and Gregory of Tours. The Franks are mentioned also on the Tabula Peutingeriana (a chart of the itineraries along Roman roads).

Geography of origins[link]

The "first undoubted mention" of any Franks occurs in the Augustan History, a collection of biographies of emperors written possibly in the 4th century. The Life of Aurelian, possibly by Vopiscus, mentions that the Franks had been raiding across the Rhine and the raiders were captured by the 6th Legion stationed at Mainz.^[15] The Romans killed 700 and sold 300 into slavery. This event happened in the first year of Gordian III, or 238. No mention of Ripuarian is made but these Franks if they were in the jurisdiction of the 6th very likely came from that territory.^[16]

Subsequently Frankish incursions over the Rhine were so frequent that the emperors began to adopt them into the empire and settle them on the borders so that they could control them better. In 292 Constantius defeated and removed some Franks who had settled on the then island of Batavia at the mouth of the Rhine. These were resettled not far away, in Toxandria, the seat of the later Salian Franks.^[17] Eumenius mentioned that Constantius "killed, expelled, captured, kidnapped" two groups of Franks, the one that had settled on Batavia and the other having crossed the Rhine. He also uses the term nationes Franciae, the first use of Francia.

Salian was used for the first time by Ammianus Marcellinus^[18] on the occasion of Julian in 358 campaigning against "the first Franks of all, those whom custom has called the Salians,"^[19] who at that time were in Toxandria. He defeated them but left them in place, promoting them instead to foederati of the empire.^[20] Their soldiers are listed as the Salii in the 5th century Notitia Dignitatum, a book of Roman unit insigniae. The Merovingians were to come from these Salian Franks.

Jordanes in Getica mentions some Riparii as auxiliaries of Flavius Aetius in the Battle of Châlons, 451:^[21]

"Hi enim affuerunt auxiliares: Franci, Sarmatae, Armoriciani, Liticiani, Burgundiones, Saxones, Riparii, Olibriones ..."

Considering that Franci is already listed, there is no definite statement that these Riparii are the Ripuarian Franks. They do not appear for certain under that name until their final subjugation by Clovis, who united all the Franks of Neustria making a capital at Paris. By that time the Salians extended south to the Loire, where they reached the border of the then Basque country of Aquitania. Their leadership had descended to the Merovingian family, hereditary kings first of the Salian Franks, then of all the Franks, of whom Clovis was king. According to his chronicler, or quasi-chronicler, Gregory of Tours, in Historia Francorum, he subjected the previously independent Ripuarians.

Earliest known Franks[link]

Tabula Peutingeriana[link]

One of the key documents in identifying the earliest known Franks is the Tabula Peutingeriana, a 13th century copy of a Roman road map (or perhaps chart) from a 4th or 5th century original reflecting information from the 3rd century. The northernmost limit of the empire depicted there is the right bank of the Rhine. North of it is the ocean. The Romans were well aware from their geographers of the rough outline of Europe; however, the chart was only a practical guide to the roads, to be followed from point to point.

The date of the information is only known through internal evidence; i.e., the disposition of the geopolitical terrain. As this disposition has been the topic of extensive scholarly debate the estimated date varies by a few critical centuries. The information may well be the earliest; if not, the 238 of the Augustan History must stand.

In the middle Rhine region is the word Francia followed upstream by a misspelling of Bructeri. Bonnae (Bonn) is in their territory, but Moguntiaco (Mainz) is further upstream. Beyond Mainz is Suevia, country of the Suebi, and beyond them Alamannia, country of another confederacy, the Alamanni. More follow. Agripina (Cologne) is between the Bructeri and Francia. Downstream after a gap are four tribes at the mouth of the Rhine: Chauci, Amsivarii ("Ems dwellers"), Cherusci and Chamavi, followed by qui et Pranci, "who are also Franks."

Ultimately the tabula was probably based on the Orbis Pictus, a map of 20 years' labor commissioned by Augustus and kept locked away in the Roman Treasury Department for assessment of taxes. It did not survive as such. Some of the data probably derives from it, such as the early imperial divisions of Gaul. A number of configurations specific to early imperial Rome can be cited, but in general none of the tribes and confederacies are depicted on the left bank of the Rhine, which places them at least as early as the 3rd century. The Alamanni first appeared on the Danube River in the reign of Caracalla, ca. 211, but no Goths appear there, suggesting a date of 211-221, the year before the reign of Alexander Severus, when they are known to have been on the Danube.^[22]

As the phrase indicates, the table may not have been intended to be interpreted sequentially. Gregory of Tours^[13] includes the Bructeri among the Franks. Cologne is shown on the tabula opposite the Bructeri, not far from Suevia. Francia, then, might be considered to have extended from the mouth of the Rhine upstream past Cologne, and there were no separate Franks from the tribes mentioned.

Ptolemy[link]

On the other hand the tabula does not correspond as well in that area with the maps of Ptolemy, composed perhaps a generation earlier. Ptolemy's two maps of Germany portray Germania Inferior, confined to the left bank of the Rhine, populated by Germanics who had been in the region before the Romans, as well as Celticised former Germanics. These were divided from the rest of the Germanics, Magna Germania, by the selection of the Rhine as the Roman frontier. Although the upper Rhine and the Danube were a sharp line of demarcation between Germanic and non-Germanic, the middle and lower Rhine were not.

Much of the problem between the empire and Franks was the artificial division of the Germanics along the Rhine frontier. The Franks saw no reason why they should be kept from settling there, and eventually they convinced the emperors. The topography of the Rhinemouth region was even more troubling, as the Rhine divided far inland into a fan of outlets, in which was a significant settlement area, Batavia, an island, as the suffix -avia, "island,", suggests. The Romans altered the topography by diverting the Rhine into the Yssel through a canal, which emptied into an inland lagoon. The area has since subsided, inundating the lagoon in a series of catastrophic infarctions of the North Sea to form the Zuider Zee. Since the Frisians to the north of the sea were never part of the Franks, this process may have begun in Roman times. Batavia is currently high and dry. After the construction of the canal it was on the left bank and therefore under Roman jurisdiction, although Germanic. The Roman naval base on the canal, Navalia, appears in Ptolemy's map of Germania Magna; Batavia, on the map of Germania Inferior.

Ptolemy's maps reflect generally the same tribal names as the tabula, with a notable exception: the Sicambri occupy the right bank upstream past Asciburgium (modern village of Asberg now in Neuss) not far from Cologne, in the region later part of the kingdom of the Ripuarians. The tabula calls this entire part of the bank Francia and does not mention the Sicambri. This difference suggests that in the few decades between the Ptolemaic map and the tabula the name of the Sicambri was submerged in that of the Franks.

Making a connection between the more ancient Sugambri and Gambrivii, the Encyclopedia of European peoples states:^[23]

"The name of the Sugambri is related to the Old High German word Gambar, for 'vigorous.'"

which is in fact not far in meaning from bold. According to Gregory, Sicamber, from Sicambri, was a title of the Merovingian kings, who were Salians. At his baptism Clovis was told:^[24] "Bow your head in meekness, Sicamber." These Sicambri, however, were mainly not located near either the sea or the Yssel, but were on the right bank of the Lower and Middle Rhine. The "sea" was being held by the Romans and the Frisians.

Apparently the distinction between the Salians and the Ripuarians did not yet exist. In the 3rd century, the tribes on or near the right bank of the Rhine were subsumed under a new confederacy, the Franks, that extended from the Yssel as far as Suebia, where it collided with another confederacy, the Alamanni. The two were kept apart by the large Roman base at Mainz. The tribes were already beginning to lose their names and political status in favor of the larger nation. A few large German cities had been founded by the Romans as an interface, such as Cologne, placed among the Ubii. The name means "river men,", from ab, stream, a common element of place names of the times. The Ubii were a Frankish people. Only the presence of the Roman garrison prevented it from declaring for the Franks. Later Cologne would be the capital of the Ripuarian Franks. In the third century neither Salii nor Ripuarii were to be found. When they did appear they were not distinguished as to tribe.

Ripuarians[link]

Approximate location of the original Frankish tribes. The Salians, however, are a Frankish designation, not an earlier Germanic one, containing the Sicambri along with populations from the others. In the depiction they have not yet been settled across the Rhine. The date is therefore the third century.

According to the ancient writers, the Frankish identity emerged at the first half of the 3rd century out of various earlier, smaller Germanic groups: the Sicambri, Chamavi, Bructeri, Chatti, Chattuarii, Ampsivarii, Tencteri and Ubii. These tribes inhabited the lower and middle Rhine valley from the right bank of the Yssel (which flows from the Rhine) between Lacus Flevo, the predecessor of the Zuider Zee, and Mainz. The Romans held the left bank, including Lacus Flevo and all the marsh and riverland to the south.

The Frankish confederation probably began to coalesce in the 210s north of the Roman province called Germania Inferior, "Lower Germany", which had been settled earlier by Celticised Germanic immigrants called by Julius Caesar the Belgae (from which Belgium). Along the Rhine itself were a number of Germanic-speaking cities, the interface between Roman and Germanic civilization. Germanics not already there were not allowed south of the Rhine without Roman permissions. Any unauthorized entry at all was regarded as a hostile act, which must be punished.

The initial unity of the Franks did not outlast the 3rd century. They were interested in reoccupying the left bank of the Rhine, which the Romans were preventing them from doing. There was also a strong interest in marauding expeditions to the south by land or by sea, which they accomplished by forced marches showing up unexpectedly in the Roman undefended rear. About mid-century an attempt was made to appropriate Batavia south of Lacus Flevo (vicinity of Nijmegen). This time the Romans allowed them to stay, settling them in Toxandria (vicinity of Antwerp) where they became a maritime power and were called the Salians (most likely "maritime people.") This group went their own way politically. Of the Franks who were left on the Rhine, those from Mainz to Duisburg raided across the river independently and at some point acquired the name Ripuarians (most likely "river people.") Both groups remained politically distinct until the unification of Francia as it was then by Clovis, the first Christian king, a Salian and a member of the Merovingian dynasty.

Salians[link]

Franks appear in Roman texts as both allies and enemies (laeti or dediticii). Around 250, one group of Franks 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. In 287 or 288, the Roman Caesar Maximian overwhelmed the Salian king Gennobaude. He and his people surrendered without a fight. Maximian accepted the surrender and installed the Salians in Toxandria (Germania inferior) at the mouth of the Rhine behind the limes in Belgic Gaul, under the statute of Laeti (subject to imperial authority). This success, however, did not allow him to regain Britain. Later, Constantius completed the reconquest of Britain and, having had problems with some Franks, deported Chamavi and Frisians in Gaul in the country Ambiani and Bellovaci.

About forty 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, 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.^[25]

The Salian Franks invaded the Roman Empire and were accepted as Foederati by Julian the Apostate in 358. By the end of the fifth century, the Salian Franks had largely moved onto Roman soil, to a territory now comprising the Netherlands south of the Rhine, Belgium and northwestern Gaul where, during the chaos of the migration period, they formed a kingdom, eventually giving rise to the Merovingian dynasty.^[26]

Merovingian kingdom (481–751)[link]

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A necklace of beads, most of which are glass or ceramic, with a single amethyst bead. Similar necklaces have been found in the graves of Frankish women in the Rhineland. This necklace is one of 21 said to have been excavated at Niederbreisig (Germany). Mid-sixth to seventh century CE.

A bow fibula found in northeastern France and the Rhineland. They were worn in pairs at the shoulder or as belt ornaments by women with noble status in Frankish society. Sixth century CE.

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. The city of Paris became his capital.

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)[link]

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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.

[edit] Military

Franks in the Roman army[link]

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 were 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 such as the Batavi and Menapii. When Roman administration collapsed in Gaul in the 260s due to joint invasions of Franks and Alamanni, the armies under Germanic Batavian Postumus revolted and proclaimed him emperor, proceding to restore order. From that time 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 raiders. In the mid 4th century Frankish soldiers like Magnentius, Silvanus and Arbitio held command positions in the Roman military. From the narrative of Ammianus Marcellinus it becomes clear that both Frankish and Alamannic tribal armies were organised along Roman lines 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 and weapons industry. This lasted at least till the days of Procopius, when the Western Roman Empire was gone for more than a century, because this historian reports 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 times.

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

Military practices of the early Franks[link]

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.^[27]

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.^[28]

While the above quotations have been used as a statement of the military practices of the Frankish nation 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. The Lex Ribuaria, the early 7th-century legal code of the Rhineland or Ripuarian Franks, specifies the values of various goods when paying a wergild in kind; whereas a spear and shield were worth only two solidi, a sword and scabbard were valued at seven, a helmet at six, and a "metal tunic" at twelve.^[29] 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. The Lex Ribuaria specifies that a mare's value was the same as that of an ox or of a shield and spear, two solidi, and a stallion seven or the same as a sword and scabbard,^[29] which suggests that horses were relatively common. Perhaps the Byzantine writers considered the Frankish horse to be insignificant relative to the Greek cavalry, which is probably accurate.^[30]

Merovingian military[link]

Composition and development[link]

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 mercenaries 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.^[31] 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).^[32] 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[link]

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 large 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.^[33] 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.

[edit] Culture

Language and literature[link]

Germanic Frankish socio-political unity survived for most of the first thousand years of the Christian Era, beginning with a confederation of tribes on the Lower and Middle Rhine whom the Romans called Franci, and ending perhaps with the Treaty of Verdun in 843. That event marked the formal common recognition by the grandchildren of Charlemagne that a single government over a united country comprising all the populations called Franks, Francia, no longer existed and could not be restored by its heirs. From then on Frankia was divided into distinct East and West Frankish kingdoms, with an intermediate zone, Lotharingia. The Holy Roman Empire went on as predominantly German, while the western Franks populated the new nation of France, which was predominantly Gallo-Roman, and the mixed duchies of the Lowlands. Over this nearly thousand years of socio-political unity, except for the first few centuries, no common Frankish language existed.

Germanic Frankish[link]

When the Franks first appeared as such in the 3rd century they were all speaking the same hypothetical language, the Proto-Germanic language, reconstructed from reflex languages, in this case all the Germanic languages, chance personal and place names in documents and utterances of other languages, such as the Latin language, and inscriptions in a native script called the Elder Futhark. Late Proto-Germanic included a number of hypothetical dialects, one of which must have been Frankish, as traces of it survived in subsequent times and languages. By the 5th century phonetic developments of Futhark indicate that for a very brief period West Germanic was distinct from East Germanic but not from North Germanic. The Frankish dialect must have been in West Germanic along with a Frisian Dialect, a Saxon Dialect, and many others.

Most Frankish tribes were united as Franks by being on the right bank of the Rhine. Except for tribes friendly to Rome, the Roman Empire kept them from the left bank and from entering Gaul. Those who were on the left bank constituted the Roman province of Lower Germany. For the century before the 5th century fall of Rome, Lower Germany and northern Gaul were being governed by Frankish officials and high Frankish officers in the Roman army. These Franks inherited the entire region when the Roman administration evacuated it after the fall of Rome.

By the 6th century the Franks no longer spoke a common language. A phonetic change called the High German consonant shift had occurred along an east-west zone now termed the Benrath Line, creating Low German on the west and High German on the east, with the Rhenish Fan, approximately equal to the Rhineland, serving as a middle zone of mixed high and low. These changes reached beyond the Franks; generally coastal Germanic as far north as the shores of the Baltic Sea was low, while inland high prevailed to the borders of the Slavic states on the east.

The Franks considered as the descendants of the population originally residing along the Rhine and speaking a single language were over the centuries following the 6th divided by the development among them of two modern languages, German and Dutch, featuring the presence or absence respectively of the consonant shift. At the end of the Proto-Germanic Period the language must have been divided into dialects, of which Frankish, or Franconian, was one. Others were the predecessors of Frisian and Saxon. These dialects persisted through the evolution of German and Dutch, which, like the modern Germanic languages, can be divided into old, middle and new phases, the latter being currently spoken; i.e., New German, New Dutch, etc. Frankish, or Franconian, refers to the sequence of dialects from each phase of German and Dutch spoken by the Frankish people, and not to a distinct language.

The system of naming Frankish dialects is analogous to, but not the same as, the naming of phases of complete languages. Frankish or Franconian is like a language name but it names dialects rather than a complete language or group of languages. Analogous to the split between High German and Low German is High Frankish and Low Frankish.^[34] Low Frankish, or Dietsch, is not identical to Dutch, as the latter is divided into dialects also: Low Frankish, Friesian (not the language) and Saxon (not the languages). The Franks incorporated some of Friesland and Saxony into the Netherlands, who learned Dutch in their own way. High Frankish comprises Central and Upper Frankish groups of dialects, which contain a number of widely spoken dialects of New German: (Ripuarian, Moselle-Franconian, Rhine-Franconian, East-Franconian, South-Franconian), France (Lorrainian) and Luxemburg (Luxembourgish).^[35] They mark the locations of formerly Frankish elements of the population.

The phases of the complete languages have analogous counterparts among the Frankish dialects as well. Old High German contains a dialect, Old High Franconian (Old East Franconian). Old Dutch is the same as Old Low Franconian; Old Low German comprises also Old Frisian and Old Saxon. The later phases of Frankish civilization expressed themselves through Old Frankish, the dialect analog of Old High German and Old Dutch. It includes Old High and Old Low Franconian dialects.

The Old Frankish phase; that is to say, Old High German and Old Dutch, ran from approximately the late 5th to approximately the 11th centuries of the Christian era. After them a Middle Franconian is defined but the Frankish identity as a social and political force had been submerged in French, Dutch and German. Some few writers consider the Old period to extend earlier to the Proto-Germanics but this usage is inconsistent with the naming conventions of Frankish. The linguists define Proto-Frankish, analogous to Proto-Germanic, as follows:^[36]

"The Frankish dialects have a clear and separate identity as a consequence of exclusively shared common innovations.... And these innovations in turn reflect a period of exclusively shared common prehistory during which the dialects were in contact only with each other, so that innovations spread only through these dialects."

Medieval Frankish literature[link]

The Franks, being situated on and within the border of Roman Gaul, and across the channel from Roman Britain, were the most educated, most literate and most literarily prolific of all the Germanics of the Old High German and Old Dutch language phases. The first Germanic cities were located in their territory. Many Franks were high officers in the Roman administration, for which positions a Roman literary education was a sine qua non. Frankish troops guarded the Roman frontier from Britain to the Middle East.

Thousands of documents have been discovered within Frankish territory in several scripts and media, from tombstones to laws recorded on parchment. Their writers are by far the major sources of medieval European history outside the Gallo-Roman world. It is surprising therefore that very few of these documents were written in Frankish dialects. Old Frankish was very nearly an entirely verbal means of communication, as far as can be judged from the surviving writings. For more formal communications of any kind the Franks used the lingua franca, Medieval Latin. To be educated was to know Latin. As an administrative language it was indispensable. Monarchs prided themselves in their ability to communicate via Latin, especially to emissaries and rulers of foreign nations. Latin served in place of translation; with it all educated and administrative Europe spoke the same language.

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.

Frankish in Gallo-Romance[link]

Modern French began as the language of the province of Neustria in northern France, which was created by the Franks after the Roman administration departed from northern Gaul. The language originally had been Gallo-Roman but as the Franks gradually settled there it evolved into Old French. The main theory concerning the generation of Old French is that a Frankish superstrate imposed much of their vocabulary and some features, mainly phonetic, on the Gallo-Roman. The Franks assimilated to Gallo-Roman rather than vice versa. The questions of the extent to which Gallo-Roman was influenced by Frankish and what Frankish features were adopted have long been questions of scholarly debate.^[37]

Other Romance languages were more influential in France outside Isle de France (the most populous descendant of Neustria) until the French Revolution. During and after the revolution French replaced all the others as the standard language of France, often called "Parisian French". Paris had been the Frankish capital for much of the MIddle Ages.

[edit] Religion

Echoes of Frankish paganism arise in the primary sources. Some Franks converted early to Christianity; a sizeable portion of the Frankish aristocracy quickly followed Clovis in converting to Christianity (the Frankish church of the Merovingians). The conversion of all under Frankish rule required a considerable amount of time and effort.

Paganism[link]

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.^[38] 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.^[39]

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[link]

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.^[40] 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 all under Frankish rule required a considerable amount of time and effort - in some places two centuries or more.^[41] 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.^[42] 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.^[43]

Gelasian Sacramentary, c. 750

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.^[44] 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.^[45]

The period of Frankish rule saw the gradual replacement of the Gallican rite of the Gallo-Roman church with the Roman rite (an event always advocated and encouraged by Rome).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.

[edit] Art and architecture

Chalice (c. 525) from the Treasure of Gourdon, perhaps a late Gallo-Roman piece, but displaying clear barbarian markers and influences.

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[link]

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.^[46]

Carolingian[link]

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.^[47]

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

Law[link]

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.^[48] 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.^[49] 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."^[50]

[edit] Legacy

Because the Frankish kingdom (Francia, the name origin of "France") 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 Latin Christians or Western and Northern Europeans in general (e.g., al-Faranj in Arabic, farangi in Persian and Urdu, Frenk in Turkish, Feringhi in Hindi, and Frangos in Greek). In particular, Latin Christians resident in the Middle East in general or the Levant in particular are called Franco-Levantines. A Thai derivative is ฝรั่ง Farang.^[51]

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. Another term with similar use was "Latins" (cf. the Latin Empire). This usage is often followed by modern historians, who call Western Europeans in the eastern Mediterranean "Franks" or "Latins" 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. In contemporary Israel the Yiddish word "Frenk" (פרענק) has, by a curious etymological development, come to refer to Mizrahi Jews and carries a strong pejorative connotation. During the Mongol Empire in the 13-14th centuries, the Mongols used the term, Franks, to designate Europeans.^[52]

The Mediterranean Lingua Franca ("Frankish language") was a pidgin spoken among "Franks" (i.e. European Christians) and Muslims in Mediterranean ports from the 11th century to the 19th.

[edit] See also

Ancient Germanic culture portal

• List of Frankish kings
• List of Frankish queens
• Name of France
• List of Germanic peoples
• Frankokratia

[edit] Notes

[edit] Sources

Primary sources[link]

• Gregory of Tours
  • Gregory of Tours. "Libri Historiarum" (in Latin). The Classics Page: The Latin Library. thelatinlibrary.com. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/gregorytours.html. 
  • Gregory of Tours; Ernst Brehaut (Translator) (1997) [1916]. Halsall, Paul. ed. History of the Franks: Books I-X (Extended Selections). New York: Columbia University Press; Fordham University. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html. 
  • Gregory; O. M. Dalton (Translator) (1967). The History of the Franks. Farnborough: Gregg Press. 
• Ammianus Marcellinus
  • Marcellinus, Ammianus; Roger Pearse (Translator) (2007) [1862]. Roman History. London; Internet: Bohn; tertullian.org. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Ammianus_Marcellinus. 
• Procopius
  •  Procopius; H.B. Dewing (Translator) (2008). History of the Wars. Wikisource. 

Secondary sources[link]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Franks

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Franks.

• Åhlfeldt, Johan (2010). "Regnum Francorum Online — interactive maps and sources of early medieval Europe 614-840". http://www.francia.ahlfeldt.se/. 
• Kurth, G. (1909). "The Franks". The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06238a.htm. 
• Martinsson, Örjan. "The Frankish Kingdom". Historical Atlas. http://www.tacitus.nu/historical-atlas/francia.htm. Retrieved 5 December 2011. 
• Nelson, Lynn Harry (2001). "The Rise of the Franks, 330-751". Lectures in Medieval History. vlib.us. http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/franks_rise.html. 
• "The Franks". International World History Project. 2001. http://history-world.org/franks.htm. 

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