The Franks 2/3

• published: 03 Dec 2011
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The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum) were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD 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. 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 would be one of the most active forces in spreading Christianity over western Europe. The ethnonym "Frank" is thought to be derived from a Germanic word for "bold, fierce". The name has sometimes been traced to 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. 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. Modern scholars of the Migration Period are in agreement that the Frankish identity emerged at the first half of the 3rd century out of various earlier, smaller Germanic groups, including the ,Salii, Sicambri, Chamavi, Bructeri, Chatti, Chattuarii, Ampsivarii, Tencteri, Ubii, Batavi and the Tungri. These tribes inhabited the lower and middle Rhine valley between the Zuyder Zee and the river Lahn and extended eastwards as far as the Weser, but were the most densely settled around the IJssel and between the Lippe and the Sieg. They are termed by the scholars the Ripuarian Franks, following an ancient distinction, because they held the right bank (ripa) of the Rhine. The Romans held the left bank.