The Franks

Germanic peoples began entering from the east in the third century A.D., and within 200 years controlled nearly all of Gaul. They included Visigoths, Burgundians, Alamanni, and Franks. The last remains of Roman power disappeared with the victory of Clovis, a king of the Franks, in 486. (It is from the Franks that France got its name.) Clovis founded what was called the Merovingian dynasty. He accepted Christianity and allied his kingdom with the Roman Catholic church. Nearly all of what is now France was brought under Merovingian rule.

By the eighth century, Merovingian authority had declined and several armed factions had begun competing for power. In the early eighth century, Muslim invaders from Spain crossed the Pyrenees into France. They were met by the faction led by Charles Martel and defeated at the Battle of Tours in 732. Charles then conquered most of the Frankish kingdom. His son, Pepin the Short, deposed the last Merovingian king in 751 and established the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's sons, Charlemagne and Carloman, succeeded Pepin in 768 and divided the kingdom. After Carloman's death, Charlemagne reunified the kingdom and built an empire that included most of western Europe. On Christmas Day in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, became emperor in 814. Upon his death, the empire was divided among his three sons by the Treaty of Verdun (843); most of what is now France and southern Belgium came under the rule of the youngest son, Charles the Bald. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Norse invaders raided northwestern France. In 911, Charles the Simple obtained some relief by ceding to them territory that came to be known as Normandy. Louis V (986-87) was the last Carolingian monarch.