The founder of the Frankish Empire of the Merovingians dies in Paris
The sources first speak of a people called the Franks – a name taken to mean “the bold and the brave” – in the 3rd century AD. Smaller tribes that had settled in the area east of the Lower and Middle Rhine banded together to raid Roman territories on the left bank of the Rhine. If that proved to be insufficiently profitable, they would change tack and provide military service to the Roman Empire in exchange for money or food. One of the Frank military leaders or petty kings, Childeric of the Merovingian dynasty, took advantage of the disintegration of Roman rule and carved out a large territory for his people in northern Gaul, the area of today’s Benelux countries. After Childeric’s death around 481, his son Clovis expanded the newly acquired territory by subjugating the other Franks and tribes in the area of what is now northern France.
Clovis I gradually established himself as the sole ruler of the new Frankish Empire, with Paris as its capital. He defeated the Germanic Alemanni – who were settled on the Upper Rhine – and converted to Christianity, possibly under the influence of his Christian wife. Thousands of his followers embraced the new faith alongside him. Clovis then proceeded to conquer southern France, defeating the Visigoths and annexing their territory. Needing to integrate a diverse population in a coherent polity, Clovis I fostered loyalty around the building blocks of Germanic traditions, Roman organizational structures and Christianity. The early medieval Frankish Empire of the Merovingian and then Carolingian kings, which developed after Clovis’s death on 27 November 511, laid the foundations for modern-day France, Germany and other modern nations.
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