Who were the francs

Image: Universal History

Did you know the frank people Do you belong to a series of tribes that caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire? Within the barbarian invasions, the Frankish people had a special role, because they were one of the first kingdoms to settle within the Roman border. and he was also the one that defeated the Visigothic kingdom of Tolosa, thus forcing them to march to the interior of the peninsula, thus beginning a new stage. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will give you a summary on who were the francs.

Index

1. The beginnings of the Frankish people
2. The Franks within the Roman Empire
3. The Merovingians
4. The rise of the kingdom of the Franks

We hardly know much about the existence of said town before the great invasion waves that ended the Roman Empire. This is due, in large part, to the fact that few were the studies on the populations that lived outside the border, since Rome for some time only dedicated itself to the protection of this, without trying to annex more land.

A very important work to get to know the life of said town a little better is written Gregorio de Tours about 594, the problem with this is that it tells us many stories that could rather become part of mythology, so much so that it affirms that the Frankish people had their birth in the region of Pannonia, an element that is not entirely true, since most of the barbarian peoples that came to enter the Roman Empire, first settled in said basin.

Subsequent studies have revealed that it was probably a village east of the Rhine and that probably come from the union of a series of smaller tribes in the area on the S II-III, at which time the instability in that area began to reach levels that were too high. On the other hand, and thanks to some documents that are preserved from Roman times, we can come to know that they were divided into two fundamental groups:

• Francs salios: about the middle of the S III they inhabited the interior of the Rhine valley, which we can now define as the Netherlands and the Northeast Germany.
• Ripuar francs: comes from the word "Ripa" that is, river. These were seated in the middle Rhine course and the Romans would define them as the rhine people.

Although at first the division was like that, we know that by the 9th century there were no longer any distinctions, since both groups had been unified.

Image: Araceli Rego, a bit of history - blogger

Continuing with our summary of who were the francs, we will stop between 355-358 moment by which Emperor Julian succeeded in pacifying the Rhine area, reaching an agreement with the Franks, who became foederati Empire.

From that moment they helped the empire to keep the area of ​​Gaul from the other invasions, but from the year 420, by which time Rome no longer had authority, they dedicated themselves to go annexing all the lands to the south Of the same.

This caused them to have contact with the Visigoths, which they would expel from their kingdom in 507 after the famous battle of Vouillé, thus creating a more or less complex reality.

In this other lesson from a PROFESSOR we will discover the origin of the Visigothss.

This dynasty seems to be that it begins in 419 with some names of Frankish chiefs such as Faramond (419-427) or Clodión (427-447) who are covered with a halo of heroism.

During these first moments and following the work of Gregorio de Tours, we can have an idea of ​​what the Frankish kingdom when it belonged to the federation of Rome and how step by step it was taking control of the Gaul.

Within these narratives we will find the help that the Franks made to the Roman Empire when the invasion of the hunsAlthough we know little else about these early times.

Image: transitaelmundo

We finish this summary about who the Franks were by talking about the appearance of said people. From 486-507 the possibility of creating a somewhat larger and more conformed entity arises in the minds of the Frankish leaders, this being the germ of what would be the frank kingdom.

This began with Clovis I (481-509) who began a policy of expansion over the other Frankish tribes and the need for his people to advance south. That way we will find the total conquest of Gaul and the Rhineland, having to expel from these lands among others the Visigoths.

On the other hand he was the first to convert to christianity, after marrying Clotilde in 493, a princess of the Burgundian people. This seems to be that it made the Gallo-Roman population that inhabited the area accept him to a large extent as a political leader, helping him to create a fairly stable dynasty over time.

But this stability was never reflected in society, which began to feel the discomfort after the fall of Rome because trade was paralyzed and the villages and peasants had to start making self-sufficient. In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.

On the other hand we will see a degradation in power, since the kings did not have enough authority to govern such a large area, making little by little the great lords of the aristocracy began to obtain a greater number of lands that would be known as the villas; This is the first indication of the appearance of the feudal system because from that moment it is when the concept of vassalage, which was a fairly complex network of lattices that would remain until practically the S XVIII.

On the other hand, the degree to illiteracy professed by the Frankish people, being very famous that Charlemagne (the most important dynasty of the kingdom of the Franks) only managed to write his name before he died, although he tried to give his people a little more culture, creating for this purpose the Aachen school.

All this series of difficulties caused the great lords to take more and more power, until that one of them took over the throne, this being a palace steward who became known as Pepin the Short, founder of the Carolingian dynasty.

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