Kingdom of the Franks

Around 428, Chlodio launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The Merovingians, arose from within the military, with Childeric and his son Clovis being called "King of the Franks" even before having any Frankish territorial kingdom. Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects.

Eblem of Franks

## Kingdom of the Franks

### Location

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### Succeded by

Holy Roman Empire

Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and won the Battle of Tolbiac, in 496 and established Frankish hegemony over them. Clovis defeated the Visigoths in 507 and conquered all of their territory north of the Pyrenees save Septimania and incorporated them into his kingdom.

He also incorporated the various Roman military settlements (laeti) scattered over Gaul: the Saxons of Bessin, the Britons and the Alans of Armorica and Loire valley or the Taifals of Poitou to name a few prominent ones. By the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast.

The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy. The Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance dividing their lands among their sons. Even when multiple Merovingian kings ruled, the kingdom was conceived of as a single realm ruled collectively by several kings and the turn of events could result in the reunification of the whole realm under a single king.

At the death of Clovis, his kingdom was divided among his four adult sons, each receiving a comparable portion of fiscal land.

The kingdoms were not geographically unified but were created to establish equal-sized fiscs, revealing the concentration of Roman fiscal lands.

Clovis's sons established their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul. During their reigns, various tribes were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom. However, the fraternal kings showed signs of rivalry and intermittent friendship. Upon the death of Chlodomer, Chlothar murdered his young nephews to take a share of his kingdom, following custom, and the kingdom was divided among the surviving brothers.

Through a series of wars and alliances, Chlothar managed to reunite the entire Frankish realm. After his death, the kingdom was divided again between his four sons, leading to fratricidal wars and ongoing conflicts. The mayors of the palace, particularly Charles Martel, emerged as dominant figures in the kingdom, effectively ruling the Franks, which eventually led to the decline of the Merovingian dynasty.

Charles Martel's victories over external enemies, such as the Arabs, and internal rivals solidified his power, and upon his death, he divided the realm between his two sons. Pepin the Younger and Carloman assumed the regal status and practices, though not the title, of the Merovingians, setting the stage for Pepin's assumption of the crown and the rise of the Carolingian dynasty.

Pepin solidified his position in 754 by entering into an alliance with Pope Stephen II, who presented the king of the Franks a copy of the forged "Donation of Constantine" at Paris and in a magnificent ceremony at Saint-Denis anointed the king and his family and declared him patricius Romanorum ("protector of the Romans"). The following year Pepin fulfilled his promise to the pope and retrieved the Exarchate of Ravenna, recently fallen to the Lombards, and returned it to the Papacy.

Pepin donated the re-conquered areas around Rome to the Pope, laying the foundation for the Papal States in the "Donation of Pepin" which he laid on the tomb of St Peter. The papacy had good cause to expect that the remade Frankish monarchy would provide a deferential power base (potestas) in the creation of a new world order, centred on the Pope.

Upon Pepin's death in 768, his sons, Charles and Carloman, once again divided the kingdom between themselves. However, Carloman withdrew to a monastery and died shortly thereafter, leaving sole rule to his brother, who would later become known as Charlemagne or Charles the Great.

In 774 Charlemagne conquers the Lombard Kingdom in northern Italy, adding more territories to the Papal States.

Pope Leo III, had a vision of a unified Europe under a strong Christian ruler. On December 25, 800, As the bells of St. Peter's Basilica rang out across Rome, Charlemagne, accompanied by his loyal knights, knelt before Pope Leo III. The Pope placed a golden crown upon Charlemagne's head, declaring him the first Holy Roman Emperor. The vast assembly of nobles and clergy gasped in awe as they witnessed the revival of the Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire was born, encompassing not only the Kingdom of the Franks and The Papal States. This act symbolized a revival of the Western Roman Empire. Meanwhile, the Pope declared that the Papal States would henceforth be known as "The Papacy."