Franks
(redirected from Frakland)Also found in: Dictionary.
Franks,
group of Germanic tribes. By the 3d cent. A.D., they were settled along the lower and middle Rhine. The two major divisions were the Salian Franks in the north and the Ripuarian Franks in the south. The two groups expanded independently, although they sometimes united against a common enemy. The Salian Franks became allies of the Roman Empire late in the 4th cent. In the following century they moved southward into Gaul, and under their leader Clovis IClovis I, c.466–511, Frankish king (481–511), son of Childeric I and founder of the Merovingian monarchy. Originally little more than a tribal chieftain, he became sole leader of the Salian Franks by force of perseverance and by murdering a number of relatives.
..... Click the link for more information. they overthrew (486) the Romans. Clovis permanently united the Salian and Ripuarian Franks, accepted Roman Catholicism, and founded the Frankish empire. By the conquest of the First Kingdom of BurgundyBurgundy
, Fr. Bourgogne , historic region, E France. The name once applied to a large area embracing several kingdoms, a free county (see Franche-Comté), and a duchy.
..... Click the link for more information. , of BavariaBavaria
, Ger. Bayern, state (1994 pop. 11,600,000), 27,239 sq mi (70,549 sq km), S Germany. Munich is the capital. The largest state of Germany, Bavaria is bordered by the Czech Republic on the east, by Austria on the southeast and south, by Baden-Württemberg on the
..... Click the link for more information. , of the territories of the AlemanniAlemanni
, Germanic tribe, a splinter group of the Suebi (see Germans). The Alemanni may have been a confederation of smaller tribes. First mentioned (A.D. 213) as unsuccessfully assaulting the Romans between the Elbe and the Danube, they later settled (3d cent.) in upper Italy.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Thuringians, and the Saxons, and of the kingdom of the LombardsLombards
, ancient Germanic people. By the 1st cent. A.D. the Lombards were settled along the lower Elbe. After obscure migrations they were allowed (547) by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle in Pannonia and Noricum (modern Hungary and E Austria).
..... Click the link for more information. , the Frankish empire grew (6th–9th cent.) to include most of France, the Low Countries, Germany W of the Elbe, Austria, Switzerland, and N and central Italy. Under its first dynasty, the MerovingiansMerovingians,
dynasty of Frankish kings, descended, according to tradition, from Merovech, chief of the Salian Franks, whose son was Childeric I and whose grandson was Clovis I, the founder of the Frankish monarchy.
..... Click the link for more information. , the empire was, for most of the time, divided into several kingdoms, notably NeustriaNeustria
, western portion of the kingdom of the Franks in the 6th, 7th, and 8th cent., during the rule of the Merovingians. It comprised the Seine and Loire country and the region to the north; its principal towns were Soissons and Paris.
..... Click the link for more information. in the west, AustrasiaAustrasia
, northeastern portion of the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks in the 6th, 7th, and 8th cent., comprising, in general, parts of E France, W Germany, and the Netherlands, with its capital variously at Metz, Reims, and Soissons.
..... Click the link for more information. in the east, and Burgundy in the south. Internal warfare among the kingdoms was almost constant. In contrast to the high degree of political organization, commerce, and culture under the Romans, the Merovingians represented a barbaric civilization. Only the Church kept alive the remnants of Gallo-Roman culture. The height of Frankish development and power occurred under the CarolingiansCarolingians
, dynasty of Frankish rulers, founded in the 7th cent. by Pepin of Landen, who, as mayor of the palace, ruled the East Frankish Kingdom of Austrasia for Dagobert I.
..... Click the link for more information. , who first ruled as mayors of the palace, and then, from 751, as kings of the reunited Frankish domains. CharlemagneCharlemagne
(Charles the Great or Charles I) [O.Fr.,=Charles the great], 742?–814, emperor of the West (800–814), Carolingian king of the Franks (768–814).
..... Click the link for more information. was the greatest Frankish ruler. His empire was partitioned in 843 (see Verdun, Treaty ofVerdun, Treaty of,
the partition of Charlemagne's empire among three sons of Louis I, emperor of the West. It was concluded in 843 at Verdun on the Meuse or, possibly, Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, Soâne-et-Loire dept., E France.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and again in 870 by the Treaty of MersenMersen, Treaty of,
870, redivision of the Carolingian empire by the sons of Louis I, Charles the Bald (later Charles II) of the West Franks (France) and Louis the German of the East Franks (Germany), signed at Mersen (Dutch Meersen), now in the Netherlands.
..... Click the link for more information. . From these partitions developed the kingdom of the West Franks, who merged with the far more numerous Gallo-Roman population of Gaul and became France; and the kingdom of the East Franks, who retained their Germanic speech and became Germany. Both France and the region of Franconia in Germany derive their names from the Franks. Throughout the Middle Ages the word Frank was identified with the word free (Fr. franc).
Bibliography
See study by P. Lasko (1971).
Franks
a group of west Germanic tribes that formed a tribal alliance first mentioned in the mid-third century; the tribes included the Chamavi, Bructeri, Usipetes, Tencteri, and Sugambri. Historians divide the Franks into two groups. The nucleus of the first group was made up of the Salian Franks, later the West Franks, whose name derived from the Celtic sal (“sea”). The Salian Franks originally lived along the Ijssel River but by the mid-fourth century had moved into the regions along the lower Rhine, as far as the Schelde River, in Toxandria. The second group was made up of Franks who later came to be known as the Ripuarian Franks, from the Latin ripa (“river bank”). They lived further upriver along the Rhine, as far as the Main River.
In the mid-fourth century, the Salian Franks were defeated by the Romans but were allowed to remain in Toxandria as foederati, or allies. In 451 they fought in the battle of the Cata-launian plains against the Huns. By the beginning of the fifth century, they had conquered Gaul as far as the Somme River.
The social system of the Salian Franks, who were in transition from the agricultural commune to the mark commune (see), was reflected in the Salic Law (seeSALIC LAW). As the Salian Franks continued to conquer Gaul, the Frankish state came into being; it existed from the late fifth to the mid-ninth centuries. The Franks were the dominant ethnic group in the state, although they represented a small minority of the population, particularly south of the Seine; south of the Loire, there were only isolated settlements of Franks. As they were assimilated by the local Gallo-Roman population, the Franks living in the interfluve of the Maas and Loire became part of the northern French and Walloon nationalities; the Franks south of the Loire became part of the southern French, or Provençal, nationality.
The Franks living along the middle Rhine and in the Maas River basin retained their ethnic identity longer and formed the basis of a regional group, the Franconians. The Franks inhabiting the basin of the lower Rhine, who also retained their ethnic identity longer, played a major role in the ethnogenesis of the Dutch and Flemish.
IU. L. BESSMERTNYI