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Socials 8
Name: Key
The Barbarians
Date: ______________ Period: ______
The Franks
The Franks were a confederation of peoples who banded together to take Roman land.
They took advantage of a Roman army weakened by civil war. In 354 A.D., the Roman
northern frontier collapsed.
With the collapse of their defences in Gaul, the Romans were inundated by invaders from what
is now Germany.
A weakened Rome gave the Franks land and used them as a buffer from other barbarians.
The lives of the Franks were mostly peaceful as they settled in the Roman frontier. They were
mostly pastoralist, growing crops and raising livestock. They raided and pillaged when the
opportunity rose.
For more than a century, they lived as obedient servants, adopting a Roman
lifestyle.
What were the Franks not willing to give up? Their Pagan beliefs
The Christians thought the Franks to be ignorant and misguided.
When the Roman forces pulled back further, the Franks invaded Gaul, once the most powerful
of Roman provinces.
Merovich was a chieftain who rose above the others. He was said to be descended from a sea
god.
The Romans enlisted the Franks to defend the empire against Attila the Hun. By fighting
alongside the Romans, the Franks gained better weapons and fighting techniques.
With the help of Merovich and the Franks, the Romans forced the Huns to retreat.
After Merovich’s death, his son Childeric leads the Franks. He yearns for the day he can unite
his people against the weakening empire.
To preserve Gaul against the Visigoths , the Empire needs Childeric and his Franks.
Together, they defeat the Visigoths.
Childeric is forced into exile by his people. Without his leadership, the Franks in Gaul fall
entirely under Roman rule. Childeric is brought back as king, reuniting the Franks.
After reigning for 24 years, Childeric dies, leaving his young son Clovis.
Unlike his father, Clovis takes power by brute force. In this way, he showed he was a traditional
Germanic warrior.
At first Clovis is on good terms with the empire, but soon builds military strength and strikes
against the Romans.
With the conquest of Northern Gaul, Clovis wins the Franks a home of their own.
Under Clovis, and with the help of his kin Sigibert, Clovis expands the Frankish kingdom.
Clovis embraces his wife’s Christian god after battle and his Frankish followers convert to
Christianity. The Franks become the first Catholic barbarians.
Clovis has Sigibert killed so that he can become sole ruler of the Franks. He murders anyone
who may oppose him.
Clovis makes Paris the capital of a unified nation of Gaul. The people of Gaul are allowed to
keep their Roman traditions, but are no longer Roman. They are Franks.
The Franks build unity out of diversity, becoming the most successful of the barbarians.
After the death of Clovis, his kingdom is divided among his four sons. Civil wars occur between
the brothers. But the Frankish identity stays solid.
The land of the Franks becomes Frankia and later France.
How was Clovis different from his father and grandfather?
Merovich and Childeric form alliances with the Romans to defeat other barbarians,
gaining favour with them. Clovis rules by force and strikes against the Romans early on.