At its peak under Charlemagne, the Frankish kingdom consisted of modern France, the lowlands near the mouth of the Rhine River, much of modern Germany, and part of northern Italy. The kingdom broke into smaller pieces in succeeding centuries. At one point the king of France ruled only a small area centered around Paris, and English kings nominally owned much more of what is France today. By the end of the Middle Ages, however, the borders of France looked very much as they do today.

Charlemagne made his capital at Aachen, in modern Germany, but later Frankish and French kings made Paris the capital.

The kingdom of Clovis was divided after his death among his four sons, according to German custom. This led to several centuries of civil warfare and struggle between claimants to the throne. By the end of the 7th century, the Merovingian kings (descendants of Clovis) were rulers in name only. The kingdom was actually ruled by palace officials. In the early 8th century, Charles Martel became mayor of the palace. He converted the Franks into a cavalry force and fought so well that his enemies gave him the name of Charles the Hammer. In 732 the Frankish cavalry defeated Muslim invaders moving north from Spain at the battle of Tours, stopping forever the advance of Islam from the southwest.

Charles Martel's son, Pepin made a deal with the Pope and became the king of the Franks in return for helping to defend Rome from the Lombards, another Germanic tribe threatening northern Italy and Rome. The alliance between the Franks and the church created the Papal States and gave the Pope his long-sought independence.

Pepin founded the dynasty of the Carolingians and the greatest of these rulers was Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, who ruled from 771 to 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire and was responsible for a rebirth of culture and learning in the West. On Christmas Day in 800, Pope surprised Charlemagne by crowning him emperor of the western Roman Empire, a title the king did not want. The Pope wanted a shield from Byzantine emperors who claimed rule over Rome.

Charlemagne's empire was eventually divided three ways among his grandsons and thereafter coalesced into two major parts, the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Later Carolingian kings gradually lost political control of France, however. Central authority broke down under the pressure of civil wars, border clashes, and Viking raids. Frankish kings could only raise money and soldiers by making concessions to landholders. Fiefs became hereditary and fief holders became feudal lords over their own vassals. By the 10th century, France had been broken into feudal domains that acted as independent states.

In 987 the French nobility elected Hugh Capet their king, mainly because he was one of the weakest of their group and thought to pose no threat. Hugh's fief was centered on Paris and not particularly large. Hugh founded the Capetian line of kings who ultimately converted France from a feudal state into a nation.

The Capetian kings began with a few advantages. They were strongly allied to the church, giving them a strong moral position. The church itself had important cultural, political, and social influence throughout Europe that could work to the French king's advantage. The kings were also the lords of the important fief holders, giving them a moral advantage over them as well. The fief of Paris was centrally located and a major trade center, and developed into an important source of wealth.

The Capetian kings worked slowly for two centuries regaining the power they had lost to the nobles by making royal roads safe, adding land to their domain, and granting royal charters for new towns and fiefs in previously vacant lands. Royal administrators were made loyal to the king and more efficient by eliminating the inheritance of government offices.

Beginning with Philip II in 1180, three superior rulers established France as the most important nation in Europe. Through diplomacy and hard fighting, the kings took control of the Norman holdings in France other than Aquitaine. They improved the working of the government, collection of fees, and strengthened their position atop the feudal hierarchy. Although a national assembly called the Estates General was established, it held no real power and was successfully ignored.

From 1337 to 1453 France and England fought the long conflict called the Hundred Year's War to decide ownership of lands in France that had been inherited by English kings. The eventual French victory confirmed the king as the most powerful political force in France.

Under the Franks, the revenue and food producing land came under control of a military aristocracy that owed duty, or vassalage, and taxes (food, money, labor, and/or military service) to the ruler. In return, the ruler granted and guaranteed the ownership of estates and local control over the population. The ruler got an army and an income, the aristocracy got local power and wealth, and the common people got security (usually at a very high price). This was the feudal system.

The French took advantage of their geographic position to become important middle men and industrialist during the Middle Ages. Much of the trade from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia passed across France around the Alps. An important industry of the Middle Ages was importing English wool and processing it into cloth or resale. A valuable innovation was the development of an annual trade fair to which traders across Europe would travel. This created not only trade but ideas and incentives for manufacturing.

The Frankish Empire built by Charlemagne was thought at the time to be the restoration of the old Roman Empire that was still remembered and revered for its laws, stability, public works, culture, and learning. The empire collapsed after Charlemagne's death, however, for several reasons. The governmental structure was too weak to stand under far less competent rulers and the central authority could not respond adequately to barbarian raids, especially by the Vikings. For protection local land-holders turned to powerful nobles and the central authority was weakened.

From the 10th to the 15th century, French monarchs gradually reversed this trend and created a nation with a strong central authority. They created a professional and non-hereditary government bureaucracy loyal to the king, made tax collecting efficient, neutralized the power of a nascent representative assembly, and created a strong, professional army under their orders.

The barbarian Franks were foot soldiers especially noted for fighting with axes. The name 'Frank' is thought by many to have come from the name of their axe.

In the early 8th century, they converted to using cavalry. Charlemagne developed the model for future medieval armies. The foundation of his army was a body of similarly equipped and disciplined foot soldiers backed by a mobile strike or shock force of armored cavalry. The cavalry were armed with swords and lances (but without stirrups) and wore chain mail. His combined force had important advantages over the Saxons (Germanic foot soldiers), Avars (Hunnish mounted bowmen from the Hungarian plains), Spanish Muslims, and Lombards (Germanic foot soldiers) with whom he clashed.

Much of the evolution of the mounted knight and the code of chivalry took place in feudal France. The French provided more crusaders than any other group.

The feudal system of the European Middle Ages evolved from Charlemagne's military organization and the way he imposed a central authority on his empire. At his direction, the Frankish capital at Aachen became a cultural center marking the first revival of the arts since the fall of Rome. Beginning in a time when most of the people of Europe were illiterate and had little mathematics, he collected learned men from inside and outside his empire and set up schools for priests, administrators, and Frankish nobles. One result of this program was the development of a clear and efficient style of handwriting that became the model for today's printed letters. Another was the preservation of Latin learning that influenced the culture and languages of later Europe. French, Spanish, and Italian all evolved from the Latin thus preserved.

The enduring legacy of the Franks is the nation of France.

For more information

Franks

NEXT (Germans)