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The Peoples of Europe
The Franks
The Franks first come to light in the third century A.D. as a group of barbarians living in the marshy lowlands of the Rhine frontier of the Roman Empire. By 800 they had become the political heirs of the Romans in the West.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Edward James
21 books14 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. He won the University of California's Eaton Prize for his book Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (1994) and a Hugo Award for (jointly) editing The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. He co-wrote, with Farah Mendlesohn, A Short History of Fantasy (2009) and he has co-edited a number of other books, all of them essay collections, with Farah Mendlesohn and others. One of these is the first and only academic book on Terry Pratchett, called Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature (first edition 2000, shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2001). He is currently working on book-length studies of Gregory of Tours and Lois McMaster Bujold.
Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. He won the University of California's Eaton Prize for his book Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (1994) and a Hugo Award for (jointly) editing The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. He co-wrote, with Farah Mendlesohn, A Short History of Fantasy (2009) and he has co-edited a number of other books, all of them essay collections, with Farah Mendlesohn and others. One of these is the first and only academic book on Terry Pratchett, called Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature (first edition 2000, shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2001). He is currently working on book-length studies of Gregory of Tours and Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 16, 2014
Of all the “barbarian” Germanic peoples who migrated south and west across the Empire over a period of five centuries, the Franks were the most successful. They acquired the most territory, influenced other peoples the most, and retained much of their identity in the process. This was largely because they were highly adaptable and generally tolerant of the customs and beliefs of others. Edwards is a recognized expert in early medieval history and archaeology, and a very readable writer as well. The essential question about the Franks -- and it arises again and again in this book -- is, “Who were they?” Or better, “How do we define a Frank?” They were so inclusive, it’s difficult to tell. James discusses the surviving sources, then delves into their origins and their movements before Clovis. Then come the periods of conquest and unification, the effect on language and material culture, and the conversion of the Franks to Christianity, with several excellent discussions of monasticism, royal burials, and Church politics. The last two sections deal with the relationship between the Merovingian kings and their people (administration, taxation, coinage, and so on) and Frankish society. Finally, there’s a short discussion of the “Frankish myth” as it has appeared in France for the past thousand years. The bibliography is highly selective, of course, but still a good starting point. I can recommend this as an excellent primer for the student approaching Frankish history (or even early medieval history) for the first time.
September 18, 2011
Interesting read and pretty good overview of the Franks. Edward James wrote this book for a series focusing on 'Peoples of Europe,' and so he frames his argument around different conceptions of what it meant to be a 'Frank' at different periods in French (and Belgian, and German) history.
The heart of the book, though, focuses on the Franks from the 4th to the 7th centuries, especially focusing on the Merovingians from Childeric to Dagobert. James does the best he can with the political narrative in a short space (I'd imagine it's nearly impossible to write a short, coherent, and enjoyable-to-read summary of all the Merovingian's family dramas), but he's generally more effective in his argument with he's addressing thematic issues. He's a good myth debunker, questioning archaeological techniques, iconographical assumptions, and too-heavy emphases on literary texts, legal texts or names of the period, and this caution helps out his treatment of the Franks quite a bit.
I would make the argument that his picture of Merovingian society can edge a bit too close to the rosy - evidence in drops in the quality of life for most people between Rome and the Carolingians are brushed over a bit too hastily - but on the whole it's a fair, level picture of the Merovingians and a nice introduction to the time.
The heart of the book, though, focuses on the Franks from the 4th to the 7th centuries, especially focusing on the Merovingians from Childeric to Dagobert. James does the best he can with the political narrative in a short space (I'd imagine it's nearly impossible to write a short, coherent, and enjoyable-to-read summary of all the Merovingian's family dramas), but he's generally more effective in his argument with he's addressing thematic issues. He's a good myth debunker, questioning archaeological techniques, iconographical assumptions, and too-heavy emphases on literary texts, legal texts or names of the period, and this caution helps out his treatment of the Franks quite a bit.
I would make the argument that his picture of Merovingian society can edge a bit too close to the rosy - evidence in drops in the quality of life for most people between Rome and the Carolingians are brushed over a bit too hastily - but on the whole it's a fair, level picture of the Merovingians and a nice introduction to the time.
November 16, 2021
Interesting and well written overview, with a heavy emphasis on archaeological data. Richly illustrated. Limitation: only period from 4th to early 7th century well worked out, then synopsis.
October 23, 2023
This was a very enjoyable read as it covered one of the remaining Germanic groups I knew little about. The scope focused mainly on the three centuries of Merovingian rule, the period which fused the Frankish newcomers with the Gallo-Roman locals. While some informative aspects such as the grave good culture mirror what we've seen among the Goths and Anglo-Saxons, there are also elements of their culture which parallel the destructive "Gothic Disease". The partition of inheritance equally among the sons resulted in brutal and destructive civil wars that decimated many members of the extended royal family. The prologue was one of the most interesting parts in terms of the insight it gave into domestic attitudes and perceptions towards the Frankish and Gallic groups and their adoption as ancestors of the aristocracy and masses. It seems the culture wars date right back to the time of Voltaire, a man who not only disliked the Holy Roman Empire but seems to have been a outright Germanophobe!
May 9, 2020
This is a good introduction to the subject of the Franks. It covers their history, society, government, religion and other issues from the time that they first emerge into history in the 2nd century AD through to the fall of the Merovingian Dynasty, by which time the Franks had become largely assimilated into the Romano-Gauls who they had conquered.
The book is packed with facts about the Franks and their times. I wouldn't have wanted more facts or a longer book, as an introduction to the subject. The book is well written, the author avoids jargon and explains what he is talking about when looking at details of archaeological digs or other technical stuff. He is to be applauded for this.
I will admit that I did struggle a bit with confused with the names of kings, queens, princes, nobles and others as they came and went with great rapidity. I suppose this is partly a function of the shortness of the text. However, I do feel that the author could have made more effort to differentiate between the figures and remind the reader who is being discussed. The situation was not made any clearer by the fact that so many of the names are very similar. No sooner have we learned who Childeric was than we move on the Chilperic and Chlothair is easily confused with Clothar - at least I found it so.
My main complaint, however, is that the author fails to draw much in the way of conclusions. And in many places positively shies away from doing so. He discusses a grave packed with valuable items, but then definitively states that just because it is the richest grave for miles does not mean the chap buried there was rich. He even says that we cannot be certain of the name of a buried woman when she is found with a ring with her name engraved on it. Time and again the author presents facts about archaeological digs, manuscripts or coins but refused to tell the reader what the facts might mean. I found this very frustrating.
On the whole, a reasonable attempt to explain the Franks in a relatively short book. But I came away knowing a lot of individual facts, but having only a hazy idea of the big picture.
The book is packed with facts about the Franks and their times. I wouldn't have wanted more facts or a longer book, as an introduction to the subject. The book is well written, the author avoids jargon and explains what he is talking about when looking at details of archaeological digs or other technical stuff. He is to be applauded for this.
I will admit that I did struggle a bit with confused with the names of kings, queens, princes, nobles and others as they came and went with great rapidity. I suppose this is partly a function of the shortness of the text. However, I do feel that the author could have made more effort to differentiate between the figures and remind the reader who is being discussed. The situation was not made any clearer by the fact that so many of the names are very similar. No sooner have we learned who Childeric was than we move on the Chilperic and Chlothair is easily confused with Clothar - at least I found it so.
My main complaint, however, is that the author fails to draw much in the way of conclusions. And in many places positively shies away from doing so. He discusses a grave packed with valuable items, but then definitively states that just because it is the richest grave for miles does not mean the chap buried there was rich. He even says that we cannot be certain of the name of a buried woman when she is found with a ring with her name engraved on it. Time and again the author presents facts about archaeological digs, manuscripts or coins but refused to tell the reader what the facts might mean. I found this very frustrating.
On the whole, a reasonable attempt to explain the Franks in a relatively short book. But I came away knowing a lot of individual facts, but having only a hazy idea of the big picture.
May 3, 2009
Not really for casual consumption, this is far-reaching in its supportive material, to the extent that it dwelt altogether too much on features such as burial customs and numismatics. I must say, however, that I learned an interesting and valuable lesson in terminus post quem, i.e., the date (from a coin) after which the event associated with its discovery must have taken place. (It was neat how this tied into a coin from Alexander the Great's reign found buried with Childeric, p. 24).
James brought a powerful sense of order to what has been written about the Franks. I wish I'd read Gregory of Tours after this book. The Franks is instructive in its description of conditions in the dissolution of the Roman world (75), to include loss of taxation, decline in quality of glassware with almost-unsurpassed swordcraft to compensate(?), and the retained town structures.
Some of the embedded commentary about the challenges pertaining to pinning down a single people, their exact movements and descendants (3-6, 35, 118-119, 235-243), was not only appropriate, but a must-read for would-be "nationalist" historians.
I usually share something that I enjoyed. How about Queen Fredegund's "paradoxical" name meaning: "peace-battle"? (31) Lastly, this, from page 123, says a lot for what I really think about Constantine:
James brought a powerful sense of order to what has been written about the Franks. I wish I'd read Gregory of Tours after this book. The Franks is instructive in its description of conditions in the dissolution of the Roman world (75), to include loss of taxation, decline in quality of glassware with almost-unsurpassed swordcraft to compensate(?), and the retained town structures.
Some of the embedded commentary about the challenges pertaining to pinning down a single people, their exact movements and descendants (3-6, 35, 118-119, 235-243), was not only appropriate, but a must-read for would-be "nationalist" historians.
I usually share something that I enjoyed. How about Queen Fredegund's "paradoxical" name meaning: "peace-battle"? (31) Lastly, this, from page 123, says a lot for what I really think about Constantine:
Gregory of Tours's account of the conversion makes clear one aspect which modern historians have not always remembered in their discussions of the conversions of kings. There may be at least three stages in the process: first of all, intellectual acceptance of Christ's message, the 'conversion' proper; secondly, the decision to announce this publicly, to followers who may be hostile to the change; thirdly, the ceremony of baptism and membership of the community of Christians. The Emperor Constantine reached the first stage in 312, never seems to have grasped the nettle of the second stage, and reached the third only on his death-bed in 337.
October 12, 2010
This is an excellent overview of the Franks. James does a good job at discussing the sources and presenting his arguments in a clear and easy-to-read manuscript. He glosses over many of the overwhelming periods of repetitive monarchs and their policies so he can focus on the people and Frankish society.
October 2, 2012
Lots of graveyard archaeology and lore of Kings begetting Kings. Not as much social, cultural, geographic, or technological history as I was looking for.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews