In the second half of the 400s CE, many Frankish people (who were part of the larger Germanic cultural family) moved into Gaul, which the Roman Empire then ruled. Rome saw the influx of these new people as a threat to their rule, and the two factions clashed. In 486 CE, King Clovis I of the Franks defeated Roman forces in the Battle of Soissons.
After 486 CE, Clovis unified Gaul into what is now called the Kingdom of the Franks through a series of military campaigns, then placed the capital in the city of Paris and converted to Christianity. However, after his death, his empire was divided between his sons, as was tradition. Upon their deaths, their realms were, in turn, divided as well. This continued to be the case in the 500s and 600s CE, with the various Frankish kings competing for power and influence. Clovis's dynasty is called the Merovingian Dynasty.
The Reunification of France
In the 700s CE, however, northern France was unified by Duke Pippin II. His son, Charles, expanded his dynasty's control over southern France by warding off invading Muslim armies (a victory which earned him the title "Martel," meaning hammer). When Charles died, his authority was divided between his two sons. But one, Pippin III, pressed his brother into a monastery and had himself crowned King of the Franks in 751 CE. This marks the beginning of the Carolingian Dynasty.
King Pippin III died in 768 CE, and his empire was divided between his two sons: Charles and Carloman. However, Carloman died in 771 CE, giving Charles control of the whole Kingdom of the Franks. King Charles expanded the Frankish empire through a series of conquests, though he gave political power in central Italy to the Pope of Rome. For this, he was rewarded in 800 CE with the title of Emperor of the Romans. For this reason, King Charles is generally known as Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. Charlemagne is commonly known as Charlemagne, King of France, but his actual title was King of the Franks, and he preferred the title Emperor of the Romans since it was more prestigious.
The Division of France
Charlemagne died in 814 CE. His son Louis followed him as King of the Franks, while his nephew Bernard became King of the Lombards in Italy. In 840 CE, Louis died, and his empire was divided between his three sons:
- Lothair I as King of Middle Francia (which corresponds to the Netherlands and Burgundy)
- Louis II as King of East Francia (which corresponds to eastern Germany and Austria)
- Charles II, or Charles the Bald, as King of West Francia (which overlaps with most of modern-day France)
These three brothers waged war against each other in an attempt to secure domination over their father's realms, though they finally agreed to respect each other's realms in the Treaty of Verdun, which was signed in 843 CE. This marks the foundation of West Francia as a sovereign kingdom.
How Francia became France
King Charles the Bald faced many troubles. For one, Middle Francia soon collapsed, leading West Francia and East Francia to rush to conquer the territory between them. Furthermore, Viking raiders from Scandinavia harassed the kingdom from the north, while the Celtic people of Brittany secured independence.
In 877 CE, King Charles died, and his empire was split between his sons. King Louis II (Louis the Stammerer) received West Francia, but he died soon after in 879 CE. The Frankish nobles wisely opted to have his two sons, Louis III and Carloman II, rule as co-kings. When Louis III died in 882 CE, Carloman became the sole king, but he died in 884 CE after accidentally being stabbed by a servant. The throne then passed to his son, Charles III (nicknamed Charles the Fat), whose ascent marked the reunification of the many divided Carolingian kingdoms. But Charles soon faced disaster in the form of a Viking siege on Paris. In 887 CE, he was thrown out of East Francia and Italy, then promptly died.
The government of West Francia was unstable. After the death of Charles the Fat, the throne of West Francia passed back and forth between the Robertian Dynasty (which was founded by Robert the Strong, one of Charles's key allies), the Carolingian Dynasty, and the Bosonid Dynasty of Burgundy. This period was marked by constant civil war between noblemen, Viking raids, and the decentralization of political power away from the King of the Franks to the various landed elites. This transformation marks the cementing of the feudal system in France.
In 987 CE, Frankish noblemen elected Hugh Capet to be their king. While related to the Robertians, his ascent to power is generally marked by historians as the rise to power of a new dynasty, the Capetian Dynasty, and the foundation of the Kingdom of France. However, it would take until the reign of King Philip II (1180-1223 CE) for these monarchs to call themselves the King of France.
