The Franks Latin : Franci or gens Francorum ; German : Franken ; French : Francs were a group of related Germanic peoples who originally inhabited the regions just beyond Germania Inferior , which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. The Frankish tribes lived for centuries under Roman hegemony, near the fortified Rhine river border Limes.
The term "Frank" itself first appears in the third century AD, at a time when Rome had lost full control of the region because of internal conflicts. In the fourth century the Romans also began to distinguish tribes still further north with another new collective term " Saxons ", although there are signs that the terms Frank and Saxon were not always mutually exclusive. Over centuries, the Romans recruited large numbers of Frankish soldiers, some of whom achieved high imperial rank.
(mh=TTTD8x2Z6_p1Q7lg)0.jpg "Sluts Clovis")
By the early fifth century Franks were living semi-independently throughout Germania Inferior. Large numbers of Eastern European peoples penetrated Rome's European border regions. The Roman administration of Britain and northern Gaul was breaking down, and in about AD it was the Franks who attempted to defend the Roman border when it was crossed by Alans and Vandals.
Frankish kings subsequently divided up Germania Inferior between them and at least one, Chlodio , began to rule more Romanized populations to the south. In AD Frankish groups participated on both sides in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains , where Attila and his allies were defeated by a Roman-led alliance of most of the various peoples who now lived in Gaul.
By the early 6th century the whole of Gaul north of the Loire , and all the Frankish kingdoms, were united within the kingdom of the Frank Clovis I , the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. By building upon the basis of this empire the subsequent Frankish dynasty, the Carolingians , eventually came to be seen as the new emperors of Western Europe in , when Charlemagne was crowned by the pope. Within the former Roman empire, the Franks became a multilingual, Catholic Christian people, who subsequently came to rule over several other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire.
