AD 400-800 Early medieval

In AD 400, north-west Europe included the Roman province of Gaul. However, by the end of the century, after the fall of the western Roman Empire, the area was divided among various Germanic tribes from northern and central Europe. They included Franks and Alemanni, who settled mainly in the north-east; Burgundians, who colonised the Rhône valley; and Visigoths, who occupied the south-west.

During the 6th century, the Frankish Merovingian dynasty of kings dominated France. Clovis I (reigned 481-511) overthrew the Burgundians and Visigoths, conquering most of France except Brittany. Clovis converted to Catholicism, gaining the allegiance of the old Christian Romano-Gallic landowners and the powerful Gallic Church. The kingdom of the Franks, with its capital at Paris, became a power in western Europe. The pagan Frisians in the Low Countries were defeated by Clovis, but later rebelled and were only subdued early in the 8th century.

The kingdom was divided among Clovis’s feuding descendants, and royal authority disintegrated; kings depended on a loyal aristocracy and military success. A leading noble family, the Carolingians, emerged in the mid-7th century, gaining the crown in 751; within 100 years they had developed a strong government and reunited Gaul. Their greatest king, Charlemagne (reigned 768-814), was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of the west by the Pope in 800.