Content deleted Content added
→top: this is way too much detail for an infobox and way too off topic |
Botteville (talk | contribs) Citation fix. OK on that last. |
||
Line 91:
[[Childeric I]], a [[Salian Franks|Salian]] Frankish king, was one of several military leaders commanding Roman forces of various ethnic affiliations in the northern part of what is now France. His son, [[Clovis I]], succeeded in unifying most of Gaul under his rule in the 6th century by notably conquering [[Battle of Soissons (486)|Soissons]] in 486 and [[Battle of Vouillé|Aquitaine]] in 507 following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, as well as establishing leadership over all the Frankish kingdoms on or near the Rhine frontier; thus founding what would come to be known as the Merovingian dynasty. The dynasty subsequently gained control over a significant part of what is now western and southern Germany. It was by building upon the basis of these Merovingian deeds that the subsequent [[Carolingian]] dynasty— through the nearly continuous campaigns of [[Pepin of Herstal]], his son [[Charles Martel]], grandson [[Pepin the Short]], great-grandson [[Charlemagne]], and great-great-grandson [[Louis the Pious]]— secured the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire by the early 9th century, which was by this point referred to as the [[Carolingian Empire]].
During the reign of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, the Frankish realm was one large [[polity]], generally subdivided into several smaller kingdoms ruled by different members of the ruling dynasties. Whilst these kingdoms coordinated, they also regularly came into conflict with one another. The old Frankish lands, for example, were initially contained within the kingdom of [[Austrasia]], centred on the [[Rhine]] and [[Meuse]], roughly corresponding to later [[Lower Lotharingia]]. The bulk of the Gallo-Roman territory to its south and west was called [[Neustria]]. The exact borders and number of these subkingdoms varied over time, until a basic split between eastern and western domains became persistent. After various treaties and conflicts in the late-9th and early-10th centuries, [[West Francia]] came under control of the [[Capetian dynasty]], becoming the [[Kingdom of France]], while [[East Francia]] and [[Lotharingia]] came under the control of the non-Frankish [[Ottonian dynasty]], becoming the [[Kingdom of Germany]], which would conquer Burgundy and Italy to then form the medieval [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Competing French and German nationalisms in later centuries would claim succession from Charlemagne and the original kingdom, but nowadays both have become seen by many as [[Pan-European identity|Pan-European]] symbols.<ref>
==Historical periods==
| |||