Francia

The Kingdom of the Franks (Latin: Regnum Francorum), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, the Frankish Empire (Latin: Imperium Francorum) or Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era.

Originally, the core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north, before Frankish rulers such as Chlodio and Childeric I expanded their rule into what is now northern France. Clovis I, the son of Childeric, unified all Franks after conquering Soissons (486) and Aquitaine (507). He founded the Merovingian dynasty, which was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of Herstal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious—father, son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson—the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire was secured by the early 9th century, and is 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 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, however nowadays both have become seen by many as Pan-European symbols.