Francia

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Kingdom of the Franks Regnum Francorum (Latin)
c. 509–843
Expansion of the Frankish Kingdom, 481–870
Official languages	Medieval Latin[1]
Common languages	West Germanic languages including Frankish dialects and others Gallo-Romance languages Slavic languages
Religion	Chalcedonian Christianity[3]
Demonym(s)	Frankish, Frank
Government	Monarchy
King of the Franks
• c. 509–511 (first)	Clovis I
• 558–561	Clothar I
• 613–629	Chlothar II
• 629–639	Dagobert I
• 751–768	Pepin the Short
• 768–814	Charlemagne
• 814–840	Louis the Pious
• 840–843 (last)	Contested between the three Louis' sons Lothair I, Louis the German and Charles the Bald
Historical era	Early Middle Ages
• Clovis I becomes king of the Salian Franks	c. 481
• Clovis I unites all Franks	c. 509
• Coronation of Pepin the Short	751
• Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor	25 December 800
• Death of Louis the Pious	20 June 840
• Treaty of Verdun	10 August 843
Area
814 est.[4]	1,200,000 km2 (460,000 sq mi)
Currency	Denier
Preceded by Succeeded by Salian Franks Ripuarian Franks Middle Francia East Francia West Francia
Today part of	France Belgium the Netherlands Monaco Germany Italy Andorra Spain Switzerland Austria Czech Republic Slovenia Luxembourg Croatia Liechtenstein San Marino Vatican City

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Timeline
Ancient Prehistory   Greek colonies 600 BC – 49 BC Celtic Gaul   until 50 BC Roman Gaul 50 BC – 486 AD
Middle Ages Francia and the Frankish settlement   Merovingians 481–751 Carolingians 751–987     West Francia 843–987 Kingdom of France 987–1792     Direct Capetians 987–1328     Valois 1328–1498
Early modern Ancien Régime Valois-Orléans kings 1498–1515 Valois-Angoulême kings 1515–1589 Bourbon kings 1589–1792
Long 19th century French Revolution 1789–1799 Kingdom of France 1791–1792 First Republic 1792–1804 First Empire 1804–1814 Restoration 1814–1830 July Monarchy 1830–1848 Second Republic 1848–1852 Second Empire 1852–1870 Third Republic 1870–1940     Belle Époque 1871–1914
20th century Third Republic 1870–1940     Interwar period 1919–1939         Années folles 1920–1929 Free France Vichy France 1940–1944 Provisional Republic 1944–1946 Fourth Republic 1946–1958 Fifth Republic 1958–present
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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.^[5][6] 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 located close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north,^[7] but Frankish chiefs such as Chlodio would eventually expand their influence within Roman territory as far as the Somme river in the 5th century.

Childeric I, a 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 Soissons in 486 and 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 symbols.^[8]