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Merovingians
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great. The dynastic name, medieval Latin or ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to the attested Old English , with the final -''ing'' being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from Salian King Merovech, who is at the center of many legends. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Mer ...
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Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. These Frankish tribes lived for centuries under varying degrees of Roman hegemony and influence, but after the collapse of Roman institutions in western Europe they took control of a large empire including areas which had been ruled by Rome, and what it meant to be a Frank began to evolve. Once they were deeply established in Gaul, 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. In a broader sense much of the population of western Europe could eventually described as Franks in some contexts. The term "Frank" itself first appeared in the third cent ...
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Clovis I
Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single king, and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries. Clovis is important in the historiography of France as "the first king of what would become France." Clovis succeeded his father, Childeric I, as a king of the Salian Franks in 481, and eventually came to rule an area extending from what is now the southern Netherlands to northern France, corresponding in Roman terms to Gallia Belgica (northern Gaul). At the Battle of Soissons (486), he established his military dominance of the Domain of Soissons, rump state of the fragmenting Western Roman Empire, which was then under the command of Sya ...
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Merovech
Merovech (; ; 411 – 458) was the ancestor of the Merovingian dynasty. He was reportedly a king of the Salian Franks, but records of his existence are mixed with legend and myth. The most important written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France. His supposed descendants, the kings Childeric I and Clovis I, are the first well-attested Merovingians. He may have been one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Gaul in 451. Name The name ''Merovech'' is related to ''Marwig'', (compare modern Dutch "news, rumour", "famous" as well as "fight" with -''vech''). Historical accounts There is little information about him in the later histories of the ...
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Salian Franks
The Salian Franks, or Salians, sometimes referred to using the Latin word or , were a Frankish people who lived in what was is now the Netherlands in the fourth century. They are only mentioned under this name in historical records relating to this one period, when they came into conflict with Roman forces led by Julian the Apostate in 358 AD, during the period when Julian ruled in Gaul as Caesar, under his cousin the emperor Constantius II. In modern historiography, they are traditionally believed to be ancestral to the Franks who became the rulers of much of present day northern France in the 5th century - at first under the leadership of Chlodio, and later under the leadership of the Merovingian dynasty. Roman sources describing the events of 358 AD indicate that the Salians were a Frankish people who had entered the empire from across the Rhine some time earlier, and settled with Roman acceptance in Batavia, which is a large island in the Rhine delta, that lay on the no ...
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Pepin The Short
the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of Hesbaye, Rotrude. Pepin's upbringing was distinguished by the ecclesiastical education he had received from the Christian monasticism, Christian monks of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, Abbey Church of St. Denis, near Paris. Succeeding his father as the Mayor of the Palace in 741, Pepin reigned over Francia jointly with his elder brother, Carloman (mayor of the palace), Carloman. Pepin ruled in Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, while his older brother Carloman established himself in Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia. The brothers were active in suppressing revolts led by the Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons, and the Alemanni in the early years of their reign. In 743, they ended the by choosing Childeric III, who was to be the last Merovingian ...
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Tonsure
Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in medieval Catholicism, abandoned by papal order in 1972. Tonsure, in its earliest Greek and Roman origin, was used as a sign or signifier for slavery. Tonsure can also refer to the secular practice of shaving all or part of the scalp to show support or sympathy, or to designate mourning. Current usage more generally refers to cutting or shaving for monks, devotees, or mystics of any religion as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem. Tonsure is still a traditional practice in Catholicism by specific religious orders (with papal permission). It is also commonly used in the Eastern Orthodox Church for newly baptised members and is frequently used for Buddhist novices, Bhikkhu, monks, and Bhikkhunī, nuns. The complete sh ...
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Long Hair
Long hair is a hairstyle where the head hair is allowed to grow to a considerable length. Exactly what constitutes long hair can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair in some cultures may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair in some of the same cultures would be said to have long hair. Long lustrous female hair is generally rated Physical attractiveness, attractive by both men and women across cultures. The prevalence of trichophilia (hair partialism or Sexual fetishism, fetishism) is 7% in the population, and very long hair is a common subject of devotion in this group. Biological significance Humans, horses, orangutans, and lions are among the few species of mammals that may grow their head hair or wikt:mane, manes very long. Humans are believed to have lost their fur 2.5–3 million years ago as hominids when transitioning from a forest habitat to the open savanna, as an effect of na ...
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Neustria
Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. The same term later referred to a smaller region between the Seine and the Loire rivers known as the ''regnum Neustriae'', a constituent subkingdom of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia. The Carolingian kings also created a March of Neustria which was a frontier duchy against the Bretons and Vikings that lasted until the Capetian monarchy in the late 10th century, when the term was eclipsed as a European political or geographical term. Name The name ''Neustria'' is mostly explained as "new western land", although Taylor (1848) suggested the interpretation of "northeastern land". '' Nordisk familjebok'' (1913) even suggested "not the eastern land" (''icke öst ...
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Austrasia
Austrasia was the northeastern kingdom within the core of the Francia, Frankish Empire during the Early Middle Ages, centring on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had been the northernmost part of Roman Gaul, and cities such as Cologne, Trier and Metz. It also stretched beyond the old Roman borders on the Rhine into Frankish areas which had never been formally under Roman rule. It came into being as a part of the Francia, Frankish Empire founded by Clovis I (481–511). At the same time, the initial powerbase of Clovis himself was the more Romanized part of northern Gaul, lying southwest of Austrasia, which came to be known as Neustria. These two sub-kingdoms, along with several others, were subsequently ruled by the descendants of Clovis, the Merovingian dynasty, followed in the 8th and 9th centuries by their successors the Carolingian dynasty, whose own powerbase was in Austrasia itself. The two Fran ...
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Childeric I
Childeric I (died 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a king (Latin ''rex''), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired effective control over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul. Biography Most of early Merovingian history is based on the account of the 6th-century Gregory of Tours. The date of Childeric's accession is not given in the text, but it was after emperor Avitus' death in December 456II. 11. The only certain date is the Battle of Vouillé in 507; most of Gregory's other statements are contradictory. Childeric's father is recorded by several sources to have been Merovech, after whom the dynasty is named. Gregory (II.9) says that Merovech was reputed by some to be a descendant of Chlodio, an earlier Frankish king who had conquered Gaulish ...
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Aquitaine
Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is situated in the southwest corner of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain; for most of its Recorded history, written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative centre. It is composed of the five Departments of France, departments of Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes (department), Landes and Gironde. Gallia Aquitania was established by the Romans in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, Duchy of Aquitaine, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. History Ancient history There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, ...
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Bavarii
The Baiuvarii or Bavarii, sometimes simply called Bavarians (; ) were a Germanic people who lived in and near present-day southern Bavaria, which is named after them. They began to appear in records by the 6th century AD, and their culture, language and political institutions are the predecessors of those of the medieval Duchy of Bavaria and Margraviate of Austria. Among the Baiuvarii the Bavarian language developed, which is West Germanic language related to Standard German, still spoken not only by modern-day Bavarians, but also by Austrians and South Tyroleans. Name The name of the Baiuvarii is also spelled ''Baiuvari''. It probably means "men from Bohemia". The placename Bohemia is believed to be connected to that of the Boii, a Celtic people who partly left the region before the Roman era and then were dominated by Germanic peoples. The Baiuvarii gave their name to the region of Bavaria. Language The language of the Baiuvarii is classified as Germanic. It is uncertain ...
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