The Franks: the Birth of Modern Europe

When the Roman Empire fell and the Franks, the barbarians, started uniting via alliances and conquests, no one could predict them to grow into a powerful kingdom that, thanks to outstanding kings — Charles Martell and Charlemagne — would conquer half of Europe. Watch the video to dive into the details of the Frankish conquest, their transformation from a kingdom into an empire, and the fall of this great power.

[jamesblackshaw]

You could imagine Charlemagne as an old man on his knees screaming every 5

[Shadowsdream]

I swear there is always a little known mountain pass.

[rumali_roti]

History is always like this. Some great man conquers vast lands/kingdoms, establishes new relationships, brings new reforms then great peace. His children ruins it by fighting each other or being so incompetent that other lords rebels which breaks apart the kingdom. After many years another great man comes and unites the people and conquers vast lands/kingdoms.

[Mackeriv]

I appreciate the fact you show the years on which the events take place at the bottom of the screen. I wish more channels did that!

[cleaner]

France's name in German is "Frankreich", which means "Empire of the Franks".

[jonathancampbell]

Charlemagne was offered the title of Emperor by the Pope; it wasn't his idea, though some of his advisors might have suggested it. The Pope wanted a powerful backer so it was in his interest as much as anything else, especially since the Roman Emperor was the one who appointed / recognised Popes in the first place at that time.

[freelancershogun]

Your videos are so visually pleasing and neat - - keep up the excellent work!

[magmatt]

My family is from a small Italian village in Sicily called Frankavilla. There's a Frankish ruin there from which the village is named.

[SkaldfraNorden]

Saying Charlemagne the Great is like saying Karl the Great the Great

[tonyhawk]

The popular belief around « lazy kings » is a wrong analysis of history.
1. They were qualified as lazy much later when the Carolingians wanted to solidify their dominance.
2. They were thought lazy because we lost most source of their reign (due to conservation issues), but we know that all the Merovingian kings knew how to read and write, a thing that Charlemagne never achieved. Finally they held the Kingdom together without major civil war through smarter land division in very troubled times while the Carolingians disappeared soon after the death of Charlemagne.

[FlatDerrick]

Excellent stuff, I've been looking for something that explains the movements of the Empire and this goes above and beyond!

[medivoyage]

Great work!
Clovis conquers kingdoms with divine backing, Charles Martell becomes a legendary bulwark against the Islamic tide. Charlemagne crowns himself Emperor, dreaming of a unified Europe.
The saga of the Franks is nothing short of epic! 💥

[History_Mapped_Out]

In the video, at some points, the capital is incorrectly stated:
Paris (c. 509-771)
Aachen (771-840)

[merovekh]

The production quality of this was very high. I'm an archaeologist specialized in the early middle ages, and could not discover any real inaccuracies. Well done.

[AzureRek]

How do you only have 13k subs dude this is S-Tier content!?!

[HistoryPeasant]

Just subbed. Always love finding a good historical channel. Excellent work. Really enjoyed it.

[Doyouknowgeography]

The Franks, a Germanic people, played a crucial role in shaping early medieval Europe. Originating in the region now encompassing parts of modern-day Germany and the Netherlands, they expanded their influence under leaders like Clovis I and Charlemagne. A geography map of their empire would show their dominance stretching from the Rhine River to much of France, parts of Italy, and beyond, marking the foundation of what would later become the Holy Roman Empire.

[joedoe]

You guys give some of the most concise, yet engaging, historical content on Youtube. Keep up the good work!

[robert-surcouf]

For the lazy kings, it only started in 639 (Clovis ruled between 481 and 511 and the first lazy king was his great great great grandson) but it happened because the merovingians dynasty succession laws.

Every time a king died, his kingdom was split between all his sons so when Clovis died, his kingdom was split between all his sons in 511 but the last one alive (Clotaire 1) survived/killed all his brothers and nephews and unified it again in 558 but died soon after in 561.

The kingdom was once again split in four and began the "faide royale" (royal feud) between 561 and 613 with Clotaire sons.
Two of them (Sigebert and Chilpéric married quickly two wisigoths princess sisters (Brunehaut and Galswinthe) but Chilpéric mistress (Fredegonde) killed later Galswinthe then Chilpéric remarried with Fredegonde and really started the war between between Sigebert/Brunehaut and Chilpéric/Fredegonde while Gontran (Sigebert and Chilpéric's brother) was the third player in this war.


The war ended in 613 when Clotaire 2 (Chilpéric and Fredegonde son) murdered Brunehaut and her great grandson.
Unfortunately for the dynasty, the mayors of the palace (the frankish medieval prime ministers)
gained political powers because of the faide royale and became more powerful than the kings after Dagobert 1 (Clotaire 2 son) death in 639, which leads to the erovingian kings being figure head.

[formulabravium]

This was really well done. I had no idea so much of this occurred. Thank you for putting it together. It is interesting to see the parallels across different parts of the world and times.