The History of the Franks to 768 CE

In this video, I look at Frankish history from the fall of the Western Roman frontier to the accession of Charlemagne in 768 CE

[ergbudster]

Best historian guy ever. Only one that ever said "Whatever. Who cares." in a history lecture. And we can understand the guy when he talks. Big plus there.

[levent-erhan]

"Let's behave as logical people and begin at the beginning."

[jungfoofighters]

22:33 I come from the region where Pepin and Charlemagne were born, it is in the region of Liège (Belgium) on the border with Germany. Even today, we take the road which is built on the historic Roman road to go from Liège to Aachen. It takes about 10 hours to walk to Aachen. We can see how the Carolingians used the ruins of the Roman Empire to build their own.

[KevinElamMusic]

"shockingly, as only rarely happens with old people, he died in a few years." golden!

[raziel]

"Muslim starts advancing towards central Europe"
Charles Martel: "you shall not pass"

[hypernos]

I live in Tournai and the "pont des trous" you showed at the begining got partially destroyed, the central arche got destroy to be re-built in order to have bigger boat traveling across. notice that the brige was already a modified version made in the 40's after ww2 and they didn't broke the two medieval tower so far but still a shame to touch something that old. thx for your work and especially your byzantin emperor playlist !

[교원JohabAlexis]

Thank you for such a thorough job on the history of the Franks.

[tiata]

"I could be king of the Franks, and I could do a great job too" lmao

[kskssxoxskskss]

Taking FOR-ever? I love all this! Thank you so much.

[MDE]

Belgium, the southern Netherlands, Luxembourg, Western Germany and Northern France still have a predominantly Frankish DNA.

[chucknorris]

The Franks are some of the most interesting peoples in history. Clovis for example split one of his own soldiers head open with his axe because the guy was ordered to return a holy relic/extremely valuable object to a church he had stolen from, and this guy got pissed and smashed it to pieces with his axe instead; Clovis couldnt do anything a the moment besides apologize to the Priest that can come to get the relic back(they only asked for this relic back, none of the other treasures that the Franks had stolen in their raid); but a little later on, he still brooded over this of course; during an inspection he throw this same guy(who destroyed the holy relic) axe on the ground, then when he went to pick it up, split the dudes skull open with his own axe.

Dan Carlin describes them as like a super extreme version of an outlaw biker gang in how they operated. Esp during Clovis' time this is true from what Ive seen. And the Franks, its a good thing they converted to the RIGHT kind of Christianity - this would lead to them being accepted by the Pope and therefore being accepted by all of Western Europe; the Franks, because of their conversion to orthodox Christianity instead of Arianism(which most Germanic barbarians had converted to), the Franks had an air of real legitimacy that all other Barbarian tribes lacked....its part of why they ruled so long and so well, as the clergy were their close allies and the population would trust an orthodox Christian King and aristocrats far more than they would a bunch of Arian heretics who persecute them - like the Vandals for example.

The Franks are great. I esp wanna see a video on the equipment, even theoretical, of what Charlemagnes army was equipped with, and how he usually arranged his army for battle.

[williamJohanns]

Thanks i found 2 merovingian buckles in south of France.

[alainmellaerts]

The legend of Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer is from at least the 9th century. The three Mary’s fled Palestine to the Rhône and Marie Salomé, Marie Jacobé and their servant Sarah according to the legend stayed in France. Later the village became a destination for pilgrims.

[JerryDLTN]

Just learned that Childeric I
is my 46th great-grandfather (but then he is probably most people's 46th great grandfather)

[jamessnee]

I thought you were never going to mention one of the coolest nicknames in History.
Charles 'The Hammer' Martel. Its Hammer Time!!
As in Hammer of God for defeating the Muslims.
BTW I saw something where the Frankish hand axe was rated highest in one analysis. They had a way of throwing multiple axes and bouncing them off the ground in front of the enemy. They would bounce around in weird directions like a football making them hard to dodge. Native Americans' tomahawk was close in design.

[lancehoward]

A good read of this era is The Inheritance of Rome ( illuminating the dark ages 400-1000) by Chris Wickham published by Penguin Books 2009. Especially relevant is Part IV The Carolingians and Post-Carolingian West, 750-1000.

[CaliCaroline]

Lol I appreciate your delivery 😂
"And that... is Deep Space 9"

[AvidanTheExpositor]

I only clicked for the Odo in the picture. thanks for the deep space nine <3 <3

[altareggo]

"Just so you know, DS9 was not literally involved in Frankish history.".... um.... okey.... glad we got THAT cleared up!!

[eli]

1:20 "Deep Space 9 wasn't involved with the Franks"



*Blasphemy*