See also: Frankly

The Francs are Germanic people appearing in the form of a confederation of tribes at the time of the Great invasions. A part of them plays a central role in the French history, of the Netherlands, of Belgium and of Germany as from their sedentarisation in Gaulle Roman.

History

The francs appear at the beginning of the first millenium in the Latin sources. The term probably indicates a league - or confederation - of Germanic people installed on Right Bank of the the lower Rhine, beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, and which were not fixed with the Empire or another more important people. Latin francus , franci tends to prove that they were named thus, since frank means free in Germanic language (one can also find the origin of the word Franc in the word Frekkr (meaning bold , valiant ) resulting from the Germanic language).

At the 4th century, the Frank saliens, beaten by the emperor Julien, become the Lètes of Rome, which lets them settle in Gaulle Belgium. It is thus the first Germanic people to be established in a permanent way in Roman territory, and thus the first also to be Latinized. These people had as a common point to compete with the Alamans (germ. Ale Männer , all the men ), another regrouping of ethnos groups established more in the south on Right Bank of the Rhine.

The language - or dialects - originally spoken by the Francs as them cultural facies is attached to the Indo-European group ethno-linguistics German Westerner, like the Angles, the Frisons and the Saxons in opposition to the Eastern group German to which in particular the Goths belong.

Ethnos groups of the league of the Francs

The people which constituted the league of the Francs probably included/understood:

The Sugambres or Sicambres were not regarded as Francs, the Chauques, were established in the North-East of the Clippings, more often attached to Saxon than to the Francs.

Later one will speak about the Francs saliens, established close to the Sale river and the mouths of Yssel and the Francs ripuaires installed on Right Bank of the the Rhine.

Great Invasions

See also: Great invasions, frank Kingdoms

In the 3rd century, the Francs take part in the great invasions known as " barbares" (257), at the sides of other people which penetrate in the Roman Empire. The role of the Francs remains however discussed. It follows a re-establishment for Rome, because the Germanic leagues of the time could not hold head with the imperial army.

Towards the end of the Romain Empire, with, one finds Francs like Lètes in the defense of the Limes, then largely romanized, and fights about it against of other barbarians more threatening. For more details on these Francs subjected to the empire, to see them: Federate francs.

The term of barbarian disappears with the end from the Roman civilization and the cultural center Gallo-Roman.

In the medium of Ve century, under the influence of king Clodion, the Saliens Francs go are étendrent until the North of current France but will be beaten by the armies of Aetius to Vicus Helenna into 446. They will obtain all the same a foedus of this last. The royal seat most important of the territory Franc Salien will become Tournai then.

Mérovingiens

See also: Mérovingiens

Among the Francs which entered to the service of the Empire since the end of the 3rd century, are the Francs saliens. Their legendary ancestor, undoubtedly quasi-divine according to the Germanic rites, is for them the independent source of legitimacy of the royal capacity. He names Mérovée.

However, at the 5th century their king also became proconsul of the Gaulle S, i.e. a Roman civil servant of Germanic origin but very quite comparable (more on this dynamics of integration). The Francs are then firmly established in the territories which were going to become the Neustrie and their military functions confer to them an important capacity in these disturbed times: the young person Clovis (germ. Hlodowecus , which gives the Ludovic first names thereafter or Ludwig in Germany and Louis in France) becomes their king with Tournai, probably in 481. But it needs more than the divine gasoline capacity which confers to him Germanic tribal mythology, to impose itself vis-a-vis the bishop S, on the Patrice S or the partly christianized Gallo-Roman population.

Installed with Soissons, where it reversed a Roman general named Syagrius, Clovis is undoubtedly initially sensitive to the councils of his wife Burgonde, Clothilde, converted with Christianity, and those of the bishop of Rheims, Remi.

Perhaps during an important battle against the Alamans, the Battle of Tolbiac, he promises to convert with the Christian religion if he is victorious. He holds word and receives the baptism in 496 with Rheims, with: 3000 warriors. Thereafter, it tries to inculcate the Christian principles in its people which remain largely pagan.

After a succession of victories over its cruel rivals, in particular on the Burgondes at the time of the battle of Autun, Clovis thus seems one of the first German kings of Occident to have adopted the dominant Christian religion, that of Rome, contrary to the Visigoths or the Lombards ariens and to the pagan Alamans .

He thus manages to gain the support of the Gallo-Roman elites and to found a durable dynasty (which takes the name of its ascending Germanic): the Mérovingiens.

Mérovingiens reign then on all old the Gaulle until the middle of the 8th century. Their most known sovereigns are: Dagobert I {{er}} and the queen Brunehilde. It should be noted that at that time, as under the following dynasty, it is not question of France , but well of a kingdom of the Francs : the German kings, indeed, do not reign on a territory, but on subjects.

Carolingians

See also: Carolingian

As of the end of the 7th century, whereas the policy is marked by bloody quarrels between the Francs neustriens (in the west) and Austrasie NS (in the east), the Mérovingiens last are confined with a role of sovereign of pageantry. They have a bloodless kingdom: the émietté capacity is with the hands of the land aristocrats. The Latin culture gradually regressed during the two previous centuries. An economic crisis without preceding put at evil the whole of the reference marks of the ancient Occident: it is in particular due to the closing of trade route with the Mediterranean world because of the Arab conquests.

It is in this context which the rise of a new family begins. Among the real holders of the capacity, the mayors of the palate austrasiens take de facto the control of the whole of the kingdom of the Francs, before détrôner publicly the Mérovingien last and to form their own dynasty: they are the Pippinides, later on known under the name of Carolingiens. Anxious to legitimate to them Coup d'etat, Pippinides attach as for them them origin to Francus , a legendary Trojan, and are attached by there once again in Rome.

The capacity of the Carolingians marks the real entry in the Moyen-âge: the center of the capacity moves towards the east, from the ancient episcopal cities towards the rural fields of the Carolingian counts. It is remarkable that in same time, the men of letters, conscious of the disappearance of the ancient culture, try to make it reappear: it is the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne, the second and more prestigious Carolingian sovereign itself is crowned Empereur of the Francs and the Romans in the year 800 with Rome. But these attempts to restore the Western Empire fail.

Birth of the France

In 842, the Oaths of Strasbourg, made between wire and grandsons of Charlemagne, heirs to the Empire who tear, testify to the use of languages which are completely different in the West and the East. They are followed Traité of Verdun in 843, which devotes in fact the division of the Carolingian Empire in troispuis soon two kingdoms. This last is thus the birth certificate of the France and precedes also future the Germany.

At the 10th century, the come to power of a dynasty saxonne, the Ottoniens, into Germanic, and that of the Capétiens in Francie Western mark the end of the dynasty of the Carolingians. The term Francs remains however of use to distinguish the inhabitants from France during the Moyen-âge and it is by the name of franj that the Arab chroniclers describe at the 13th cross century the .

The Carolingian sovereigns most known are: Pip the Brief and Charlemagne.

Military organization

The Francs themselves used Framée S (lance of short size), Scramasaxe S (sword of intermediate size), Angon S (lances with hook allowing to immobilize the adversary while card-indexing itself in its shield) and of the Francisque S (axes of jet on only one sharp side). These weapons which were technologically developed for the time, allied a know-how with the combat developed by the Francs, unceasingly threatened at the time by their German, Celtic and Roman neighbors, made it possible these people to rather quickly be essential but the price of hard combat… The victories of Clovis are partly due to the fact that it aligned on the battle field not only its Saliens, but as of the troops of Gallo-Romans, and as it attempted to keep alive the rigor and the strategy of the Roman army, in which number of Saliens had been useful as a Lètes.

French words of francic origin

The francic modern one has another name: the Netherlander (and his alternative: the Fleming). Modern NL = Dutch word. (nonexhaustive list)
  • to give up ( bannjan = to banish) NL = bannen, verbannen
  • to polish ( steken = to push, to use a pointed stick, reported with stakka ) NL = poetsen (to make shine) but also steken
  • to build, bastille ( bast = écorse, écorse of birch in plate, string, building machinery) NL = bast (écorse) bouwen (to build)
  • beer (of will bera) NL = white bier
  • (of blinken = to shine) NL = blink (waxing) blinken
  • blue (of blao ) NL = blauw
  • borders ( boord = edge) NL = boord
  • brown (of bruin ) NL = bruin
  • smart (of schikken = to arrange well, therefore to be valid) NL = schikken
  • shock, to shock ( scoc , schok = jolt) NL = schok
  • cress (of kresso = plant meaning food) NL = waterkers
  • dart (of darod = lance to be thrown) NL = (disappeared word)
  • to detach, attach, cut, stall (of stakka = pile, pointed stick) NL = stok
  • screen (of scherm = protection) NL = scherm
  • spear, pile (of speut = pointed) NL = spie
  • épier (of spieden ) NL = spieden
  • skirmish, fencing (of skirmjan = limited défence) NL = schermen
  • slack, display, cattle shed (of stal = construction where one “puts” an animal) NL = stal
  • stronghold (of fehu , vee = herd of bovines) NL = vee
  • fouquet (of fulko = squirrel) NL = eekhoorn (of eik = oak, therefore which eats nipples of English /en oak: acorn)
    • fresh
  • (of frisk , fry ) Nl = fry
  • raspberry ( braam bes = ripe + bay ) NL = framboos (reintroduced word)
  • armchair (of faldistôl = foldable chair stôl faldi ) NL = vouwstoel
  • gallop (er) (of walalaupan , wel lopen = to run well) NL = gallopperen (reintroduced word)
  • glove (of want ) NL = want
  • guarantor (of warand , ware hand = true (and in) hand) NL = guarantor (reintroduced word)
  • boy (of wrakjo = diminutive of wraker = killer, therefore: small warrior) NL = jongen
  • guard, guard (of warding , derived from wachten = to wait, observe, supervise, be held ready) NL = wachter
  • to waste, wasting ( wostjan , woest = to make wild, wild) NL = woest (wild) verspillen (to waste)
  • bunch (of greip , greep , grip = taken by a hand, handle) NL = greep (of a hand), tros (of grapes)
    • gray (of gray , grau = shining but dark
  • ) NL = grauw, grijs
  • war (of will werra , war = confusion) NL = oorlog (the word war is only used in the expression in war = to be confused)
  • to hate ( hatjan ) NL = haten
  • bold (of hardware = hard, solid) NL = hardware - the nickname of Charles, duke of Burgundy, was not " bold the " but " bold the "
  • to honnir (of haunjan ) NL = honen
  • garden (of gaarden , derived from wachten (to supervise) = (plur.) kept pieces, surrounded by a protection) NL = gaard, tuin
  • moors (of Land = sandy ground) NL = Land (country)
  • cabin (R) (of laubja ) NL = cabin (disappeared, but reintroduced word)
  • walk (R) (of marka = border, mark, to mark of a step) NL = merk, marcheren (reintroduced word)
  • mark ( marka = sign, sign of a delimitation, border) NL = merk
  • marquis (of marka = border region) NL = markgraaf (graaf = count)
  • marshal (of marhskalk = guard skalk of the royal mares maren ) NL = maarschalk (military row), merrie (mare)
  • excursion (of rant , Rand = with dimensions) NL = Rand, trek (the voyage)
  • row (of hring = link, ring) NL = row (reintroduced word) boxing ring (ring, road peripheral)
  • to seize ( sakjan = to assert) NL = zaken (businesses) verzaken (to give up)
    • standard
  • (of stand-hardware = to hold upright firmly) NL = standard (reintroduced word), stand, hardware (hard)
  • trot (for the third time) (of trotton = from top to bottom movement) NL = trotten

the reintroduced words differ from the originals because their significance more specific and is limited. The purely francic origin of certain words is sometimes discussed. It could be Germanic, although the difference is not large. Nevertheless, modern Dutch does not count original words badly that one does not find in German. For the detail: one counted more than 750.000 words in the language Dutchwoman. The new words since 1920 are not included in this figure. Dutch would count more words than English. However, the words number of foreign origin is limited definitely more than in English. It is probable that the Francs had already a great richness of words.

Doubts and questions as for the origin

  • It is clear that the francic language is consistent and is distinguished many another languages (dialects) Germanic. This is rather strange. If it is believed that the Francs were mixed people (tribes mentioned in top), one can suppose that their language was a mixed language. However, it is not the case. It could be that the Francs lived among the tribes mentioned.

  • the territory of Francs was long and drawn bar. Some 300 km length on approximately 10 km of width on Right Bank of the Rhine. This territory is not negligible. It is curious that Tacite did not mention the Francs. These people were to count at least some 100.000 people. By reading 'Germania" , the Tacit one delivers, one however has the impression that it tries to be complete and exhaustive as for the Germanic tribes. Certain historians try to explain this fact by locating the ground of origin of the Francs at the neighborhoods of modern Poland. But that would have as a consequence that the German dialect of this area would resemble that of Francs. However, it is not the case: there is no bond. One does not find any dialect in Germany resembling Francique.
  • the Francs were initially established in the north of Belgium, in modern Flanders. This area was already German-speaking at the time Roman (see Nerviens). The Francs thus by no means imported their language in this area. As the bas-francique one is the ancestor of modern Dutch, any door to believe that the Francs adopted the language nervienne.
  • an important matter is: why the Francs were established in this area? Considering the military power of the Francs as of the beginning, as of their first mention by the Romans, one can wonder why the Francs did not conquer a Gallic area definitely more in the south. The grounds as a Gaulle are definitely more fertile than those of Flandres. Moreover, the majority of the other Germanic tribes pushed towards the sunny south.
  • It there even of the doubts as for the “Frank” name. Supposedly of Germanic origin, this name could be derived from the Latin verb “frangere” = “to kill, destroy, break, overcome”. “Francus” could mean “killer, soldier, warrior”. If this origin is correct, that could explain the fact that Tacite them not mentioned: they would result from the Roman empire itself. They was perhaps pensioned soldiers, Germano-Romans expatriates. Remain to be seen of which area. As the francic language is the ancestor of the modern Fleming, the area nervienne (the the Brabant) can be privileged.

Frankly|Frankly

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