The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751

The Merovingians – the Frankish royal family – were the closest, and most powerful, neighbour to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the Early Middle Ages. They influenced trade, culture, and religion of early England, at times as partners, at times as hegemons of the island. At the same time, they built the foundation on which the Carolingians built their empire, the New Rome that would control the great swathes of Europe for centuries to come. Ian Wood’s excellent book is possibly the most detailed account of their rule ever written. 

The best point of departure for our understanding of medieval France, and a skillful build on often fragmentary sources. Wood shows how ‘barbarian’ invaders meshed with elements of Romanitas in order to produce continuities, notably in Christianity, as well as a very different society of rulership.