Franks/History

The Franks were a Germanic people group who, starting from the 4th century AD, settled in the present-day Belgium and Netherlands, then still part of the Roman Empire, as feoderati. They eventually conquered all of present-day France, Benelux, and the western parts of Germany. Among their most important kings was Clovis I (465-511), who conquered Gaul and converted the Franks to Christianity, and Charlemagne (742-814), who unified much of western Europe around the year 800 AD.