Merovingian dynasty
Ruling family of the Franks (c. 481–751)
The Merovingian dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of Western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great.
The public source identifies “Merovingian dynasty” as ruling family of the Franks (c. 481–751). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Merovingian, dynasty and Ruling.
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This entry incorporates text from “Merovingian dynasty” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.