The Salian Franks or Salii were a subgroup of the early Franks

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 who originally had been living north of the limes

Limes

A limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any...

 in the area above the Rhine. The Merovingian kings responsible for the conquest of Gaul were Salians. From the 3rd century on, the Salian Franks appear in the historical records as warlike Germanic people and pirates, and as Laeti (allies of the Romans). They were the first Germanic tribe from beyond the limes who settled permanently on Roman land. In 358

358

Year 358 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Datianus and Cerealis...

, they came to some form of agreement with the Romans that allowed them to settle in Toxandria

Toxandria

Toxandria is the classical name for a region between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The name is also spelled Taxandria...

 (roughly the area of the current Dutch and Belgian provinces of Noord-Brabant, Antwerpen

Antwerp (province)

Antwerp is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. Its capital is Antwerp which comprises the Port of Antwerp...

 and Vlaams-Brabant).

The Salians fully adopted the Frankish identity and gradually ceased to appear by their original name from the 7th century onward, when they evolved into the Franks par excellence. The Lex Ripuaria

Lex Ripuaria

The Lex Ripuaria is a 7th century collection of Germanic law, the laws of the Ripuarian Franks. It is a major influence on the Lex Saxonum of AD 802...

originated about 630 around Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 and has been described as a later development of the Frankish laws known from Lex Salica.

Etymology

From the early 6th century on, the name Salian Franks (or Salii in Latin) is used to contrast with the Ripuarian Franks

Ripuarian Franks

Ripuarian Franks is a distinction of the Frankish people made by a number of writers in the Latin language of the first several centuries of the Christian Era...

. Salii may have derived from the name of the medieval lakeland Sall zee area, or to the IJssel

IJssel

River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel...

 river, formerly called Hisloa or Hisla, and in ancient times, Sala, signalling this as the Salians' original residence. Today this area is called Salland

Salland

Salland is a historical dominion in the west and north of the present Dutch province of Overijssel. It is probably named after the Salian Franks, who are thought to originate from Salland...

.

Culture

The Salian Frank language belongs to, and is ancestral to, the family of Low Franconian dialects. The Salian Franks are one of the peoples who formed the foundation for early Dutch culture and society (along with other Frankish groups, Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

 and native Belgian

Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...

 tribes). According to modern scholars such as Robinson, their language evolved from Franconian into Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

. After settling within Roman territory, they developed an organized society that tilled the land and did not pose a threat to the neighboring Romans.

The Salian tribes constituted a loose confederacy who stood together to negotiate with Roman authority. Each tribe consisted of extended family groups centered around a particularly renowned or noble family. The importance of the family bond was made clear by the Salic Law

Salic law

Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...

, which ordained that an individual had no right to protection if not part of a family.

Mythology and religion

While the Goths

Goths

The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....

 or the Vandals

Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

 had been at least partly Christianised since the mid-4th century, polytheistic beliefs are thought to have flourished among the Salian Franks until the conversion of Clovis

Clovis I

Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...

 to Christianity shortly before or after 500, after which paganism withered slowly.

History

The Salian Franks' original proximity to the sea is attested in the first historical records. In about 286 Carausius

Carausius

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian...

 was put in charge of defending the coasts of the Straits of Dover against Saxon and Frankish pirates. This changed when the Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 drove them south into Roman territory. Their history is attested by Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...

 and Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...

, who described their migrations toward the southern Netherlands and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. They first crossed the Rhine during the Roman upheavals and subsequent Germanic breakthrough in 260 AD.

When peace had returned, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus allowed the Salians to settle in 297 AD amongst the Batavians

Batavians

The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the...

, where they soon came to dominate the Batavian island in the Rhine delta. It is not known whether this people were obliged to serve the Roman army as had the Batavians before them, or if they were assigned another territory close to the Black Lake

Zwarte Water

The Zwarte Water is a river in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is formed just south of the city of Zwolle when two streams, the Soestwetering and the Nieuwe Wetering, merge...

. The backgrounds of the seafaring Franks whose story was written down during the reign of emperor Probus (276-282), are not clear. The story tells of a large group who decided to hijack some Roman ships and return with them from Eastern Europe – reaching their homes in the Rhine estuaries without large losses through Greece, Sicily and Gibraltar, although not without causing mayhem. Franks ceased to be associated with seafaring when other Germanic tribes, probably Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

, drove them to the south. The Salians received protection from the Romans and in return were recruited by Constantius Gallus

Constantius Gallus

Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus , commonly known as Constantius Gallus, was a member of the Constantinian dynasty and Caesar of the Roman Empire . Gallus was consul three years, from 352 to 354.- Family :...

 – together with the other inhabitants of the Batavian isle. This did not prevent the onslaught of the Germanic tribes to the north, especially by the Chamavi

Chamavi

The Chamavi were a Germanic tribe of Late Antiquity and the European Dark Age. They first appear under that name in the 1st century AD Germania of Tacitus as a Germanic tribe that, for most of their history, existed along the North bank of the Lower Rhine in the region today called Hamaland after...

. The subsequent "insolent" settlement of the Salians within Roman territory in Toxandria

Toxandria

Toxandria is the classical name for a region between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The name is also spelled Taxandria...

 (between the Meuse

Meuse

Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 and the Scheldt

Scheldt

The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...

 rivers in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

) was rejected by the future Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Julian the Apostate

Julian the Apostate

Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....

, who attacked them. The Salians surrendered to him in 358 AD and accepted Roman terms.

One particular Salian family comes to light of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time to become the Merovingians – Salian kings named after Childeric's mythical father Merovech

Merovech

Merovech is the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Salian Franks , which later became the dominant Frankish tribe. He allegedly lived in the first half of the fifth century. His name is a Latinization of a form close to the Old High German given name Marwig, lit. "famed...

, whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements.

From the 420s onwards, headed by a certain Chlodio, they expanded their territory to the Somme

Somme

Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....

 into northern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. They formed a kingdom in that area with the Belgian city of Tournai

Tournai

Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....

 becoming the center of their domain. This kingdom was extended further by Childeric and especially Clovis, who gained control over Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul

Roman Gaul consisted of an area of provincial rule in the Roman Empire, in modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and western Germany. Roman control of the area lasted for less than 500 years....

, i.e. France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, whose current name was derived from the Franks.

In 451

451

Year 451 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcianus and Adelfius...

, Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...

, de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

, called upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by Attila's Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

. The Salian Franks answered the call and fought in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in a temporary alliance with Romans and Visigoths, which de facto ended the Hunnic threat to Western Europe.

Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, became the absolute ruler of a Germanic kingdom of mixed Roman-Germanic population in 486

486

Year 486 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius and Longinus...

. He consolidated his rule with victories over the Gallo-Romans and all the other Frankish tribes and established his capital in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. After he had beaten the Visigoths and the Alemanni, his sons drove the Visigoths to Spain and subdued the Burgundians

Burgundians

The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...

, Alemanni and Thuringians. After 250 years of this dynasty, however, marked by internecine struggles, a gradual decline occurred. The position in society of the Merovingians was taken over by Carolingians, who came from a northern area around the river Maas in what is now Belgium and southern Netherlands.

In Gaul, a fusion of Roman and Germanic societies was occurring. During the period of Merovingian rule, the Franks reluctantly began to adopt Christianity following the baptism of Clovis I

Clovis I

Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...

 in 496

496

Year 496 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus without colleague...

, an event that inaugurated the alliance between the Frankish kingdom and the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Unlike their Goth

Goths

The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....

 and Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 counterparts, who adopted Arianism

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...

, the Salians adopted Catholic Christianity early on; they had an intimate relationship with their ecclesiastical hierarchy, subjects, and conquered territories.

The division of the Frankish kingdom among Clovis’s four sons (511

511

Year 511 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Felix and Secundinus...

) was a precedent that would influence Frankish history for more than four centuries. By then the Salic Law had established the exclusive right to succession of male descendants. However, this principle turned out to be an exercise in interpretation, rather than the simple implementation of a new model of succession. No trace of an established practice of territorial division can in fact be discovered among Germanic peoples other than the Franks.

By the 9th century, if not earlier, the division between Salian and Ripuarian Franks had in practice become virtually non-existent, but continued for some time to have implications for the legal system under which a person could go on trial. The adjective Salian, as applied to the Frankish people, is the origin of the name of the Salic Law

Salic law

Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...

.