MEDIEVAL WARFARE

The Franks, Religion, Politics, and Early Medieval Warfare 

The Franks were by far and away the most important of the German invaders.  An indication of their significance is the fact that what the Romans called 'Gaul,' we today call France, meaning 'Land of the Franks.'  [Even clearer in the German word for France:  Frankreich.]
 Why were the Franks the most important of the German tribes?
 (1)  They were the most successful.  Between  approximately 500 and 800, the Franks built an empire which covered much of western and central Europe, in the course of which they absorbed most of the other German tribes.
 (2)  They produced two of the leading political figures of the Middle Ages - their kings, Clovis and Charlemagne.
 (3)  They were the major German tribe which converted to Roman Christianity, and which formed an alliance with the early medieval popes.  This alliance helped promote the political interests of both sides and, even more significantly, the spread of Roman Christianity through western and central Europe.
 (4)  They turned back the Islamic invasion of western Europe at the battle of Tours.
 (5)  It was in the heart of the Frankish empire, between the Loire and Rhine Rivers, that the crucial medieval institution of feudalism was born.
 (6)  The Franks got the 'best press!'  In other words, they had several of the best historians of the Middle Ages: 
 (a)  Bishop Gregory of Tours (6th century) wrote about their early history, including the history of Clovis.
 (b)  Einhard, whose biography of Charlemagne is one of the finest pieces of historical writing from the Middle Ages.
 The Franks had raided the empire as early as the troubled period of anarchy during the third century, but had at that time been driven back.  Consequently, at the beginning of the fifth century, they were still living on the fringes of the Roman world, in the territory just east of the Rhine River.
 The Franks seemed less adventuresome than some of the other German tribes who drove deep into the Empire.  Instead, they expanded slowly in northern Gaul, just across the Rhine from their German homeland.  However, they seem to have had one advantage over those who moved farther away.  Settling just west of the Rhine, they remained in close contact with their fellow Germans to the east; and were able to draw on fresh blood and man-power during their slow expansion into the Empire.
Clovis [481-511]:  one of the two greatest Frankish kings who came to the throne late in the 5th century and launched his people on a career of conquest which would ultimately make them the masters of Western Europe. Accomplishments of Clovis:
 (1)  Extensive conquests
 (2)  Conversion to Roman Christianity
 (3)  First to think in terms of Paris as a capital
 In a series of campaigns, Clovis overran central Gaul (486), conquered the Alemmani in western Germany (496), absorbed the Burgundians (500), and drove the Visigoths out of southern Gaul (507).
 In making Paris his capital, Clovis placed on the map what had until them been a relatively insignificant town in Roman times; and began its rise into one of the great cities of Europe.
 When the Franks entered the Roman Empire, they were still polytheists, believing in their ancient gods; in other words, they were what Christians would call 'pagans.'
 It was in 496, after the victory over the Alemanni, that Clovis began to convert his people to Roman Christianity.
 Clovis had another of the great "conversion experiences" in Christian history, not unlike that of the Emperor Constantine several centuries earlier.  While still a pagan, he married a minor German princess whose tribe had already adopted Roman Christianity.
 St. Clothilde:  wife of Clovis who eventually won sainthood for her efforts to get her husband to convert.  Although she did not actually convert him, she did teach him about the religion; and she got him to agree to raise the children as Christians.  Then, according to tradition, in 496, when he was losing his battle with the Alemanni, he called on his wife's god promising that in return for victory he would convert his people.  When he did win the battle, he carried out his promise.
 Again, as in the case of Constantine nearly two centuries earlier, whatever the truth in the story of a miracle, there were good political reasons for Clovis to convert to Christianity.  It is important to note that both miracle stories derive from the writings of men who were leading members of the Christian Church.
Comparison of the Conversions of Constantine and Clovis
1.  The Case of Constantine:
Since the middle of the first century, Christianity had been illegal. However, starting around the middle of the third century, the pressure for legalization began to grow.  Despite its illegality, Christianity had become one of the largest religions in the empire.  Something had to be done to bring Roman policy in line with this reality. An initial attempt to legalize Christianity in the mid-3rd century failed.  However, following the persecution of Diocletian at the beginning of the 4th century, the religion was legalized, mainly due to the Emperor Constantine, another of the great Balkan emperors who ruled the empire in its closing centuries.
Edict of Milan (313):  imperial decree issued by Constantine legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.
According to the traditional story, Constantine legalized Christianity as the result of a miracle.  Like the story of Paul on the road to Damascus, Constantine's is one of the most famous "conversion experiences" in the history of Christianity.  While riding to the battle of Milvian Bridge which gave him control of the western empire, he saw a cross in the sky with "in hoc signo vinces" [in this sign conquer] written on it.  Since the cross was the sign of the Christians, when he won the battle, he legalized Christianity in gratitude for his victory. 
It is important to note that Constantine had good political reasons for his actions:
(1)  To reward the Christian population for its support in the civil war
(2)  To win over the Christians of the east for his future conquest of that region
In hoc signo vinces ["in this sign conquer"]:  the famous Christian slogan which Constantine supposedly saw in the sky on the eve of battle.  In memory of the event, IHS appears on many Christian religious items (such as vestments and baptismal fonts).
During the civil wars which brought Constantine to power, Christians participation in military activity for the first time won approved by the church.  For them to do so, the ancient Christian ban on spilling blood had to be relaxed, just as the ban on fornication and apostasy had been relaxed.  In fact, unlike fornication and apostasy, spilling blood actually became a praiseworthy activity, if undertaken for the protection of the faith.
Just War:  originally, any war fought to preserve the faith.  The concept entered Christian thinking at the time of Constantine.  Later, it was extended to cover a war fought to spread the faith.  (For example, the medieval Crusades.)
2.  Political Background to Frankish Conversion:  the Germans who established themselves in the western empire during the fifth century constituted a distinct minority of the total population.  At the time they entered the empire,  almost all fell into one of two religious categories:  (1)  pagans (like the Angles, Saxons, and Franks); (2) Arian Christians (like the Visigoths, Vandals, and Lombards.)   This cut them off religiously from the subjects whom hey ruled, the vast majority of whom were orthodox (i.e. non-heretical) Christians, who accepted the formulation of the Trinity expressed in the Nicene Creed and who looked to Rome for religious leadership. Whoever could appeal to this large population would enjoy considerable advantage in extending his power throughout the west. 
 Arianism:  the greatest heresy of the early Christian church.  It held that the three persons of God in the Trinity were not all co-equal and co-eternal.  In other words, (1) God the son [Jesus] was not equal to God the father [Yahweh]; (2) while Yahweh had always existed, Jesus had not.  This view is named for Arius,  an important Egyptian churchman of the 4th century who formulated it.
 Throughout the 4th century, there was an on-going struggle between Arians and non-Arians for control of the Christian church.  In this struggle, first one side and then the other achieved a temporary victory.  However, during the reign of Theodosius, who died in 395, the non-Arian position finally triumphed and Arianism, once and for all, became a heresy.
 Ulfilas:  the first major missionary to work outside the Roman Empire.  In the 4th century, he travelled north of the Roman frontier, converting a number of German tribes.  To help in his work of conversion, Ulfilas developed a script for writing the German language [Gothic] and, using this, translated the Bible.  Despite all his efforts, he is not regarded by the church as St. Ulfilas, since he accepted and taught his converts the Arian position on the Trinity.
 The early medieval popes needed political allies to help them assert their independence of the eastern emperors.  However, the only available allies, the German tribes which dominated western Europe, were either pagans or heretics.  In other words, they were  religiously unacceptable as allies of the papacy - until Clovis converted to Roman Christianity.
 Papal-Frankish Alliance:  the alliance which the popes established with Clovis and his successors.  Thereafter, the papacy and the Franks usually supported each other politically.  The Papal-Frankish Alliance helped shape early medieval history.
 Clovis reaped two great advantages from his conversion:
 (1)  Political support from the popes
 (2)  Support from most of the inhabitants of what had once been the western Roman Empire
 By the time of Clovis, most inhabitants of the west looked to Rome for religious leadership.  These people, who numerically outnumbered the German invaders, proved ready to support a "good Christian" like Clovis, against their own German rulers who remained pagans or Arian Christians..  For example, Clovis's conquest of southern Gaul from the Visigoths was in part due to the fact that most of its inhabitants, who were descended from the old Roman population, backed him against their own ruler.
 Merovingian Dynasty:  the first great royal family to rule the Franks; although it is not named for Clovis, he was its most important member.
 For decades, the Merovingian kings who followed Clovis continued his policy of expansion.  By the end of the sixth century [600 A. D.], the Frankish kingdom covered almost all of modern France, Switzerland, the Low Countries as well as much of Western Germany.  However, at the same time that the Merovingian Dynasty reached its greatest territorial extent, the quality of its members began to decline.  The later Merovingians were weak and indecisive kings.  As a result, the mighty Frankish state was torn by division and civil war.
 Rois faineants:  literally "do-nothing kings"; the name applied to the later Merovingians.
 Carolingian Dynasty:  the second great family among the Franks; it rose to power in the civil wars which occurred as a result of the Merovingian decline.  This second great royal dynasty of the Franks is named for its principal member - Charlemagne [or "Charles the Great"].
 Before they actually became kings, members of the Carolingian family established themselves as hereditary Mayors of the Palace.  Among the Franks, the Mayor of the Palace was a leading official akin to  a prime minister.  In the absence of a strong king, he was the real ruler of the state.
 Charles Martel:  Charles "the Hammer"; Charlemagne's grandfather.  He rather than the Merovingian monarch commanded the Frankish army which defeated the Moslems at the Battle of Tours (732/733) and drove them back into Spain.  He was also a key figure in the rise of feudalism.
 Pepin the Short:  Charlemagne's father.  He deposed the last of the Merovingian monarchs and assumed the title of king to go with the real power which he already held. He did this with the approval of the Roman pope, Zachary, despite the fact that such a seizure from a legitimate monarch was very questionable by traditional Christian law.
Political Motives for Papal Support: 
In the mid-8th century, Papal needs again had a major influence on the political and military functioning of the period.
Continuing threats faced by the Papacy:
1.  Eastern emperors who continued to claim the right to interfere in the affairs of the west and to control the city of Rome
2.  The presence in northern and central Italy of the Lombards, the last German tribe to enter the west (568)
The papacy again sought Frankish military support against these outstanding threats. In return for papal support for his seizure of the throne, Pepin renewed the Papal-Frankish Alliance and aided Rome against its two principal enemies.
Childeric:  the last of the Merovingian kings, he was hustled into a monastery, a normal fate for political losers in the Middle Ages (better than some of the alternatives).
St. Boniface:  after Ulfilas, the next great missionary to the Germans.   He was also a papal 'trouble-shooter.'  It was Boniface who helped renew the Papal-Frankish Alliance, by getting the papacy to approve Pepin's seizure of the crown.
Donation of Pepin (756):  after defeating the Lombards, Pepin gave the popes control over a strip of territory in central Italy which became known as the Papal States (or the States of the Church).  This territory would remain under papal control until the reunification of Italy in the years between 1859 and 1870, at which time, most of it was seized by the new Italian government.  However, even today, the popes continue to be sovereign rulers over a much smaller territory - several square miles in the heart of Rome known as Vatican City.