French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
Neustria, or Neustrasia, was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks.
Gundoland or Gundeland was the mayor of the palace of Neustria from 613 to his death. According to the Liber Historiae Francorum, he was nobilis, egregius, and industrius: noble, outstanding, and diligent.
Landric was a supporter of Fredegund in her conflict with Brunhilda. He fought for her at Brinnacum, an unknown location, against Childebert II soon after the latter's succession to Burgundy in 592.
Fredegund or Fredegunda was the Queen consort of Chilperic I, the Merovingian Frankish king of Soissons. She served as regent during the minority of her son Chlothar II from 584 until 597.
Brunhilda was queen regent of Austrasia, part of Francia, by marriage to the Merovingian king Sigebert I of Austrasia.
Childebert II (c.570–595) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 575 until his death in 595, as the eldest son of Sigebert I, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle Guntram.
In 604, he is recorded as maior domus in Neustria for the first time. In that year, he and Merovech, son of Clotaire II, were sent by Clotaire to attack Berthoald, the Burgundian mayor. They were defeated and Merovech captured. Landric was succeeded as mayor by Gundoland.
Berthoald was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from some time before 603 until his death in the next year. According to the Burgundian chronicler Fredegar, he was moderate, sensible, brave, and honest.
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The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for three centuries in a region known as Francia in Latin, beginning in the middle of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul and the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. The semi legendary Merovech was supposed to have founded the Merovingian dynasty, but it was his famous grandson Clovis I who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule.
Pepin Iof Landen, also called the Elder or the Old, was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under the Merovingian king Dagobert I from 623 to 629. He was also the mayor for Sigebert III from 639 until his death.
Austrasia was a territory which formed the northeastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the Franks, including both the so-called Salians and Rhineland Franks, which Clovis I conquered after first taking control of the bordering part of Roman Gaul, now northern France, which is sometimes described in this period as Neustria.
Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He was the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield any real royal power. Dagobert was the first of the Frankish kings to be buried in the royal tombs at Saint Denis Basilica.
Chlothar II, called the Great or the Young, was King of Neustria and King of the Franks, and the son of Chilperic I and his third wife, Fredegund. He started his reign as an infant under the regency of his mother, who was in an uneasy alliance with Clothar's uncle Guntram, King of Burgundy. Clothar assumed full power over Neustria upon the death of his mother, in 597; though rich this was one of the smallest portions of Francia. He continued his mother's feud with Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia with equal viciousness and bloodshed, finally achieving her execution in an especially brutal manner in 613, after winning the battle that enabled Chlothar to unite Francia under his rule. Like his father, he built up his territories by moving in after the deaths of other kings.
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.
Ebroin was the Frankish mayor of the palace of Neustria on two occasions; firstly from 658 to his deposition in 673 and secondly from 675 to his death in 680 or 681. In a violent and despotic career, he strove to impose the authority of Neustria, which was under his control, over Burgundy and Austrasia.
Sigebert III was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 633 to his death around 656. He was described as the first Merovingian roi fainéant —do-nothing king—, in effect the mayor of the palace ruling the kingdom throughout his reign. However he lived a pious Christian life and was later sanctified, being remembered as Saint Sigebert of Austrasia in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.
Charibert II, a son of Clotaire II and his junior wife Sichilde, was briefly King of Aquitaine from 629 to his death, with his capital at Toulouse. We have no direct statement about when Charibert was born exactly, only that he was "a few years younger" than his half-brother Dagobert. His father Clotaire evidently had a bigamous marriage and he was the offspring of the junior wife.
Sigebert II (601–613) or Sigisbert II, was the illegitimate son of Theuderic II, from whom he inherited the kingdoms of Burgundy and Austrasia in 613. However, he fell under the influence of his great-grandmother, Brunhilda. Warnachar, mayor of the palace of Austrasia had Sigebert brought before a national assembly, where he was proclaimed king by the nobles over both his father's kingdoms. However, when the kingdom was invaded by Clotaire II of Neustria, Warnachar and Rado, mayor of the palace of Burgundy, betrayed Sigebert and Brunhilda and joined with Clotaire, recognising Clotaire as rightful regent and guardian of Sigebert and ordering the army not to oppose the Neustrians. Brunhilda and Sigebert met Clotaire's army on the Aisne, but the Patrician Aletheus, Duke Rocco, and Duke Sigvald deserted her host and Brunhilda and Sigebert were forced to flee, before being taken by Clotaire's men at Lake Neuchâtel. Brunhilda, little Sigebert and Sigebert's younger brother Corbo were executed by Clotaire's orders, and Austrasia and Neustria were reunited under Clotaire's rule, who now ruled the entire kingdom of the Franks.
Theudebert II (c.585-612), King of Austrasia, was the son and heir of Childebert II. He received the kingdom of Austrasia plus the cities (civitates) of Poitiers, Tours, Le Puy-en-Velay, Bordeaux, and Châteaudun, as well as the Champagne, the Auvergne, and Transjurane Alemannia.
Theuderic II (587–613), king of Burgundy (595–613) and Austrasia (612–613), was the second son of Childebert II. At his father's death in 595, he received Guntram's kingdom of Burgundy, with its capital at Orléans, while his elder brother, Theudebert II, received their father's kingdom of Austrasia, with its capital at Metz. He also received the lordship of the cities (civitates) of Toulouse, Agen, Nantes, Angers, Saintes, Angoulême, Périgueux, Blois, Chartres, and Le Mans. During his minority, and later, he reigned under the guidance of his grandmother Brunhilda, evicted from Austrasia by his brother Theudebert II.
Witteric was the Visigoth King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia. He ruled from 603 to 610.
Ragenfrid was the mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy from 715, when he filled the vacuum in Neustria caused by the death of Pepin of Heristal, until 718, when Charles Martel finally established himself over the whole Frankish kingdom.
Basina, was a Frankish princess, the daughter and youngest child of Chilperic I, King of Soissons, and his first wife, Audovera. After surviving the assassination of her immediate family, she became a nun. She later helped to lead a rebellion by a group of the nuns, which became a scandal throughout the region. This event was chronicled by the bishop and saint, Gregory of Tours, who was one of the bishops chosen to settle the matter.
Warnachar was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy (617-626) and briefly Austrasia (612-617). He began his career as the regent during Theuderic II's minority (596-c.604). In 612, when Theuderic became king of Austrasia, he became mayor of the palace. In 613, he allied with King Clotaire II of Neustria, feeling that the young Sigebert II should not be under the hated Brunhilda's influence. He betrayed Brunhilda into Clotaire's hands by instructing the army not to oppose the invading Neustrian. When Clotaire then became sole king of the Franks, he left Warnachar in power in Austrasia briefly, but confirmed at Bonneuil-sur-Marne, in 617, Warnachar's function in Burgundy until his death in 626. His son, Godinus, succeeded him.
Protadius was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 604, when he displaced his rival Berthoald, until his death two years later. He was originally the noble lover of Brunhilda, the grandmother of and regent for King Theuderic II. She, however, desired to raise him to status in the kingdom and had him given the patricianship over the lands east of the Jura, whose duke, Wandalmar, had died in 604. She then conspired to do away with Berthoald, mayor of the palace, by sending him with only 300 men to the region of the Seine. Attacked by Clotaire II of Neustria's son, Merovech, and his mayor, Landric, Berthoald died in the ensuing battle when he realised that he had nothing to lose, for he was no longer safe at court.
