Customer Reviews

The Franks (The Peoples of Europe)

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Edward James' The Franks is a succinct record of the evolution of the Franks from one of numerous nomadic barbarians, trough the stages of federated allied barbarian tribe and successor kingdom to the Roman Empire, and ultimately to becoming the core of the country of France. For somebody who knows little about the Dark Ages, this book will be a revelation; if you know just the basics of Western Civiliation, this book will certainly fascinate and educate. James not only narrates what happens, but he includes numerous first hand accounts from such luminaries as St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours. Linguistic, religious, and cultural topics are examined in addition to straight history. James's focus is primarily on the Merovingian period, although he examines the Carolingian perios as well. This is not merely a detailed account of who killed who and what happened next; it is a survey of the 5th-9th century Franskish dominions/dependencies and rulers, which ranged from Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Central Europe and (of course) France. If you had only a few hours to learn a few hundred years of history, then you could do far worse than read this book

In a relatively short account, James explains the history of the main tribe that came to dominate France, and bestow its name.

Unlike history books from earlier decades, this one is well illustrated. Numerous photographs of surviving relics, like armour, jewelry and sundry grave goods. Along with several maps showing the migration paths that the Franks took, as they moved into western Europe.

The sparseness of our knowledge of some of the times in the book is inevitable. The Dark Ages overlaid Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire. But James' narrative offers reasonable conjectures about events.

This is an excellent history book. James has a succinct yet enlightening narrative style. This text is chock full of brilliant asides, quotes, and archaeological, linguistic, and sociological sources and arguments. James does a wonderful job examining issues from all sides and pointing out where evidence is weak, conflicting, or rock solid. This is one of the best brief histories I have read in quite a while. Highly ecommended for anyone interested in early European, ancient French, Roman, Celt, or otherwise Frankish history.

General overview of early (pre-Carolingian) history of the Franks, especially the conversion to Catholicism and the conquests of Clovis and sons; a little about society and economics; some review of the relative contributions of written history, archaeology, linguistic evidence, etc.; and some consideration of the questions of "Just who were the Franks?" and "Who are the real ancestors of France, the Franks or the Gauls?" (or "Where did they come from, where did they go?"). Like some others in the "Peoples of Europe" series, James manages to sneak a few new and intriguing interpretations into a book that presents as a general survey of literature.

Of all the "barbarian" Germanic peoples who migrated south and west across the Empire over a period of five centuries, the Franks were the most successful. They acquired the most territory, influenced other peoples the most, and retained much of their identity in the process. This was largely because they were highly adaptable and generally tolerant of the customs and beliefs of others. Edwards is a recognized expert in early medieval history and archaeology, and a very readable writer as well. The essential question about the Franks -- and it arises again and again in this book -- is, "Who were they?" Or better, "How do we define a Frank?" They were so inclusive, it's difficult to tell. James discusses the surviving sources, then delves into their origins and their movements before Clovis. Then come the periods of conquest and unification, the effect on language and material culture, and the conversion of the Franks to Christianity, with several excellent discussions of monasticism, royal burials, and Church politics. The last two sections deal with the relationship between the Merovingian kings and their people (administration, taxation, coinage, and so on) and Frankish society. Finally, there's a short discussion of the "Frankish myth" as it has appeared in France for the past thousand years. The bibliography is highly selective, of course, but still a good starting point. I can recommend this as an excellent primer for the student approaching Frankish history (or even early medieval history) for the first time.

Interesting account using both historical and archaelogical sources. The prose is scholarly but adequate, and I found this to be a very useful research tool

who were the Franks? This book at times makes you wonder.The reason is because they borrowed so much from other cultures(primarily Roman)that it seems an indistinguisable line separates them from a dozen or more other (tribes?) at conflict and at alliance with Rome.Early sources of the Franks are sparse except for Roman writers,and later histories are written by church clerics,some of whom had numerous reasons for bending the tale of the Frankish Merovingian kings one way or another.At times if you read Gregory of Tours book on the Merovingian kings it's almost like reading Suetonius "Lives".The Merovingians copied Rome so much they even had their own versions of Nero and Caligula.The Franks appear from the book to be a highly stratified society as represented by descriptions of numerous graves with photos as well.Slaves at the bottom and a ruling class,there goes the celtic myth of the egalitarian society.Apparently the Franks were also major metallurgical craftsmen,implying that they were a sea power as well in order to import raw materials iron ore,tin, copper,long distances.The name Merovic comes from the Frankish ruler who is recognized as the first ruler over a political territory that includes today alot of modern day France.This dynasty provided the rulers who accomplished the movement of Europe's financial,and political centers from southern Italy to the northern modern day states of France and Germany.Then those long -haired kings who consolidated these territories sort of faded out.The book takes the Franks from B.C. tribal days to about 700 AD.No Alexanders or Caesars bent on world conquest the Merovingians were more tribal and were concerned with consolidating the rule in their own areas.James points out that even the language of this small territory may have been more Roman than the french tongue of today.There were some characteristics of rule however that differed from the Romans. One example was the rule of inheritance,in Rome a will was made and followed according to the desire of the deceased.whereas according to James the Franks had no will.It was understood according to their ancient tribal laws that property was divided equally between the heirs.So differences such as these did make the Franks somewhat distinct from their Roman overlords,even though at times it's almost impossible to tell.Since history is nothing more than interpretation of facts,and how one uses them(or misuses them?),the James book is an honest and accurate read,--you may even question some of the writings of Gregory of Tours,the eminent church historian who gave one of the first official histories of the Franks.His writings come off more as moral posturing at times than an accurate picture. James uses some great archaeological research to make the mystery of the Franks even more intriguing.One example is how James describes the use of coinage and coins by the Frankish rulers.These coins were not used by consumers like today,but for royal enhancement. read the book for an explanation(or those few pages).By the way if your last name has a bert,you might have descended from a Frank,cause according to James it comes from bhert which means "shining",now all you have to do is figure out your prefix and this will help out your geneological research.There is also alot of maps,and pictures with good descriptions of architecture although the great Cathedrals were still a few centuries away.But the Franks laid the groundwork by establishing numerous sites for Christian churches later expanded upon.

Overall this book was a pretty good read. Although he talks alot about archeology, the author gives great in formation about the leaders and general life-style of the Franks (to about 700 ad).