Franks, the name applied about the middle of the 3d century to a confederation of Germanic tribes dwelling on the Middle and Lower Rhine. The most important of these were the Sigambri, Chamavi, Bructerii, Ampsivarii, Chatti, Attuarii, and Sali. Later they became divided into two principal groups—the Salian, inhabiting the districts on both sides of the Lower Rhine, and the Ripuarians, settled on the Middle Rhine. In the 3d and 4th centuries hordes of them began to move southwards and westwards into Gaul. In 358 the Emperor Julian, although he defeated the Salian invaders, allowed them to establish themselves permanently in Toxandria, the country between the Meuse and the Scheldt. From this time Frankish chiefs and warriors frequently served in the Roman armies; and during the 5th century they rendered valuable service to the empire in stemming the tide of barbarian invasion, especially at Mainz in 406 and at Châlons in 451. By this time the Salian Franks had made themselves masters of northern Gaul, whilst the Ripuarians were still concentrated around Cologne. Under Hlodowig or Clovis, king (481-511) of the former confederation, the Franks were converted to Christianity, whilst by his conquests in central Gaul, and by his subjugation of the Alemanni and the Ripuarian Franks, he not only extended his dominions as far as the Loire in the one direction and the Maine in the other, but he laid the foundations of what subsequently developed into the kingdom of France (q.v.). To the Salian Franks is due the celebrated
Salic Law (q.v.), which was probably drawn up before their conversion to Christianity, and to the cognate confederation the Lex Ripuarianorum, a code that differed very little from the Lex Salica. We learn that the Franks were a stalwart race of warriors, distinguished by their free martial bearing, their general aspect of fierceness, their long flowing hair, their blue eyes, and largeness of limb. They constituted a nation of democratic fighting-men, the voice of each individual being of as much weight in the council-hall as his arm was in the thick of battle. In the intervals of peace they tilled the soil, reared cattle, fished, and hunted. They lived together in villages, and had gardens and vineyards. Some amongst them also wrought in gold and iron. The only social grades in their communities were the king, the free Franks, and the slaves taken in war. To the king and his counts belonged the execution of the laws, which were not, however, administered by them, but by specially elected officers in each hundred. The king, although an hereditary ruler, was not an absolute one, his power being controlled in matters of greater moment by the tribal assembly (March-field), when all the men of the tribe met together once a year fully armed. See L. Sergeant. The Franks ('Story of the Nations' series, 1898).