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The Merovingian Dynasty, c. 639

A map depicting the rise and expansion of the Merovingians, a powerful Frankish dynasty that, at the end of the 5th century, was the first to unify the fragmented tribes and petty kingdoms in the territory of present-day Germany, France, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and Austria after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Beginning with Clovis (a Salian Frank claiming descendency of a mythical hero named Merovech), the Merovingian-ruled kingdoms grew into the most influential and powerful Western world societies, blending Germanic Frankish customs with existing Gallo-Roman institutions. Following the baptism of Clovis, the Franks began adopting Christianity, setting off on a path of centuries of a strategic alliance between the Frankish State and the Roman Catholic Church.