400 - 800 AD

In the early Middle Ages the Franks - a Germanic Tribe - conquered the Low Countries overthrowing Roman rule. The Franks introduced Christianity to the local population, converting them by force if necessary. Over the decades they gradually moved southwards expanding their territory. However when in 451 Attila the Hun and his army threatened their borders, the Franks joined forces with the Romans to stop the invading Huns.

Frankish culture evolved gradually out of that of the late Roman era. Clovis (466-511), grandson of Merovech who founded the Merovingian dynasty, managed to incorporate the whole of Gaul, from the Pyrenees to the major rivers of the northern Netherlands into the Frankish Kingdom. On his deathbed, he divided his kingdom between his four sons. Belgium and part of the Netherlands were allocated to Chlotar I. The Merovingians appointed officials called "mayors of the palace" as the rulers in situ. As time went on, however, these officials gained more and more power and eventually created their own small kingdoms.

Ever since the Low Countries were annexed by the Franks, missionaries had roamed the country in an effort to convert the heathens. In 629 a small church was built in Utrecht on the ruins of an old Roman fort. In the north, however, the Frisians continued to cling to their old beliefs. Willibrord an Anglo Saxon monk eventually succeeded in slowly converting the Frisians to the Christian Faith. Willibrord was eventually ordained archbishop of the Frisians and bishop of Utrecht. After his death in 739, Boniface - bishop of Mainz - continued his work until he was murdered by a gang of Frisians in 754.

In 751, the Carolingian dynasty was established by Pepin III who proclaimed himself King of the Franks. Pepin was succeed by his son Charlemagne (742-814), who embarked on a campaign to crush the Saxon resistance - lead by Widukind a Saxon noble - in the north. In 785 Widukind capitulated and the eastern Netherlands and Frisia were incorporated into the Carolingian Kingdom. During Charlemagne's reign the Carolingian empire stretched from Italy, west to the Pyrenees, north to Denmark and east to the Oder. At the height of his rule Charlemagne was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800.