The Dutch historian Jona Lendering bemoans the fact that little is known about the early Franks. There is much more information about the descendants of one of their branches, the Salian Franks, who founded the Merovingian dynasty, their best known representative being Charlemagne.

So why is the Dutch historian unhappy about our lack of knowledge? The main reason is the universal need to know as much as one can about one’s ancestors. The Franks were the ancestors of the Dutch and even spoke a language that can still be understood in the 21^st century (one can make the comparison between Chaucer’s English and the English language spoken nowadays). 

What are some of the reasons why we know little about the early Franks? Few burial sites with grave goods have been found, and the same can be said about the villages.

What we do know about the Franks is that they lived in northwestern Europe, in a sparsely populated area between several rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. They originated in around 210 AD when several small Germanic tribes got together in a confederation. They included the Chatti, Ubii, Tencteri, Bructeri, Sicambri, and a few others. They settled north of the Roman province of Germania Inferior. Eventually the Romans allowed some of them to settle on “their” side of the Rhine. By the fifth century AD the Franks could be found almost all over the present-day Netherlands and Belgium. It was their kingdom that eventually led to the creation of the Merovingian dynasty, which in the sixth century conquered Gaul and parts of Germania. And the Merovingian dynasty led to the creation of the Carolingian empire. But that’s a story for another day.

In the meantime, what can be done to increase our knowledge about the early Franks is find funding so archaeologists can excavate possible sites with ancient villages and/or graves. Hopefully they will find not only weapons (swords, lances) but also objects of everyday use such as clothing (we have a few capes and sandals) and cooking utensils. Some of these could give indications about the diet, which, in turn, would tell us something about their fishing, hunting, and even crop-growing habits. Although we know that the Franks converted early to Christianity, next to nothing is known about their days as pagans. Also, although we know that the Franks, especially the elite and many of their troops, were highly literate, very few documents have been found in their language. What we have – tombstones, laws – is mostly written in Latin.