| kingharry |
| Childeric I, King of Franks |
HISTORY OF FRANCE France has one of the most complete records of human history in all of Europe. Archaeological excavations have uncovered artifacts more than 100,000 years old, which with the long ensuing record indicate continuous settlement of the region from Paleolithic times. About 1200 BC the Gauls, a predominantly Celtic people, began a southward and westward migration from the Rhine valley into what is now France and northern Italy. In about 600 BC Ionian Greeks established a trading colony at Massilia (now Marseille), the best known of a number of Ionian settlements that flourished for centuries in what in now southern France. The Romans began their conquest of Gaul in 121 BC, which Juluis Caesar completed from 58 to 50 BC. Gaul became thoroughly Romanized during its years of Roman domination. The decline of Rome left Gaul open to Germanic invasion. By the late 5th century AD the Salian Franks occupied the area north of the Loire River, the Visigoths held Aquitaine and Provence, and the Burgundians dominated the Rhone Valley. It was the Salian Franks who, under the leadership of the Merovingians, gained hegemony over most of Gaul during the 6th century. By the 8th century, power had passed to the Carolingians, the greatest of whom was Charlemagne (Charles I). In the early 9th century. Charlemagne's empire encompassed most of western Europe, but his death brought its division. After 843 the westermost lands of Charlemagne's empire became known as Francia Occidentalis. When the last Carolingian King died in 987, Hugh Capet was elected King of Francia Occidentalis. Though initially weak and ineffectual, the Capetain Dynasty lasted until 1328, by which time the royal domains included most o fmodern France except Flanders, Brittany, Burgundy, and Aquitaine. The throne passed to Philip VI of Valois in 1328, precipitating the struggle with England known as the Hundred Years's War (1337-1453). At its conclusion the Valois were firmly established as France's ruling family, and the English had lost all their French holdings except Calais. By the end of the 15th century both Burgundy and Brittany were in Valois hands, and France approximated its modern boundaries. During the 16th century, Protestantism spread across France and led to a number of religious and civil wars. The wars between Protestants (Huguenots) and Roman Catholics culminated in the massacre of some 3,000 Huguenots in Paris on the eve of St. Bartholemew's Day in 1572. In the turmoil that followed, Henry IV of Navarre, a Protestant of the House of Bourbon, secured the throne but ultimately embraced, Catholicism to ensure peace. His Edict of Nantes (1598) granted substantial religious toleration to the Huguenots. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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