The history of Flanders - Chapter 2
The development of the Flemish people: The early Middle Ages
Written by: Charles
Vanderhaegen - slightly modified and translated by Herman Boel - Edited
by David Baeckelandt July 2008
Published with kind permission of Charles Vanderhaegen.
In 476 the last emperor of Rome was deposed by Odoaker, head of the Germanic auxiliary forces. The name of that emperor was Romulus Augustulus, a nickname, for Augustulus meant Small August. Indeed he was small; he was a child put on the throne in 475 and made to retire merely a year later. This is history's irony: the Roman Empire, mighty as it had been and founded in 753 BV by Romulus, the great warrior and son of Mars, ended with an infant.
It was the end of the Roman Empire as well as the end of antiquity. A new era commenced: the Middle Ages. The era started with the early Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Middle Ages. They are called dark because with the fall of the Roman Empire Roman civilisation disappeared. Written language languished, Roman culture and administration were abolished. The sophisticated Roman jurisdiction made way for a jurisdiction in which the judge did not require evidence but settled disputes by having man-to-man fights in the name of God. The victor was right, as had God decided.
The transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages was brutal, violent, cruel and ruthless. Then again, what era in history wasn't?
In Chapter 1 we read that the Franks succeeded in 356 to cross the river Rhine from the east, invade and occupy the Tongeren area. The occupation did not last long as shortly after, in 358, most of the Frankish invaders were made to flee by the Romans. The Romans were led by emperor Flavius Julianus, called the Apostate (the renegade). Despite his victory, Julianus did not succeed in pushing the Franks back to the river Rhine. As was usual when the Romans had to make a deal with an invader, the Franks were bestowed the title of foederati (allies). This title allowed the remaining Franks to keep the conquered area on the condition that they would defend it against anyone in the name of the empire. Thus the first settlement of the Franks was created in our disctricts, more specifically in the sandy and severe regions of Taxandria (which corresponds roughly to current Flemish and Dutch Brabant). From then onwards the so-called Frankish colonisation started. This colonisation was the cradle of our people and our language.
But who were those Franks? Who were those barbarians that Rome could never defeat and finally drove the Romans away from our areas? In fact, the name 'Franks' is a collective term for different tribes, the two most important being the Salian Franks and the Ripuarians. It was the Salian Franks that first settled in our areas; first in the Kempen, alongside the great and small river Nete, later in Northern Brabant. That colonisation would later expand and lead to the conquest of the whole of Gaul.
The start of that conquest was given in 406 AD when the Alans,
the Vandals and the eastern Goths, chased by the Huns who were
marching from Asia towards Central Europe, all crossed the Rhine
and spread thoughout Gaul as a wave of furious hords.
Amidst the confusion caused by this migration and its destruction,
plundering, arson and raping, the Franks left our areas and went
south in search for new grounds. This way they made room for a
second wave of colonisation of Salian Franks and Ruparians. They
crossed the Rhine and occupied the area between current Maastricht
and Tongeren.
From there onwards they went further west and colonist the Antwerp area as well as the whole area of the river Leie. They never reached the Flemish coast, though. Their advance in that direction was halted by the so-called Kolenwoud (coal forrest) that extended between Sint-Niklaas in the north and the river Samber in the south. Furthermore, the whole Flemish coastal area was floaded by the end of the 4th century. The rare population living there, descendents from the Morinians and Atrebates, had moved inland. Sole survivor of the flood was the Flemish forest that extended in soutwestern direction along the right bank of the river IJzer. In the 7th century the sea had withdrawn and the Frisians and Saxons took possession of maritime Flanders.
We also need to tell you that everywhere the Franks colonisation had settled, the Flemish population originated. The Old Frankish language would later develop into medieval Flemish.
The Salian Franks who had migrated from Taxiandria to the
south,
had reached Doornik (Tournai) around 431. This village was still
occupied by Romans so a battle had to be fought to be able to
continue the advance. Chlodio, the first
king of
the Franks, of Merovingian descent, and his warriors raided the
Roman guards and took possession of the village which he proclaimed
centre of his power.
The Frankish conquest developed further south from Doornik. Between
431 and 451 they conquered Kamerijk (Cambrai) and Atrecht (Arras).
From there they pushed to the river Somme and took possession of
the area around Calais, where their language would live on until
the 11th century.
But woe betide the population of the villages and settlements
they passed. The men and women who were unable to flee in time were
killed, while the young women were robbed to serve as slaves. The
cattle was confiscated, the farms pillaged, the loot put on
unwieldy carts, and whatever remained was burnt.
Chlodio's sun, Childerik, continued the
conquest
of Gaul to the west and south after his father's death in 477. He
died in 481 and was succeeded by his son Clovis.
Clovis (image) was the most
notorious ruler of
his time. He was very shrewd and merciless, but also very gifted
and unsurpassed as general. He could win most Frankish rulers for
his cause with gold and nice promises. He had killed all who
crossed him. By means of murder, treachery and a series of
devastating campaigns, he became the unchallenged king of the
Franks. He raised a mighty army and established his power between
486 and 511 in Syagrius, between the rivers Somme and Loire, in the
land of the Burgundians, in the basin of the Rhône and the
Saône and in the land of the Alamans. He converted in 506 to
christianity and settled in Paris. His real name was Chlodowech,
which means thirsting fight, translated into Latin as Hlodivicus,
of which later the name Lodewijk (Louis), the name of 18 French
kings, was derived.
Clovis died in 511 and was succeeded by his son Chlotarius l who
added the whole eastern part of Gaul to the Frankish empire.
Chlotarius died in 561 and by the
Salish law of
succession, his empire was divided among his four sons. Charibert l
inherited Paris and the western part of the empire up to the
Pyrenees. Sigebert l got Austrasia, the eastern part of the
Merovingic land that contained the Maas- and Rhine areas.
Guntramnus, Chlotarius' third son, received Burgundy and the area
around Orléans, while Chilperik inherited Neustria. That was
the name of the western part of the Frankish Empire. It would
remain an independent kingdom until the accession to the throne by
Pepijn de Korte (Pippin the short), with the river Scheldt as
northern border, Loire as southern border and bordering Austrasia
in the east.
After the death of his brother Charibert l in 558, Chilperik
obtained his whole land. In order to safeguard this land towards
the south, he married Galswithe, daughter of the Visigothic king
Athanagild who ruled Spain. Galswithe was murdered in 573. She was
probably poisoned by Fredegonde, slave and mistress of Chilperik
who married her and made her queen of Neustria.
The murder of Galswithe and the subsequent marriage gave cause
for a continuous civil war between Neustria and Austrasia that
would last for fourty years. Sigebert l, brother of Chilperik and
king of Austrasia was married to Brunhilde, sister to the murdered
Galswithe. Sigebert nor Brunhilde could swallow the fact that a
slave girl had become queen by murdering their sister and
sister-in-law.
But Fredegonde was a dangerous person who stopped at nothing. To
dispose herself of that pain Sigebert, she sent out two accomplices
in 575 in Vitry to have him murdered with poisonous knives. That
was not the end of the war as she now became an even greater rival
to Brunhilde, who now had not only lost her sister but also her
husband by Fredegonde's poison.
Brunhilde's position towards Fredegonde became substantially
stronger because her brother-in-law Guntramnus, king of Burgundy,
made an alliance with her. This enabled her to pull in the widow
property of Fredegonde. But it was to no avail. In 613 she was
captured by Chlotarius II, son of Chilperik l and the meanwhile
(peacefully) deceased Fredegonde, who tortured her horribly and
finally had her torn apart by a wild horse.
The battle between Brunhilde and Fredegonde can more or less be
found in the Siegfried legend where Brunhilde is killed at then end
by Theodrich, king of the East Goths.
After Brunhilde's death, Chlotarius II became king of the whole
Frankish empire. He died in 629 and was succeeded by his son
Dagobert who expanded the empire even further. He added Gascogne
that belonged to his brother Charibert II up to his death in 632.
This way the Merovingic empire stretched out over the whole West
European area between the river Rhine and the Pyrenees.
Dagobert's death in 639 was the start of an era characterised
by
a succession of weak kings who went down in history as les mis
fainéants (the flabby kings). The last of
these 'flabby kings', Childerik III, was dismissed by Pippin the
Short in 751 and locked away in the abbey of Saint Bertijns in
Sint-Omaars where he died in 754.
After Clovis' death, Flanders, the old Francia or land of the
Franks, lost its name to Gaul. During the whole Merovingic period
Flanders would not suffer any meddling by the Frankish kings, but
was administratively a part of the Frankish empire. The documents
from that time teach us that our country was divided into nine
pagi, including the pagus Bracbatensis (more or less the later
duchy of Brabant), the pagus Gandensis and the pagus Mansuarensis
(the current Kempen). Each pagi was led by a grafio, which would
later become the Flemish word 'graaf' (count or earl).
The count acted as judge, called up all free men for the
king's
army and collected taxes. His main task was to maintain peace and
safety of the pagus.
The population was divided into three social classes: the free men
and the aristocracy or large landowners who had a large number of
slaves in their service. As Flanders was a thinly populated area it
was very easy for the mighty tribes with courage and boldness to
take possession of large pieces of land, appoint tax collectors who
were given a residence on their land, and have the slaves till
their land. There were almost no small and free landowners. These
were continously threatened by bands of robbers and therefore saw
themselves obliged to ask the earl for protection in exchange for
their land. This way the earls became richer and more powerful
while the free farmers grew more and more dependent of them.
Apart from this, little important has happened under
Merovingian
rule. This changes when the Carolingians took over Frankish
kingship.
The Carolingians were a family of large
landowners
whose name is derived from Charles the Great (Carolus Magnus). As
we saw earlier, they took power in 751 with Pippin the Short as
first Carolingian monarch. He was crowned in Soissons, and had his
power recognized during the anointment by the apostolic nuncio,
archbishop Bonifatius. Pippin was now king by Gods mercy and no one
could challenge his royal title.
The Carolingian family originally came from Austrasia but
possessed a large number of domains in the Tongeren area, in the
valley of the river Maas, and in the Ardens. They were about the
richest large landwoners of the Maastricht area and therefore the
only rulers of the area. This would be of great influence to the
history of Flanders. When Pippin the Short (Pippin III) died in
768, he was succeeded by his eldest son Karel de
Grote (image), in Latin Carolus Magnus, not only because
of his height but also because of his deeds. 
In 774
he conquered the Longobardic empire in North Italy, established a
protectorate over the papal state, conquered the duchy of Bavaria
in 778, and then added Friesland and the land of the Saxons to his
empire after a bloody war that lasted seven years. This way he
moved the borders of the Frankish empire up to the river Elbe.
As of 808 he stayed almost exclusively in Aachen, turning this city into a great point of attraction to all who had to do with the king or the empire. As most people took the old Roman Road Bavay-Cologne, Maastricht became one of the most important trade cities of the Frankish empire. This way Karel De Grote gave Flanders a shining but also dangerous central position in Western Europe. It would never lose that position. The whole centre of the medieval civilisation, a kind of interlacement of Roman and Germanic cultures, was formed here. All that happened in Europe, whether of religeous, social or economic nature, had its effect on Flanders. In the future it would become the battlefield of Europe, but also a centre of commercial activity with flourishing art and literature. This period would later be called the 'Carolingian Renaissance'.
Karel de Grote passed away in 814 and was succeeded by Lodewijk de Vrome (Louis the Pious), the only of four sons to outlive Karel and therefore inheriting the whole Frankish empire. Barely had he taken power or a new danger came up, this time from thenorth. The Vikings or Norsemen did not have enough food to feed their population and therefore saw themselves forced to come down from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to raid the coasts of Zeeland, Flanders and France.
The first raid on the Flemish coast arrived in 820. The attack was warded off by the Carolingian earls. However, they returned in 834. Through the Rhine estuary they moved into Holland and destroyed the trading post of Dorestad (current Wijk bij Duurstede, at the river Lek). A second group went to Antwerp and plundered the city. Between 840 en 890 more and more Norsemen struck our regions. In 842 they again made a raid on Dorestad that was totally destroyed and disappeared forever. In 850 they made Terwaan go up in flames, in 851 the same happened to Gent and in 852 the whole Scheldt valley was pillaged.
Everywhere they appeared the inhabitants fled. The Vikings
showed no mercy; they murdered, committed arson, raped, plundered
and took everything they could find.
Only in the fortresses the people could find shelter, because the
Norsemen had little experience with laying siege. That is why stone
fences were built around monasteries and large buildings in which
the people could hide, which would later lead to the creation of
fortified cities.
Meanwhile (in 840) Lodewijk de Vrome had died and left his empire
to his eldest son Lotharius, on the condition that he would give a
part of the territory to both his brothers. Lotharius refused,
resulting in an alliance between his two brothers, Lodewijk De
Duitser (Louis the German) and Karel II De Kale (Charles the Bald),
what would later lead to the 'Carolingian internecine
struggle'.
This battle cas concluded in 843 with the notorious
Treaty of Verdun (image) where the mighty
empire
of Karel de Grote was divided among the three brothers. Lodewijk de
Duitser received the eastern part, Karel de Kale the western part
and Lotharius inherited the emperor's title and the middle part,
Lorraine, that was named after him. This part will be shortlived as
it ceases to exist in 870 with the Treaty of Meerssen.
Flanders was situated in the northern part of this new empire. It
is here where the county of Flanders would come into being.
Bibliography:
1. FOLZ, Robert. "De l'Antiquité au Monde médiéval", Parijs 1972.
2. PIRENNE, Henri. "Geschiedenis van België", Brussel 1928.
3. ROOSBROECK, Dr. R. Van. "Geschiedenis van Vlaanderen", Brussel 1936-38.
4. TER HAAR, Jaap. "Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen", Amstelveen 1990.