With the gradual decline of the Empire, Rome withdrew its troops to protect itself against warring tribes in the early 5th century. Belgium was overrun once again, this time by the Franks and just about everybody else. Much more unpleasantness was to follow.

455-843 Frankish Empire: The start of the great divide

A slow peaceful invasion takes place - more like a colonisation of the sparsely populated lands of today's Flanders. It was at this time that the division between the Flemish and Walloons originated.

The Franks were not conquerors. Accepted by the Romans as mercenaries with their own chiefs, they were loyal to Rome and considered themselves a part of its army. They used its political organisation and titles, and even dressed in Roman style. But the language became Frankish, a primitive form of Dutch, and was used throughout the region right down to Paris and the Loire. Latin was the language of the church. Frankish was used for administration. The upper/ruling classes employed both.

Merovingian Dynasty

Even Clovis, a warrior chief of Tournai and the first of the Merovingian kings who subdued the whole of Gaul in 481, took the Roman title of Patrician (representative of the Emperor in Gaul). The Franks remained pagans even though Clovis converted to Christianity, making an important alliance with the church. Having transferred his administration to Paris, Clovis and his successors, were dependent on the priests to maintain control and sent many missionaries into pagan Belgium.

While the Merovingian dynasty had civil servants, a treasury, raised taxes and did their best to aid merchants and expand trade, times became primitive, almost barbaric. Northern Gaul was increasingly isolated from the Mediterranean, which was held by the Visigoths or Burgundian kingdoms. Under attack by Arabs and Saracens, the prosperous commerce founded by the Roman Empire came to a halt.

750-843 Charlemagne was Belgian (well almost) shock

A new dynasty [the Carolingians] rose up in 750, but by the time Charlemagne's reign began in 768, the world of Gaul had turned about. There was no gold, taxation or civil servants. No aristocrats, intellectuals or teachers. The technical skills, communication systems had all disappeared. Life was agricultural with deteriorated roads and transportation. The villages by necessity had become self-contained.

Under Charlemagne, the Frankish world became centred on the now Belgian territory, the region from which his family originated. Due to the deterioration of the economy, his administration was based on direct personal transactions, mutual service and on gifts of land, but his success in rejuvenating the life of his people was a result of his own great activities.

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