Who were the Merovingians?

The Merovingian dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. The name Merovingian derives from that of Merovech, of whom nothing is known except that he was the father of Childeric I, the ruler of the Salian Franks. Childeric was succeeded by his son Clovis I in 481. Clovis I extended his rule over all the Salian Franks, conquered or annexed the territories of the Ripuarian Franks and the Alemanni, and united nearly all of Gaul except for Burgundy and what is now Provence.

At Clovis I’s death in 511, his realm was divided among his four sons, Theuderic I, Chlodomir, Childebert I, and Chlotar I. Despite the frequently bloody competition between them, they managed to extend Frankish rule over Thuringia in 531 and Burgundy in 534 and to gain sway over, if not possession of, Septimania on the Mediterranean coast, Bavaria, and the lands of the Saxons to the north. By 558 Chlotar I was the last surviving son of Clovis I, and until his death in 561 the Frankish realm was united.

In 639, the realm was divided again, but by then the kings of the two regions, Neustria and Burgundy and Austrasia, had been forced to yield much of their power to officials known as mayors of the palace. The later Merovingian kings were little more than puppets.The last Merovingian, Childeric III, was deposed in 750 by Pippin III the Short, one of a line of Austrasian mayors of the palace who finally usurped the throne to establish the Carolingian dynasty.