How did the Franks build and govern a European empire?

OOVER TWO CENTURIES BEFORE THE MUSLIM CONQUEST OF SPAIN, the Frankish king Clovis converted to Roman Christianity and established a large kingdom in what had been Roman Gaul. Though at that time the Frankish kingdom was simply one barbarian kingdom among many, it grew to become the most important state in Europe, expanding to become an empire.

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Saint Radegund and King ClotaireThis eleventh-century manuscript shows the Germanic princess Radegund (ca. 520–586) led before the Merovingian king Clotaire, who became her husband. They had no children, and after Clotaire had Radegund’s brother killed, she left him and founded a convent, where she lived the rest of her life. Convents were islands of learning and safety in Merovingian society; from the convent, Radegund corresponded with learned church officials and wrote Latin poems, a few of which have survived. (The Bridgeman Art Library Ltd./Alamy)