FRANKS
 
The franks are
awful! - When the name was marked, probably many people saw this
similarly, as the name “Franks“ means “the bold ones“. Their neighbours
called them sly and greedy. However it probably also just wasn’t good for
their reputation that parts of their tribal-unit were allies of the Romans
...
Today it is awful
to describe the tribe, as there is no other tribe, showing such a
strong alienation as the Franks.
- But it’s certainly better to
move ahead step by step ...
Back to the
beginnings: The Franks arose out of a connection of several Germanic
tribes at the Rhine (river). In the year 253 they are important in our
history books for the first time. The reason are attacks deep into the
Celtic-Roman Gallia (today northern France). Henceforth there were the
aforementioned alliances with Rome however. At about 350
the Land of the Franks (Francia) was noted on a Roman map on the
western side of the Rhine. But already in Roman times Franks also settled in
the area of today’s Flanders (Belgium and the Netherlands).
In the Frankish
tribe of that time, there were several kings. The most important two groups
were the Salian Franks in the north and the Rhenish Franks in the
south (Rhenish = from the rhine) One of the seats of these kings
was later the city of Cologne, which had been founded by the Romans
and which was the biggest city north of the alps. Soon also the Moselle
Franks belonged to the Rhenish Franks (Moselle = another river).
Later names make
it easier to remember these groups:
Salian Franks:
“Sea Franks” in
the North (at the lower Rhine)
Rhenish Franken (also known as „Ripuariers“):
“Bank Franks” (at
the central Rhine)
“Chatten“ (at the
Mosel)
The word
“Chatten“ developed to “Hessen”. Accordingly it is wrong, to assume that the
biggest Hessian city, Frankfurt, would be settled by “Bank Franks”, like the
skyscrapers of banks in Frankfurt suggest it today …
On the other hand
Americans (especially Hecker!) anyhow prefer it to deal with other
“Frankfurters” … - see Germerika’s and Hecker’s visit to
Maine ...
Since
the 4th century burials of bodies became usual among the Franks. Before
that archaeologists have the usual Germanic problem that graves with burial
objects (which are often the most important source about cultures) do not
exist for the Germans, because our ancestors commited the bodies of their
loved-ones to fire. Those burial objects, that could be found (since the
fourth century), occurred until the 8th century. In written laws namend Lex Salica and Lex
Ripuaria a Thing (a Germanic assembly) was still scheduled to be
held once every one and a half months. - These laws also make
the conclusion possible that hogs were important for the Franks -
or at least their meat - as punishments for crimes against
swineherds were twice as high as punishments for crimes against herdsmen of
other animals. - Probably this is also the origin of the
traditional Rhenish “Saumagen = sow/pig/hog stomach”, especially because
every other German gets filled by disgust, imagining to eat something called
“Saumagen” ...
Until
480 the political conditions had strongly changed by
the decline of the Roman Empire. The Seine-area (for example Paris) in today’s France was conquered
by the Salian Franks. Gallia had been the Roman province with the biggest
population, but when the Rugish leader of mercenaries Odowakar had toppled
the last (Western-) Roman Emperor, all Roman troops were withdrawn from
Gallia (Rugier = Germanic tribe that had once lived at the North Sea/ German
Sea).
In
486/87 the
Franks conquered the Gallo provinces completely. An attack of
the Alemans (a part of the Swabians) was repelled. Than the
Franks subjugated the territories from the Alsace as far as behind the
Swabian Mountains. Henceforth the land of the Franks “Francia“ and
the Frankish Reich/ “Regnum Francorum“ were not the same anymore.
Frankish
warriors were armed with javelin and spear. Their armour was adopted from the
Romans. Most important was their typical weapon however - a throwable ax - the “Franziska“.
At
about 500 the Salian Frankish King Chlodwig I. got himself baptized. Most of
the Franks did however stay faithful to their Germanic religious convictions.
The Frankish
Reich was now “officially“ connected to the catholic faith and
therefore to the Church in Rome. It had obviously been interests of
power that had driven Chlodwig, because already in the year 509 the
“freshly baptized” Chlodwig I. took over the power of the
Rhenish-Frankish-King Sigibert of Cologne. Sigibert’s son had killed Sigibert
in accordance to an intrigue with Chlodwig. The son was later killed by
Chlodwig himself ...
This
way a Frankish Kingdom arose, in which only one king continued
to exist. Soon the Thuringians and Bajuvarians were subjugated too.
The kings
did however not rule in a capital, but moved from Pfalz to Pfalz (Pfalz =
a palace/ kings-castle). For one region this even led to the name “Pfalz
= Palatinate“. Later the so called “Kurpfalz“ and after 1945 a
fantasy-state of the occupying forces named “Rheinland-Pfalz” arose. -
But of course we aren’t yet that far ...
Since
about the year 600 the Franks began to “colonize” territories at the Main
(river). New “Pfalzen/ kings-castles“ and monasteries arose to spread
the (“new”) Frankish customs in the old Germanic territories (Germany).
Archaeology shows, that this lead to a strong “Frankization“ in parts of the
east.
At the
same time there was however also a deepening of the cultural and political
division throughout the ruling class of the Franks, between the Merowinger
line (having become culturally Gallo-Romanic) and the Karolinger line
(still Germanic). Important military victories strengthened the Karolinger
line (for example at Tertry 687 or Karl Martell’s historic victory against
the invasion of the Muslims in 732). Later the inner conflict led to the
division of the Frankish Kingdom into the Gallo-Romanic Kingdom of France and
the Germanic German Empire. The different names that the political structures
received in the next centuries, are irrelevant here.
The battle of Poitiers, painted by Carl von
Steuben between 1834 and 1837
After
the year 800 the Tribal Dukedom of the Franks arose on the German side. It
was however already divided from “Lothringen = Lorraine“, which was also an
old Frankish territory and named for a Frankish heir of Charles the Grand
(Lothar). Even the heartland of the Franks was located in this territory.
Under
the new circumstances the territories at the Main got now named “Ostfranken =
East Francia = East Franconia and since about 1200 the name “Franken =
Franconia“ is exclusively used for these territories, because the “dukedom”
(title) nominally went to the diocese of Würzburg and thereby to the
prince-bishops of Würzburg (in today’s “Frrranken = Frrranconia”). -
But what means “today’s Frrranconia“? ...
Today
there is a region in Germany named “Franken = Franconia“, which is not a
state, which has no precise borders, but which is nevertheless inhabited by
people, who proudly call themselves “Franken (German for Franks) = (English
today:) Franconians“. They have a
“Fränkisch = Frankish = Franconian” flag with a coat of arms that appears in
the coats of arms of several states!
The
spoken ”rrr“, instead of ”r“, is typical for their dialect -
a dialect that is actually quite different to the “Frankish” dialects
in the old heartland of the Franks around the Rhine. Accordingly there is a
name and a population named “Franken”, while the biggest and most important
parts of the old Frankish tribe and land are not called “Franken”
anymore. - Actually grotesque! …
Looking
back to the middle-ages, the transfer of the name to the east gets more
understandable however. Already early Frankish rulers had enfeoffed princes of the church, as these were
not allowed to get children, who could have made demands. After the decline
of the Tribal-Dukedom this lead to new “states”, ruled by those, who had been
installed by the church. Since 1356 three of these “Geistliche Fürsten =
prince bishops“ were even “Kurfürsten = electoral princes“. Seven electoral
princes now elected the German king, who usually also became Kaiser. The
electorates were not allowed to be divided. So they always prevailed in
contrast to other states. The electoral princes in the former “Francia” were
the archbishops of Trier, Cologne, Mainz and the “Pfalzgraf bei Rhein
= count palatine at Rhine” -
therefore the name „Kurpfalz“ (see above).
The lion of the Palatinate
The
famous German national-epic, the “Nibelungenlied“ arose in the Middle-Ages.
It was probably completed by an Austrian,
but it tells a story from land of the Franks. It is based on much older
Germanic stories and historic events.
As
late as between 1328 and 1338 a law book named “Frankenspiegel = Mirror of
the Franks“ arose (influenced by the “Schwabenspiegel = Mirror of the
Swabians).
(1) Johannes Gutenberg
from Mainz invented the letterpress (with movable letters) in 1445. In our
time American scientists elected this the most important invention of all
times!
(2 und 3) Two more long
manes, but of course no lions: The great artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
and the constructor of the first globe, Martin Behaim.
In
the time between the Middle-Ages and the modern era Nürnberg was one
of the most important cities in the world. This is the case for economical,
technological, artistic and scientific aspects. In the time of America’s
discovery for example it was the home of Albrecht Dürer and the place
where
Martin
Behaim had constructed the first globe
in 1490. In 1510 Peter Henlein invented the portable clock/ watch here.
In 1626 settlers from the Netherlands founded the city of New Amsterdam (since 1664 New
York) in America. The flag of New York City
still shows the old Dutch colors today. The orange refers to the German line of Nassau-Oranien. Until
today the Dutch are singing in their national anthem: “...Wilhelm von Nassau
bin ich, von deutschem Blut ... =
Wilhelm of Nassau I am, of German blood“. This refers to a national
hero, who led their fight against Spanish forces during a long fight for
independence., The Dutch and their Germanic language are of Friesian, Saxon
and most of all Frankish, descent. In 1626 their homeland was
officially still a part of the Reich.
Today
the Netherlands are a state on their own, just like Belgium, where the
Germanic Flemings (in Flanders) do however feel more connected to the Dutch
than to the Walloon (Gallo-Romanic) Belgian subjects. In Germany big
parts of the old land of the Franks later became part of Prussia. Many
people saw themselves now proudly as “Borussen“ (Lathin “Borussia =
Prussia”). Others (like in Cologne) had problems with the Prussian mentality
and so the Rhenish carneval culture was strongly marked by anti-Prussian
jokes about the military. - One can still see this today, because of
the uniforms in Carneval, the fun-medals and the „Funkemariechen“, who
are dancing in uniforms with short skirts and let their completely unmartial,
pretty panties be seen from time to time ...
Funkemariechen -
Guard from Nuremberg
 
Not half as enchanting
as Funkemariechen, but culturally almost of the same value:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(from Frankfurt) and Ludwig van Beethoven (from Bonn).
Funkemariechen
can remember Cheerleaders. That America has got both, could easily be
considered the reason, why so many immigrants came from the land of the
Franks ... - Unfortunately however the real reason are
the wars, started by France, and famines. The food-topic makes us change the
perspective to the other side of the Atlantic as well, where German
revolutionist proved their humor
after 1848 in Cincinatti (Ohio), by calling their city-district “Over the
Rhine“, as if the river had been the only bit of water between the old and
the new homeland ...
Apart
from Cheerleaders, which the Rheinländers would affectionately call “lecker
Mädsche’ = tasty girls“, Americans love the “Frankfurter“ in sports-stadiums
(some call it “Hot Dog“, but Hecker can’t stand this name!). And also other
things connect America in a special way with the old land of the Franks: The
most important overseas U.S.-military base was in Heidelberg
(Palatinate) for a long time, still today the most important airbase outside
the USA is in Ramstein, and many Americans travel to the Rhineland
where their ancestors came from and where a lot of castles show the
importance of the region still today. And with their fantasy American kids
dream themselves into the fairy-tales of the brothers Grimm.
The brothers Grimm from
Hessia - Wilhelm and Jacob. They didn’t only write down fairy-tales, but
marked the German language as scientists.
The Kindergartens
were established in the USA by Margarethe Meyer-Schurz, the wife of Carl
Schurz, who was one of the most important representatives of a
self-confident German-American culture. In Germany he had been a member of
the student fraternity “Franconia“ and had fought in the revolution of
1848. Still politically persecuted, he left his exile in Switzerland in 1850,
to (successfully) free his friend Gottfried Kinkel from the big prison in
Berlin-Spandau! Schurz became one of the most important leaders of the early
Republican Party in the USA. Without him Abraham Lincoln would not have
become President. Schurz served as ambassador of the USA in Spain and kept it
from supporting the South in the Civil War. Otherwise the Union would
probably have lost the war. In the same year he returned to the USA, in order
to serve as a US-Army-officer in several of the most important battles of the
war. Later he became US-Senator for Missouri and US-Secretary of the
Interior. Together with Friedrich Hecker (an Aleman) he worked out a
reform of the administration in the USA, the “Civil Service Reform“.
He
founded several newspapers and lived in five US-States: Pennsylvania,
Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts.
In
the time of Colonialism he joined the “American Anti-Imperialist League“.
Two
democratic-republican German revolutionists of 1848 and U.S. Civil War
Officers:
(1) Major General Ludwig
(Luis) Blenker from Worms
(2) Major General Carl
Schurz from Greater Cologne. (3) Margarethe Meyer-Schurz
The
capital of Kentucky is a Frankfort too. Allegedly the
name does however not have anything to do with the Franks, but the Motto of
the state shall nevertheless start the finish of this article:
United we stand - divided we fall
In
America it doesn’t make much sense for most people, to relate to the
Palatinate or the Rhineland. It is very similar to the case of the Saxons:
The strong
references to the very old tribe remain, especially because so much after it
is hard to sum culturally, and here in the Germerika Project remains the
American awareness that one doesn’t need to miss a nonexistent All-Frankish
culture- and education-politics in Europe, as Americans anyhow don’t wait for
politics, but are proud of tackling things on their own!
... and even
though most people in the region might never think
about it, things actually don’t look too bad for the old Frankish tribe,
because if one deals with the German dialects and the other Germanic
languages in the west, the linguistic name Frankish immediately
reappears in almost all the territories that had belonged to the old
“Francia”, for the German dialects there are still pretty closely related to
the languages of the Dutch and Flemish.
...
and than there’s still one more remarkable thing they have in common: looking
at the old coats of arms from the region, one can see, that almost all
show an upright-standing lion. No matter whether the Netherlands,
Hesse, Flanders, Luxemburg, Belgium/ Dukedom of Brabant or the Palatinate,
they are almost the “spitting image” of each other (see below) -
and considering some historic rivalries, the word “spitting” doesn’t
even appear inappropriate here - at
least for everyone who still remembers the Soccer World Cup quarterfinal of
1990 ...
Searching
for today’s common ground in the old Frankish area, one can’t escape
from these lions at least! …
Even
the old coat of arms of the city of Nuremberg in the heart of today’s
“Frrranconia“ contained exactly such a lion!
...
“by the way“: The lion as a heraldic
animal does of course stand for boldness!!! ...
The medieval coat of arms of Nuremberg. - Nice six white stripes, by
the way …. - It just needs a seventh red one ….
In every case
there is a long Frankish history and already always a varied culture in
different tribal groups. - One can win a lot from this, one only
needs to concentrate on the chances and use one’s creativity, curiosity and
freedom, as soon as one feels something Frankish in oneself. –
The results can become the history of the future. - So
boldly ahead! - The typical „Rhenish cheerful nature“
exists already quite often in America.
The above shown
ancestor of bold Franks from the Palatinate even became President of the
United States with his boldness!
- The Trump family came
from the same little village (Kallstadt) in the Palatinate like the Heinz family
with it’s popular Ketchup!
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