First they became their majordomos (mayors of the palace) in Austrasia. The Carolingians overpowered the Merovingian kings. Various other kingdoms would continue to break apart and be formed as the various Merovingian kings warred with each other. After his death, his kingdom was split between his sons into Soissons ( Neustria), Paris, Orleans ( Burgundy), and Metz ( Austrasia). Clovis I was the first of these to rise to true kingship. The Merovingian kings began as mere chieftains, the oldest known being Pharamond. The name of France comes from the Germanic tribe known as the Franks. It was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarch's title to the people, not to the territory of France.įrankish Predecessors: the Merovingian and Carolingian Dynasties (c. During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect (1791-1792) and after the July Revolution in 1830, the style 'King of the French' was used instead of 'King of France (and Navarre)'. The title 'King of the Franks' ( Latin: Rex Francorum) remained in use until the reign of Philip IV. Various English kings between 13 had also claimed the title of King of France, but only intermittently. Nevertheless, English monarchs continued to claim the title until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. Most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453, the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais (and the Channel Islands), and Calais itself fell in 1558. After the death of the two, Henry VI, succeeded his grandfather as King of France. For a short time, this had some basis in fact - under the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. In addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1422 to 1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For earlier Frankish monarchs, see List of Frankish Kings. In light of these recent trends, this list begins with Charles the Bald and the Kingdom of Western Francia, originating in 843, the state which would directly evolve into modern France. However, the relevance of such traditional outlooks on the origins of modern nations is historically dubious (see below for recent studies). Another date favored by many medieval historians is 987, the beginning of the Capetian Dynasty. The Treaty of Verdun established the Kingdom of Western Francia in 843. That kingdom's rulers were deposed in the 8th century.

The earliest date would be the establishment of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom by Clovis I in 486 with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman official in Gaul. There is some disagreement as to when France came into existence. The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors, from the Middle Ages to 1848. Coronation of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile at Reims in 1223 a miniature from the Grandes Chroniques de France, painted in the 1450s, kept at the National Library of France

Lineage w monarch