Editing Germanic peoples (section)

===Early Middle Ages to c. 800===
{{Further|Early Middle Ages}}
[[File:Franks expansion.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|Frankish expansion from the early kingdom of [[Clovis I]] (481) to the divisions of [[Carolingian Empire|Charlemagne's Empire]] (843–870)]]
[[File:British Museum (15139266039).jpg|thumb|The [[Sutton Hoo helmet]] from c.&nbsp;625 in the [[British Museum]]]]

Merovingian Frankia became divided into three subkingdoms: [[Austrasia]] in the east around the [[Rhine]] and [[Meuse]], [[Neustria]] in the west around [[Paris]], and [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]] in the southeast around [[Chalon-sur-Saône]].{{sfn|Beck|Quak|2010|p=853}} The Franks ruled a multilingual and multi-ethnic kingdom, divided between a mostly Romance-speaking West and a mostly Germanic-speaking east, that integrated former Roman elites but remained centered on a Frankish ethnic identity.{{sfn|Beck|Quak|2010|pp=857–858}} In 687, the [[Pippinids]] came to control the Merovingian rulers as [[mayors of the palace]] in Neustria. Under their direction, the subkingdoms of Frankia were reunited.{{sfn|Beck|Quak|2010|p=863-864}} Following the mayoralty of [[Charles Martel]], the Pippinids replaced the Merovingians as kings in 751, when Charles's son [[Pepin the Short]] became king and founded the [[Carolingian dynasty]]. His son, [[Charlemagne]], would go on to conquer the Lombards, Saxons, and Bavarians.{{sfn|Beck|Quak|2010|p=864-865}} Charlemagne was crowned [[Roman emperor]] in 800 and regarded his residence of [[Aachen]] as the new Rome.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=193}}

Following their invasion in 568, the Lombards quickly conquered larger parts of the Italian peninsula.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=226–227}} From 574 to 584, a period without a single Lombard ruler, the Lombards nearly collapsed,{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|pp=293–294}} until a more centralized Lombard polity emerged under King [[Agilulf]] in 590.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=228}} The invading Lombards only ever made up a very small percentage of the Italian population, however Lombard ethnic identity expanded to include people of both Roman and barbarian descent.{{sfn|Nedoma|Scardigli|2010|p=129}} Lombard power reached its peak during the reign of King [[Liutprand, King of the Lombards|Liutprand]] (712–744).{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=234}} After Liutprand's death, the Frankish King Pippin the Short invaded in 755, greatly weakening the kingdom.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=234}} The Lombard kingdom was finally annexed by Charlemagne in 773.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|p=300}}

After a period of weak central authority, the Visigothic kingdom came under the rule of [[Liuvigild]], who conquered the Kingdom of the Suebi in 585.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=158, 174}} A Visigothic identity that was distinct from the Romance-speaking population they ruled had disappeared by 700, with the removal of all legal differences between the two groups.{{sfn|Heather|1996|pp=297–298}} In 711, [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|a Muslim army landed at Grenada]]; the entire Visigothic kingdom would be conquered by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] by 725.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|pp=277–278}}

In what would become England, the [[Anglo-Saxons]] were divided into several competing kingdoms, the most important of which were [[Northumbria]], [[Mercia]], and [[Wessex]].{{sfn|Kuhn|Wilson|2010|p=614}} In the 7th century, Northumbria established overlordship over the other Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, until Mercia revolted under [[Wulfhere]] in 658. Subsequently, Mercia would establish dominance until 825 with the death of King [[Cenwulf]].{{sfn|Kuhn|Wilson|2010|p=614}} Few written sources report on [[Vendel period]] Scandinavia from 400 to 700, however this period saw profound societal changes and the formation of early states with connections to the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kingdoms.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=210, 219}} In 793, the first recorded [[Vikings|Viking]] raid occurred at [[Lindisfarne]], ushering in the [[Viking Age]].{{sfn|Capelle|Brather|2010|pp=157–158}}