Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

===Franks===
{{Main|Franks|Salian Franks}}
[[File:Franks expansion.gif|thumb|left|Expansion of the [[Franks]] from 481 to 870]]

After [[Roman Empire|Roman]] government in the area collapsed, the [[Franks]] expanded their territories until there were numerous small Frankish kingdoms, especially at [[Cologne]], [[Tournai]], [[Le Mans]] and [[Cambrai]].<ref name="Previté-Orton" /><ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18">Milis, L.J.R., "A Long Beginning: The Low Countries Through the Tenth Century" in J.C.H. Blom & E. Lamberts ''History of the Low Countries'', pp. 6–18, Berghahn Books, 1999. {{ISBN|978-1-84545-272-8}}.</ref> The kings of Tournai eventually came to subdue the other Frankish kings. By the 490s, [[Clovis I]] had conquered and united all the Frankish territories to the west of the [[Meuse]], including those in the southern Netherlands. He continued his conquests into [[Gaul]].

After the death of [[Clovis I]] in 511, his four sons partitioned his kingdom amongst themselves, with [[Theuderic I of Austrasia|Theuderic I]] receiving the lands that were to become Austrasia (including the southern Netherlands). A line of kings descended from Theuderic ruled [[Austrasia]] until 555, when it was united with the other Frankish kingdoms of [[Chlothar I]], who inherited all the Frankish realms by 558. He redivided the Frankish territory amongst his four sons, but the four kingdoms coalesced into three on the death of [[Charibert I]] in 567. Austrasia (including the southern Netherlands) was given to [[Sigebert I]]. The southern Netherlands remained the northern part of [[Austrasia]] until the rise of the [[Carolingians]].

The Franks who expanded south into [[Gaul]] settled there and eventually adopted the [[Vulgar Latin]] of the local population.<ref name="Verhaal" /> However, a Germanic language was spoken as a second tongue by public officials in western [[Austrasia]] and [[Neustria]] as late as the 850s. It completely disappeared as a spoken language from these regions during the 10th century.<ref>[[Urban T. Holmes Jr.|Holmes, U.T]] and A. H. Schutz (1938), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jbjX4ebc2lsC&q=history+of+french+language A History of the French Language]'', p. 29, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, {{ISBN|0-8196-0191-8}}</ref> During this expansion to the south, many Frankish people remained in the north (i.e. southern Netherlands, Flanders and a small part of northern France). A widening cultural divide grew between the Franks remaining in the north and the rulers far to the south in what is now France.<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> Salian Franks continued to reside in their original homeland and the area directly to the south and to speak their original language, [[Old Frankish]], which by the 9th century had evolved into [[Old Dutch]].<ref name="Verhaal" /> A Dutch-French language boundary came into existence (but this was originally south of where it is today).<ref name="Verhaal" /><ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> In the Maas and Rhine areas of the Netherlands, the Franks had political and trading centres, especially at [[Nijmegen]] and [[Maastricht]].<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> These Franks remained in contact with the Frisians to the north, especially in places like [[Dorestad]] and [[Utrecht]].