European Kingdoms

Franconia (Germany)

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This region lies at the heart of modern Germany. During the early Roman period it had been home to Celtic tribes such as the Chatti, Helveconae, and Helvetii, but they were edged south and westwards by the advance of Germanic tribes. At the height of Charlemagne's Carolingian empire, Franconia formed the heartland of East Francia.

This was the eastern half of the empire, consisting of territory which largely formed the later Germanic empire. The Franconia region was heavily settled during the sixth and seventh centuries AD, and it was the Franks who gave it its name. 'Franconia' as a word is composed of three parts: 'frank', meaning 'free', a plural suffix '-on' (which in its modern form is '-en'), and a Latin suffix which denotes a country or region, '-ia', supplying 'Frank-on-ia'. This is revealed in the German word which is still used today, 'Franken' (for example in the modern region of Unterfranken), which simply refers to the Franks themselves.

'Early Franconia' was bordered by Saxony to the north, Thuringia to the north-east, and Alemannia (Swabia) and Bavaria to the south. The Franks who created it formed one of several West Germanic federations, created out of various Germanic tribal elements with at least the Bructeri, Tencteri, Tubantes, and Usipetes coalescing to form the Ripaurian Franks who remained on the east bank of the Rhine while their counterparts crossed into Gaul to found the initial Frankish kingdoms.

In 840-843 the empire underwent a fairly messy division, with large chunks of former Austrasia now falling within East Francia. The 'County of Franconia' soon emerged as a large stem 'Duchy of Franconia' while the Germanic Roman empire was being formally secured by purely German rulers in favour of the former Frankish rulers. Franconia survived until another great political collapse in German lands in the thirteenth century.

The name Franconia survives today as a region of northern Bavaria, which encompasses the eastern half of the former duchy. It encompasses three Bavarian administrative regions, the first being Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) to the north-west which contains the important medieval city of Würzburg (former residence of powerful prince-bishops) and which borders Hesse.

Next is Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken) to the south which encompasses Nuremberg and which borders Baden-Württemberg to the west and Bavaria 'proper' to the east and, finally, Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) to the north-east, which contains Bamberg and Bayreuth and which has Thuringia above it and Bavaria again to its east.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder, Gerhard Köbler (Darmstadt 1999), from Bayern und das Deutsche Reich, Josef Kirmeier (in Politische Geschichte Bayerns, Hefte zur Bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur No 9 - see external links), from the Passio Kiliani, St Kilian, from The History of the Franks, Volume II, Gregory of Tours (O M Dalton, Trans, 1967), from From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, Thomas F X Noble, and from External Links: Fränkische Dialekte, Alfred Klepsch (in German - dead link), and Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (in German - dead link), and the Swabian League of Cities, Alexander Schubert (Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, in German - dead link), and Medieval Lands, and Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and from Encyclopaedia.com, and The Holy Roman Empire (Heraldica), and The Holy Roman Empire, Christopher Brooks (Portland Community College via LibreTexts Humanities).)