The area which is now France was known as Gaul to the ancient
Greeks and Romans. Gaul was conquered by the Roman forces led by
Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC and increasingly integrated
into the Roman Empire. In the 5th century, the Germanic tribes
invading Gaul from the east conquered Gaul and established their
kingdoms. After the collapse of Western Roman Empire in 476,
Merovingian Franks became powerful and the Frankish king Clovis
united most of Gaul. Under the Merovingian dynasty, Franks
converted to Catholic Christianity. Frankish power reached its
fullest extent under Charlemagne. After the death of
Charlemagne, Charlemagne Empire was divided into three, East
Francia, West Francia or the Western Frankish Kingdom and Middle
Francia, forming the basis of modern Germany, France, and Italy.
When the Western Frankish Kingdom went extinct in 987, Hugh
Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of
France and established the Capetian dynasty. His descendents,
the Direct Capetians, the Hous