Gallo-Roman Cultural Practices

The Kingdom of the Franks benefitted greatly by incorporating various Roman practices into its own culture. This can be seen in the fact that the Franks borrowed not only aspects of the Roman administrative system, but they even modeled their king on the Roman emperor. Moreover, they adopted Catholicism, the religion of the Romans. Even their inclusive attitudes toward the local Gallo-Romans stems from Roman practice. Modeling their kingdom on these characteristics of the Roman Empire allowed the Franks to link themselves to its government and become one of its successors.

The administration of the Frankish Kingdom certainly owes a debt to Roman influence and practices. Even the highest position in their government, that of the king, was

Three offices which were especially influential within this administration were those of the bishops, counts, and dukes. Roman practices could clearly be seen in the office of bishops. Christianity was relatively new to the Frankish people (James, 121) so all the functions of the office would have modeled on those of Roman bishops. Not only would the functions of this office remained consistent as the region transferred from Roman to Frankish rule, but the bishops themselves would have still be drawn from Gallo-Roman citizens because they already had a working knowledge of how to perform the duties (Ward-Perkins, 68). Counts were typically Gallo-Romans as well. Generally chosen from a particular region’s local aristocracy (James, 185), counts reflected the continuity of elite Gallo-Roman families. There was not a complete change of the aristocracy when the Franks came to power even though the largest land holdings would have been held by Frankish citizens (Ward-Perkins, 63). These local aristocrats were likely to have had positions within the Roman administration (Heather, 28) so their continued presence in Frankish society indicates that the Franks still relied on the local populace to continue the management of their territory. While bishops and counts were often Gallo-Romans, it was typical of dukes to be of Frankish origins (James, 185). As the most

Traditionally, Christianity was said to have brought to the Franks by the king, Clovis. In 496, or 508 as argued by some authors, he and three thousand of his men were said to have been baptized after Clovis, in an act similar to Constantine, promised his conversion in return for a military victory (James, 122-123). The conversion of the Frankish people demonstrates that they adopted one of the most important aspects of Roman culture, Catholic Christianity. The heretical Arian sect could be found within the Frankish population (James, 122), but Clovis’ conversion to “proper” Christianity links his kingdom to the Roman Empire. Apparently, Clovis was worried that the Franks would not look in the conversion favorably, but Gregory of Tours said that “He me with his followers, but before he could speak the power of God anticipated him, and all the people cried out together: ‘O pious king, we reject our mortal gods, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remi preaches” (Gregory, 40). Although Gregory depicts the Frankish people as being receptive to the new religion, it is likely that their conversion, and that of Gallo-Romans who only nominally been Christianized, was a slower process (James, 127-128). In fact, it was the introduction of Irish monasticism, more rurally based than what was typical in Roman Gaul, that helped spread Christianity throughout the region