FROM THE CELTS TO ROLLERBLADES - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette: France - page 17

Charlemagne, outside the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, collected all France
together under the Holy Roman Empire. It didn't last, but it started the
concept.
invaded. The Visigoths took the south, Acquitaine and the
Provence; the Franks won Paris and northern Gaul; and the
Alamani and Burgundians dominated the east to as far west
as the Soane River Valley.
Clovis, King of the Franks, and a Christian, rousted the
last Romans in AD 486 and unifi ed the country, giving it the
Germanic name. But the country remained a collection of
distinct tribes and languages.