• Dividing up Western Europe (400s–500s)
• Words to Know: The Merovingian Age
• Trial by Ordeal
• The church
• How the Monks Saved Civilization
• The Merovingians (481–751)
• Merovingian Art
• For More Information

Western Europe includes what is now Germany and Italy, the countries between them such as Switzerland and Austria, and lands to the west, including France, Britain, and Spain. At the beginning of medieval times, however, few of these nations existed; only during the course of the Early Middle Ages (c. 500–c. 1000) would they emerge from the ruins of the Western Roman...