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Frankish and Anglo-Saxon settlement

After the Romans left there followed a period of tribal settlement. The Franks were a tribe that settled in northern France. From AD496 when Clovis I became their king and established a capital in Paris, the Frankish kingdom expanded by absorbing neighbouring states. After Charlemagne (a Frank, ruled AD768–814) temporarily united much of western Europe, only for his Carolingian empire to be split in AD843, the Franks became the dominant regional force. During the same period, southern England was settled by Saxons (from eastern Germany), with an area of Jutish (from Jutland in Denmark) settlement in Kent.

The Vikings from Scandinavia began migrating to the region in the early-ninth century AD. In France they settled in Normandy, while in England they initially occupied an area in the north known as the Danelaw. In 1015 the Viking king Canute defeated the Anglo-Saxons in southern England and extended Viking rule over the whole country. In 1066, a disputed succession caused the Normans from Normandy led by William the Conqueror to invade England and for the first time since the Romans left, unify England and northern France under one crown.