Is there a good, comprehensive history of the Franks?

by BTill232

I'm looking for a good history of the Franks, ranging at very least from the reign of Clovis (preferably before) to the reign of Charlemagne (preferably after).

Mediaevumed

There is not a single good book, but there are a few good books that will get you from Clovis to Charles the Simple.

Ian Wood's The Merovingian Kingdoms is accessible, relatively short, and written by one of the most important early medieval historians working today. Wallace-Hadrill's Long Haired Kings is dated but a good read by a brilliant historian. Edward James' The Franks is a good synthetic history as well.

For the Carolingians Costambeys, Innes, and Maclean's The Carolingian World is the new hot textbook synthetic history. Pierre Riche's The Carolingians is dated but accessible and fairly short, its not a bad place to start for a quick over view.

Those are some good places to start for overviews and they can guide you towards more specific topics and works through their footnotes and bibliographies.

GeorgiusFlorentius

While I do know of a good deal of such books in French, no obvious choice comes to mind when considering the English speaking world. If you happen to speak French, La France avant la France (481 - 888) perfectly fits your proposed timeframe, as does the shorter (and much cheaper) Les origines franques. Ve - IXe siècle by Stéphane Lebecq. In English, a compilation of two different books would probably be the best way to get a balanced and comprehensive overview. Ian Wood's The Merovingian Kingdoms is very good, does tackle the pre-Clovis' Franks, but of course ignores Charlemagne; you might then combine it with, for instance, McKitterick's The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians (I tend to find, but it may be a trauma of my years as an undergrad, Riché's The Carolingians to be quite boring and way too “text-booky”). The Franks, by Edward James, is well-written and helpful as well, and it does mention the Carolingians; but his treatment mainly focuses on early periods (pre-Merovingian, so to say, and Merovingian). However, if you want to focus on only one book, it is probably your best bet.