As a keen member of both r/AskHistorians and r/Writing, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a question so targeted towards myself. Sixth-century Francia was still under strong Roman influences; systems of administration, politics, and divisions of land (where possible) where all taken on board from Roman Gaul (which had been Roman for over five hundred years. I’ll do my best to present what I know in the frame of life in Francia, but you must understand that Francia (specifically in the sixth century) is a period that has left little evidence of day-to-day life. I need to say three quick things that you should take note of if you are serious about the novel business.

• Firstly, I would wholly recommend picking up a copy of Gregory of Tours’ ‘Histories’, you can get one off amazon for less than £10 and much of it is the best evidence we have for life in sixth-century Francia.

• Secondly, you have to keep in mind that I could not even begin to explain here what Frankish life was like in the detail that you need for a novel, nor does anyone accurately know what life was like across Francia for everyone at the time, but I will do my best to give you an overview.

• Thirdly, almost all the evidence we do have is from the perspective of, or about, members of the aristocracy. Like most periods of ancient (and medieval) history, evidence for life as a Frankish peasant is difficult to come by.

With that all said, let’s get started!

Life for the aristocracy was very much like that of the aristocracy of Roman Gaul. We hear throughout Gregory of Tours’ narrative that having followers was important for personal power. This, as well as the importance of poetry and literature during the period (which for some unknown reason Gregory claimed was in decline), shows that patronage was a crucial and necessary part of life as an influential aristocrat at court. These followers could take many roles, including poets, lawyers, priests and, sometimes, assassins. Venantius Fortunatus was one of these literary followers whom a bishop or prince could pay to write a poem for them; he wrote an epithelium for Sigebert and Brunhild, and on one occasion flattered Chilperic to get Gregory off the hook during a trial where he was accused of saying the queen had been unfaithful. His poems would grant an individual some level of ‘cultural capital’, which basically allowed them to show off at dinner parties and exemplified how wealthy and important they were.

Like Late Roman Gaul, sixth-century Francia was also a Christian world. The Church was arguably the most important institution at the time, apart from the crown, perhaps. Bishops helped kings govern, and Gregory specifically approved of bishops who told kings off for being naughty. However, Gregory did not like bishops whom he described as agents of the crown, namely those that were given bishoprics as a reward for loyalty with their king, not for any level of piety. Bishops at the time were often related to the old senatorial aristocracy of Roman Gaul, so that may help you in researching what they may have been up to on a day-to-day basis as they inherited many of the habits of the old aristocracy. An interesting (and very odd) part of religious life in Francia was the significance of the Cult of Saints. Gregory regularly discusses holy men and women who would go into the wilderness or lock themselves in a tower to become hermits, some of which he truly admired, and others that he held great disdain for. Gregory was keen to promote the Cult of Saint Martin, whose ‘shrine’ was in Tours and so it helped to grow the notoriety of Gregory’s bishopric (whether for personal or pious reasons it is difficult to know).

What might separate aristocratic life in Francia from that in Roman Gaul is how violent it was in the sixth century. Though Roman Gaul was not in any way free from violence, Merovingian kings seem to be murdered at quite an alarming rate during the sixth century. This links in with what I have said about patronage, because assassins seemed to be in plentiful supply. Sigebert was murdered by assassins (probably hired by Chilperic’s wife Fredegund), Chilperic was murdered by assassins, and Childebert II was poisoned. But it wasn’t just assassinations which made Francia a violent place. Gundovald (a usurper who claimed to be a son of Chlothar) met his end after giving himself up following a siege. He was subsequently beaten down with rocks and torn apart by a crowd, then (as if that wasn’t enough), he was set upon by vengeful soldiers who tore his body apart. Additionally, we know how violent Francia was because of their law (of which very little remains). The Salic Law (or Les Salica) lists a whole series of horrendously violent crimes and how they should be dealt with; how bad the specific crime was, when blood feuds were and weren’t recognised, and how much should he paid in reparations to the victim(s). Gregory even showed this law in practice with a feud at his bishopric in Tours (VII.47).

Another feature of aristocratic life unique to Francia was the prominent role of women. I should note that it was primarily foreign princesses who managed to thrive on the political front; Brunhild, Galswinth, Radegund, and - probably - Fredegund were all married into the Merovingian family. Bertha, a Merovingian princess, was married off to the king of Kent and never mentioned again in Gregory’s work, and she is one of the more prominent Merovingian princesses. Women were able to accrue vast amounts of money; Radegund especially is often described in Fortunatus’ poetry as constantly donating clothes and money to the needy, and putting on extravagant displays of jewels during religious services. Fredegund certainly had much of her own wealth, she sent off her daughter to marry a Visigothic prince with a whole carriage of treasures (to which her husbands men were so concerned she had to assure them it was her own money). Women also seemed to regularly act independently of their husbands; Brunhild managed to take guardianship over not one, not two, but three generations of kings (her son Childebert II, her grandsons Theudebert II and Theuderic II, and her great-grandson Sigebert II), all without a man at her side, which is an impressive feat.

What may have become clear is that sixth-century Francia was also a place fraught with civil war. Kings regularly fought each other for disputes over land, laws, and occasionally murdered sisters-in-law (I am referencing Brunhild’s sister Galswinth whom Chilperic strangled with a bedsheet and possibly provoked Brunhild’s husband Sigebert into initiating a civil war against him). This is partly why Gregory began his work, he wished to return to the serene period of Clovis’s reign where everything was bright and lovely (it wasn’t, but Gregory’s historical nostalgia got the better of him). To understand and enjoy these civil wars for yourself, I will again recommend Gregory’s ‘Histories’, for they are numerous and complex, too much so for a summary here.

I’m not sure how much more I can really offer, it is such a complex period and place that I can only scratch the surface on what life must have hewn like in Francia during the sixth century. I wish you luck with your research, I hope this at least helps and, of course, feel free to ask more questions if you want (but I can’t promise I will be able to answer all of them).