527- 565 CE - Justinian became emperor of the Byzantine Empire in 527 CE because he was nephew and heir to the previous emperor. Justinian married the daughter of a lower class circus trainer named Theodora. Justinian believed he could reestablish the Roman empire throughout the Mediterranean. Justinian's army was lead …

590- 604 CE - Gregory the Great became pope and gained control of Rome around the seventh century CE. Gregory organized Rome and its surrounding territories into a system of government known as the Papal States. Gregory probably established control in Rome to prevent further damage from the Lombards who had …

Literally, "money for a man." In Germanic law most crimes were treated personally, with punishment meted out directly by a person's family. The system of weregeld payments was orchestrated as a reaction to the heavy toll that was sometimes extracted by grieving family members who wished to receive retribution for …

482- 511 CE - Clovis was the leader of a Frankish tribe who eventually unified and ruled all Franks. Clovis converted from paganism to become a Catholic Christian around 500 CE.

This conversion helped him gain papal support, as well as leading to the eventual conversion of most of the Frankish …

511 CE

The Merovigian dynasty was named after Merovech, who was a Frankish ancestor of Clovis. Clovis founded the dynasty prior to his death in 511 CE. The Merovingians ruled most of the major Frankish dominions including Neustria in northern Gaul, Austrasia, and the kingdom of Burgundy.

Germania- The Visigoths were one of the largest Germanic tribes in the fourth and fifth centuries CE. They had a truly love hate relationship with the Romans first asking them for help, and then meeting them in battle in 378 CE where they killed Emperor Valens at the Battle of …