In the year 406 AD the Germans invaded Gaul. The Franks followed the river Scheldt towards the south. As a result there was an extensive bilingual area occupied by Gallo-roman natives and Frankish invaders. After the collapse of the Roman Empire (476 AD) there rose a number of tribal empires, of which the Frankish Empire became the most important. This was the work of Clovis (Chlodwig) from the dynasty of the Merovingians. He moved the borders of his empire to the south of France and made Paris his capital
Clovis's empire was later shared between his four sons, but in about 630 AD it was reunited. The Netherlands at that time consisted of two parts: Neustria (between the Seine and the Scheldt) and Austrasia (in the basins of the Rhine and the Meuse).