Austrasia

Austrasia
567–751
Austrasia, homeland of the Franks (darkest green), and subsequent conquests (other shades of green).
Capital		Reims, Metz
Languages		Old Frankish, Vulgar Latin (Gallo-Roman), Latin
Religion		Christianity
Government		monarchy
Historical era		Early Middle Ages
•	Established	567
•	Disestablished	751
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Gaul Germania inferior Carolingian Empire
Today part of		Netherlands  Belgium  Italy  Luxembourg   Switzerland  Germany  France

Austrasia was a territory which formed the northeastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the Ripuarian Frankish tribes prior to the unification of all Franks under the Salian Frank Clovis I. In AD 567, it became a separate kingdom within the Frankish kingdom and was ruled by Sigebert I. In the 7th and 8th century it was the powerbase from which the Carolingians, originally mayors of the palace of Austrasia, took over the rule of all Franks from the Salian Merovingians. Austrasia gradually lost its territorial character after the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire in the second half of the 9th century.

The name Austrasia is not well attested in the Merovingian period. It is a latinisation of an Old Frankish name recorded first by Gregory of Tours in c. AD 580 and then by Aimoin of Fleury in c. AD 1000. As with the name Austria, it contains the word for "", i.e. meaning "eastern land" to designate the original territory of the Franks in contrast to Neustria, the " land" in northern Gaul conquered in the wake of the Battle of Soissons of 486.

Austrasia was centered on the Middle Rhine, including the basins of the Moselle and Main, and the Meuse rivers. It bordered on Frisia and Saxony to the north, Thuringia to the east, Swabia and Burgundy to the south and to Neustria and Flanders to the west.