Essay from the year 2011 in the subject History of Europe - Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, grade: A, Saint Mary's University, course: Medieval Europe, language: English, abstract: From fourth century onwards, the Western Roman Empire started to decline and it gave birth to three new dominant cultures within the periphery of lands which were formerly governed by the Romans. Along with the Byzantine Empire and Islamic civilisation, Germanic West was one of the civilisations that emerged following the collapse of the Western Rome. One of the earliest kingdoms emerged out of the Germanic West was the Merovingian dynasty which was founded at the end of the fifth century by King Clovis. The Merovingians ruled Frankish tribes in the region of ancient Gaul and many of them embraced Christianity. Their success was largely linked to their victories over the other Germanic tribes namely Visigoths, Saxons and Alemanni. The continental Europe in the age of Merovingians contained different cultures such as Roman, Christian and Germanic elements. However, the cultural synthesis of these three did not took place until the reign of the Carolingian dynasty which was the successor of the Merovingians.