Gaul

Gaul was the Roman name for a territory comprising modern day France and Belgium as well as parts of northern Italy, western Switzerland, western Germany and the Netherlands. First subjugated by the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar, they were a part of the Empire for most of its existence.

The Gauls, who called this area home, were a Celtic people. There are still some elements of Celtic influence in places like Brittany, but their culture was largely overrun by the Romans and the Franks.

Further reading

• Blok, Petrus Johannes. History of the People of the Netherlands (1898) famous classic; part 1 to 1500, online from Google
• Funck-Brentano, Frantz, and E.F. Buckley. The History of Gaul (1994)
• James, Edward. The Franks (1991) excerpt and text search
• Murray, Alexander Callander, ed. From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader (2008), primary sources