Francia in the context of "Serbia"

The Frankish Occupation (Medieval Greek: Φραγκοκρατία, romanized: Frankokratia; anglicized as 'Francocracy'), also known as the Latin Occupation (Λατινοκρατία, Latinokratía) and, for the Venetian domains, Venetian Occupation (Βενετοκρατία / Ενετοκρατία, Venetokratía / Enetokratía), were the collection of primarily French and Italian states, fiefs and colonies that were established by the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae on the territory of the partitioned Byzantine Empire following the Sack of Constantinople of 1204 during the Fourth crusade.

The terms Frankokratia and Latinokratia derive from the name given by the Orthodox Greeks to the Western French and Italians who originated from territories that once belonged to the Frankish Empire, as this was the political entity that ruled much of the former Western Roman Empire after the collapse of Roman authority and power. The span of the Frankokratia period differs by region: the political situation proved highly volatile, as the Frankish states fragmented and changed hands, and the Greek successor states re-conquered many areas.

France, officially the French Republic, is a country primarily located in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zone in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its 18 integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of 632,702 km (244,288 sq mi) and have an estimated total population of over 68.6 million as of January 2025. France is a semi-presidential republic. Its capital, largest city and main cultural and economic centre is Paris.

Metropolitan France was settled during the Iron Age by Celtic tribes known as Gauls before Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture. In the Early Middle Ages, the Franks formed the kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia evolving into the Kingdom of France. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but decentralised feudal kingdom, but from the mid-14th to the mid-15th centuries, France was plunged into a dynastic conflict with England known as the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th century French culture flourished during the French Renaissance, and a French colonial empire emerged. Internally, France was dominated by the conflict with the House of Habsburg and the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots. France was successful in the Thirty Years' War and further increased its influence during the reign of Louis XIV.

The Hungarian invasions of Europe (Hungarian: kalandozások, German: Ungarneinfälle) occurred in the 9th and 10th centuries, during the period of transition in the history of Europe of the Early Middle Ages, when the territory of the former Carolingian Empire was threatened by invasion by the Magyars (Hungarians) from the east, the Viking expansion from the north, and the Arabs from the south.

The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin (corresponding to the later Kingdom of Hungary) in a planned manner, with a long period of settlement between 862–895, and launched a number of campaigns both westward into former Francia and southward into the Byzantine Empire. The westward raids were stopped only with the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, which led to the revival of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, producing a new political order in Western Europe. The raids into Byzantine territories continued throughout the 10th century, until the eventual Christianisation of the Magyars and the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary in 1000.

The Duchy of Croatia (Modern Croatian: Kneževina Hrvatska; also Duchy of the Croats, Modern Croatian: Kneževina Hrvata; Latin: Ducatus Chroatorum; Greek: Χρωβατία) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia c. 7th century AD. Throughout its existence the Duchy had several seats – namely, Klis, Solin, Knin, Bijaći and Nin. It comprised the littoral – the coastal part of today's Croatia – except Istria, and included a large part of the mountainous hinterland as well.

The Croats settled in Dalmatia after defeating the Pannonian Avars, during the time of Byzantine emperor Heraclius I. The Duchy was in the center of competition between the Byzantine Empire and the Carolingian Empire for rule over the area. Croatian rivalry with Venice emerged in the first decades of the 9th century and would continue through the following centuries. Croatia also waged battles with the Bulgarian Empire (founded c. 681; Bulgar-Croatian relations improved greatly afterwards) and with the Arabs; it also sought to extend its control over important coastal city-states under the rule of Byzantium. Croatia experienced periods of vassalage to the Franks or to the Byzantines and of de facto independence until 879, when Duke Branimir was recognized as an independent ruler by Pope John VIII. The Duchy was ruled by the Trpimirović and Domagojević dynasties from 845 to 1091. Around 925, during the rule of Tomislav, Croatia became a kingdom.

Dalmatia (/dælˈmeɪʃə, -tiə/ ; Croatian: Dalmacija [dǎlmatsija]; Italian: Dalmazia [dal'mattsja]) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is a narrow land belt stretching from the island of Rab in the north to the Bay of Kotor in the south. The Dalmatian Hinterland ranges in width from 50 kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south; it is mostly covered by the rugged Dinaric Alps. Seventy-nine islands (and about 500 islets) run parallel to the coast, the largest (in Dalmatia) being Brač, Pag, and Hvar. The largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Šibenik, and Dubrovnik.

The name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. With the expansion of Rome, the province of Illyricum was established, and in the early 1st century it was reorganised into the province of Dalmatia, which stretched over a vast territory. Consequently, a Romance culture emerged, and the indigenous Illyrian population became romanised. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Migration Period, many different peoples passed through Dalmatia. While the local Illyro-Romans organized themselves around their city-states under Byzantine protection, the Croats arrived in the early 7th century and established the Duchy of Croatia, later becoming vassals of the Franks. With the Christianisation of the Croats, Slavic and Illyro-Roman elements began to intermingle in both language and culture. The Kingdom of Croatia was founded in 925, and it later incorporated the Theme of Dalmatia.

Germans (German: Deutsche) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II, defines a German as a German citizen. During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history. Today, the German language is widely seen as the primary, though not exclusive, criterion of German identity. Estimates on the total number of Germans in the world range from 100 to 150 million, most of whom live in Germany.

The history of Germans as an ethnic group began with the separation of a distinct Kingdom of Germany from the eastern part of the Frankish Empire under the Ottonian dynasty in the 10th century, forming the core of the Holy Roman Empire. In subsequent centuries the political power and population of this empire grew considerably. It expanded eastwards, and eventually a substantial number of Germans migrated further eastwards into Eastern Europe. The empire itself was generally decentralized and politically divided between many small princedoms, cities and bishoprics, while the idea of unified German state came later. Following the Reformation in the 16th century, many of these states found themselves in bitter conflict concerning the rise of Protestantism.

The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions, which by the eighth century were collectively referred to as Alamannia.

In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by the Frankish leader Clovis and incorporated into his dominions. Mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the seventh century. The Lex Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period. Until the eighth century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. After an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, however, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility and installed Frankish dukes.

The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Germanic settlers who became one of the most important cultural groups in Britain by the 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain is considered to have started by about 450 and ended in 1066, with the Norman Conquest. Although the details of their early settlement and political development are not clear, by the 8th century an Anglo-Saxon cultural identity which was generally called Englisc had developed out of the interaction of these settlers with the existing Romano-British culture. By 1066, most of the people of what is now England spoke Old English, and were considered English. Viking and Norman invasions changed the politics and culture of England significantly, but the overarching Anglo-Saxon identity evolved and remained dominant even after these major changes. Late Anglo-Saxon political structures and language are the direct predecessors of the high medieval Kingdom of England and the Middle English language. Although the modern English language owes less than 26% of its words to Old English, this includes the vast majority of everyday words.

In the early 8th century, the earliest detailed account of Anglo-Saxon origins was given by Bede (d. 735), suggesting that they were long divided into smaller regional kingdoms, each with differing accounts of their continental origins. As a collective term, the compound term Anglo-Saxon, commonly used by modern historians for the period before 1066, first appears in Bede's time, but it was probably not widely used until modern times. Bede was one of the first writers to prefer "Angles" (or English) as the collective term, and this eventually became dominant. Bede, like other authors, also continued to use the collective term "Saxons", especially when referring to the earliest periods of settlement. Roman and British writers of the 3rd to 6th century described those earliest Saxons as North Sea raiders, and mercenaries. Later sources, such as Bede, believed these early raiders came from the region they called "Old Saxony", in what is now northern Germany, which in their own time had become well known as a region resisting the spread of Christianity and Frankish rule. According to this account, the English (Angle) migrants came from a country between those "Old Saxons" and the Jutes.