The Franks, a Germanic-speaking tribe, moved into northern Gaul as Roman influence declined. Frankish leaders were influenced by Rome, some even fought with Rome to defeat Atilla the Hun. In 481, the son of Childeric, Clovis I, just sixteen years old, became the new ruler of the Franks. In 486, he defeated the last Roman armies, became the ruler of all of Gaul north of the river Loire and entered Paris. Before an important battle against the Burgundians, he took an oath to convert to Catholicism if he should win.

He won the battle, and was converted to Christianity by his wife Clotilde, and was baptised at Reims in 496. His conversion to Christianity was likely seen as a title only, to improve his political position. He did not reject the pagan gods and their myths and rituals. Clovis helped to drive the Visigoths out of Gaul. He was a king with no fixed capital and no central administration beyond his entourage. By deciding to be interred at Paris, Clovis gave the city symbolic weight. When his grandchildren divided royal power 50 years after his death in 511 , Paris was kept as a joint property and a fixed symbol of the dynasty.