Salian Franks

The Salian Franks, also called the Salians (Latin: Salii, Greek: Salioi), were the western subgroup of the early Franks who first appear in the historical records in the third century. At that time they lived between the Rhine and the IJssel in the modern day Dutch region of the Veluwe, Gelderland. As the Salians initially lived north of the Rhine delta, they were also north of the limes of Roman Gaul, which ran along the Rhine. They were characterised as both warlike Germanic people and pirates, and as Laeti (allies of the Romans). Shortly thereafter, some were settled permanently on Roman land. After moving into Batavia, a border island in the Rhine, in 358, they came to some form of agreement with the Romans, which allowed them to settle south of the Rhine in Toxandria (roughly the area of the current Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, and adjacent parts of the two bordering Belgian provinces of Antwerpen and Belgian Limburg, the so-called "Kempen" (French Campine)).