At Elder Shrines: Exploring the Pagan Franks, Paperback

In this book, the Franks play the central role, specifically, during the time in which they were pagans. Their name appeared as early as the 3rd century, as Germanic marauding bands from the Lower Rhine who raided Gaul, and precisely there the timeframe of the book begins and, with a few digressions, ends with the baptism of the Frankish king Clovis. The books leads step-by-step through the time, from the first Frankish warlords with their bands greedy for booty in the partially unprotected and wealthy Gaul, where the people lived in relative peace and prosperity, up to the first great kingdom under the Merovingian king Clovis. Except for the part with the sources at the end and the preface, this book contains 17 narrative chapters, and each of them is centered around a specific theme. The titles of the chapters point clearly to their contents, such as "Sketching the Last Centuries of the (Western) Roman Empire", "Early Mentions of the Franks", "Paganism, Cults and Deities", "Society and Culture", "The Migration Period", etc. The text is elucidated by 36 supporting maps and many illustrations.

About author(s):Gunivortus Goos veröffentlichte bereits mehrere Bücher und Artikel, die meisten davon unter seinem inzwischen aufgegebenen Pseudonym GardenStone. Der in Groningen geborene Niederländer hat vor einigen Jahrzehnten seine Heimatstadt verlassen und ist nach Deutschland gezogen, wo er nach mehreren Stationen in einer Kleinstadt im schönen Taunus in Hessen lebt. Er ist Computerfreak, Liebhaber von Fantasy-Büchern, hört oft Musik von Klassik bis Folk Metal, Blues, Country, Oldies und mehr und trinkt dabei gerne ein gutes Bier oder ein Glas trockenen Wein. Aber die 'Sucht' des Autors ist die Erforschung historischer Themen die innerhalb seines persönlichen Interesses fallen. Gunivortus Goos previously published quite a few books and articles under his meanwhile given-up pseudonym GardenStone. Born in the city of Groningen, he is a Dutch, who some decades ago left his hometown and country and moved to Germany, where he, after several stations, now lives in a small town in the beautiful Taunus Hills in the German state of Hesse. Guus' (that's how his friends call him) 'addiction' is the research of specific historical topics of his personal interest, within which he is always eagerly looking for primary sources and related views and experiences of scholarly or practicing people, which he also uses to develop his own opinions. In his writings his concern is not to only reproduce current views, but also to stimulate the reader to form his or her own opinion. For the same reason, where possible, he also includes controversial representations.