/ © balougadorAfter the incursions of the third century, the region still experienced periods of stability. In the fifth century, migrations, wars and the weakening of imperial authority transformed the Roman West. New kingdoms emerged in its former territories.
The Burgundians extended their kingdom towards the Rhône Valley and northern Provence, as far as the Avignon and Durance area. The Visigoths controlled other southern territories. In the early sixth century, the Ostrogoths in turn took control of part of Provence.
In 534, the Franks annexed the Burgundian kingdom. The Ostrogoths ceded Provence to them in 536–537. The region gave the Frankish kingdom access to the Mediterranean and the routes to Italy.
The early Middle Ages, from the sixth to the tenth century, brought conflict, epidemics and economic change. Yet it was not simply a succession of disasters: the institutions, practices and legacies of antiquity were being reshaped. Historical and archaeological research is gradually illuminating a period long portrayed as a “dark age”.