Ancient States of France and the Low Countries: Map & History

There are no direct attestations of the early Frankish language. Of some 1,400 Latin inscriptions in Roman Germania Inferior a little over 100 are from the rural lands of the Germanic Ubii, into whose lands the Ripuarii would move. The inscriptions are most frequent in the 3rd century. Most are from the major cities of Germania Inferior. The right bank of the Rhine, where the Ripuarii originated, does not have such a wealth of Latin inscriptions. The High German consonant shift occurred south of an east-west zone called the Benrath Line. The Rhine crosses it in the vicinity of Düsseldorf. The section of the Rhine including Cologne forms the so-called "Rhenish Fan", where dialects are found which form intermediate stages between Dutch and High German.

From Wikipedia: Ripuarian Franks · Language (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Roman Crisis of the Third Century continued as Emperor Valerian was defeated and captured by the Sasanian Empire in the Battle of Edessa, together with a large part of the Roman field army in the east. This left his son Gallienus in very shaky control. Shortly thereafter, King Odaenathus gained control of a wide swath of the east, including Egypt, Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea; while he was nominally loyal to the Roman government, his domain was de facto independent and has come to be referred to as the Palmyrene Empire.

From Wikipedia: Gallic Empire · History: Origins (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Only Zosimus, who wrote around 500 AD, gives information about the Salians before 357 AD. He describes them as a people detached or separated from the Franks (Φράγκων ἀπό-μοιρον), who had been expelled from their own country by the Saxons and settled at some time prior to 357 AD on the large island of Batavia, between two branches of the Rhine. Although Batavia was within the boundaries once governed by the Romans, the Salians were governing it by 357 AD. He describes the Saxons who forced them there as the strongest of all the barbarians dwelling near that Rhine delta region. A more contemporary source, Ammianus Marcellinus, also associated the Salians with the Franks, calling them Franks "whom custom calls the Salii".

From Wikipedia: Salian Franks · The campaign of Julian in 358 AD (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Apart from some isolated fragments, there is no record of the Salian Frankish language but it is presumed to be ancestral to the modern family of Low Franconian dialects, which are represented today by Dutch dialects, and Afrikaans. There are some early runic scripts been found in the Netherlands which might represent an early Frankish language, one of which is the Rune inscription of Bergakker. This inscription has led to much discussion among linguists. It is assumed that the inscription dates from around 425-450.

From Wikipedia: Salian Franks · Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Burgundians who were settled near Lake Geneva saw themselves as a continuation of the Burgundians led by Gundahar who lived west of the Rhine after about 406, and were slaughtered by the Romans and Huns in 436. The legal code made for the kingdom of the Burgundians by King Gundobad (died 516), mentions his royal predecessors (auctores) as not only his father (Gundioc) and paternal uncle (Chilperic I), but also Gibica, Gundomar, Gislahar, and Gundahar. As apparent descendants (or at least successors) of Gibica, this line of kings are referred to today as the Gibichung dynasty, a name which is drawn from medieval heroic legends, including the Niebelungenlied and the Völsunga saga, which depict the memorable defeat of Gundahar by the Huns in highly fictionalized forms.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Burgundians · Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Around the time of the battle — “or probably slightly earlier” — Gundioc cemented ties with the future western power-broker Ricimer by marrying his sister, a link that helps explain later Burgundian–imperial coordination.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Burgundians · History: Imperial politics (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The only source to date the Burgundian settlement near Lake Geneva is the unreliable Gallic Chronicle of 452, which records that in 443 “Sapaudia was given to the remainders of the Burgundians to be divided with the indigenous inhabitants.” Its exact boundaries are uncertain, but it lay in the Roman province of Maxima Sequania and included Geneva, and Neuchâtel.

From Wikipedia: Kingdom of the Burgundians · History: Roman military settlement (CC BY-SA 4.0)