After the fall of the (Western) Roman empire, most of its civilization and Christianity were almost wiped away by the Germanic invaders, Flanders has no cities left except the episcopal sees, almost reduced to small village farming and insecurity. The Frakish kings, who established a realm roughly covering Gaul, encouraged missionaries to substitute Catholicism for pagan practices, as St. Amandus managed brilliantly, as attested by his vita, the oldest book in Middle Dutch, never minds the impossible miracles. Princess Judith returned to the Frankish royal treasury castle after her father married her twice to a Wessex king, only to be widowed again. She fell in love with a rather obscure Flemish lower nobleman, agreeing to be 'abducted', the 'French' king grudgingly promoted her lover Baldwin, first count of Flanders (and some other lands). Their son has to succeed as a teenager, but even managed brilliantly to deal with the Viking raids by building palisade walls around various towns, the start of a modern principality administration and the start for Flanders to grow rich, and prestigious thanks to Judith's royal linage.