Quote Originally Posted by Conradus
Isn't the language issue due to romanisation?
Germany, or those lands that would form the HRE, were never a part of the Roman Empire, Gaul was. So that would explain why Frech became a language based on Latin, with German influences, due to invasions, migrations,... and German became a Germanic language, with latin influences due to their technology, the church,...
Right, but large parts of Germany were in fact part of the Roman empire, such as Switzerland and Austria. Yet they speak German.

I guess I'm asking if even though they were ruled by one man, were Western Franks and Eastern Franks always two distinct places?