Diagrams of Frankish and Saxon tool and knife blades. Illustration from c. 1848. The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes occupying land in the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century AD. Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frank tribes joined the Roman troops in what was called Gaul (modern-day France). The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the North German Plain. They settled in large parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages and formed part of the merged group of Anglo-Saxons who eventually organized the first united Kingdom of England.