Lutetia increasingly came under attack from Germanic tribes.
To defend themselves, the Parisians consolidated the small islands on the Seine into a single large island - today's Île de la Cité.
Most of the Roman buildings on the Left Bank were dismantled, and their stones repurposed for fortifications.
In 451 AD, Attila the Hun and his army advanced towards Paris.
Most Parisians were said to have attempted to flee the city but a local woman, Genevieve, convinced them to stay and organised prayer vigils and fasting across the city.
The Huns redirected their attack to Orleans - and Genevieve became Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris (with Saint Denis).
The barbarian invasions culminated in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
Clovis became king of the Franks and made Paris his capital.
He converted to Christianity and built an abbey on the hill, where he was buried with his wife, the Abbaye Sainte Geneviève - part of which is still encased in today's Lycée Henri IV.
The neighbourhood is rich with references from this era : rue Clovis, rue Clothilde (Clovis's wife), rue Clotaire (their son), the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève and the Montagne Sainte Geneviève.
The Frankish Kingdom became the largest kingdom in Western Europe.
Fun fact : the name Clovis gave rise to the name Louis - the name of 18 French kings - and the term Frank gave rise to the name France!
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