Austrasia was a historical region and the northeastern realm within the core of the Frankish State during the Early Middle Ages, centering on the regions between Meuse, Moselle, Middle Rhine and the Main rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had been the northernmost part of Roman Gaul. It also stretched beyond the old Roman borders on the Rhine into Frankish areas which had never been formally under Roman rule. It represented the northeastern part of the Frankish realm, founded by the Merovingian king Clovis I, while the more Romanized regions to its west came to be known as Neustria.