Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LVYW-ZTL

Family/Spouse: de Lombardy, Ibor I. Ibor (son of de Lombardy, Haquinus and de Lombardy, Gambara Aalis) was born in 200 in Europe; died in DECEASED in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GZY2-TD6

Family/Spouse: de Toxandría, Marcomir V. Marcomir (son of of the Salian Franks, Childeric I and Ceasonia Julianus) was born in 220 in Tongeren, Boxtel, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands; died in 281 in Cordemais, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GZBR-RBV

Family/Spouse: de Winniles, Gamara. Gamara was born in 252 in Europe; died in DECEASED. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LZ6Y-LNZ
• Appointments / Titles: 289; King of the Scambian Franks

Family/Spouse: de Francs, Queen Athildis. Athildis was born in 245 in Germany; died in 289 in Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GZTX-QPJ

Family/Spouse: Iunii Neratii. Iunii (daughter of Neratius Gallus and Aemilia Pudentilla) was born in 275 in Italy; died in DECEASED in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Chief of the Ripuarian Franks
• Appointments / Titles: King of the Franks
• FSID: LZ6Y-LVT

Notes:

In 306 he and Ascaric led a Frankish raid across the Rhine into southern Gaul while Constantine the Great was campaigning against the Picts in Britannia. Apparently the two had made a previous agreement with Rome not to cross the border, since Constantine sought to punish them as traitors upon his return. The two chieftains were defeated, captured, and executed "for their past crimes," an act which "bound with fear the slippery loyalty of the whole race," according to one of the emperor's anonymous panegyrists. The execution took place in one of the chief cities of Gaul, probably Trier, and the two Franks and their followers were torn apart by animals in the amphitheatre before a large crowd. Their defeat was followed by the subjection of the Bructeri.

-- Wikiwand: Merogais

Family/Spouse: d'Alemanie, Queen Eva Blesinde Margolis. Eva was born in 272 in Tongeren, Limburg, Belgium; died in 307 in Gaul, Roman Empire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G8L1-KRD

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G884-2P7

Notes:

When Ascyla Queen of Lombardy de Ascyllius was born in 0322, in Gaul, Roman Empire, her father, Ascyllius de Francie, was 19 and her mother, Asilia de Lombardie, was 18. She had at least 3 sons and 3 daughters with Frankish General Teutomer Hildeoch. She died on 15 August 0413, in France, at the age of 91.

Family/Spouse: de France, Ascyllius. Ascyllius (son of de Toxandrie, King Ragaise and d'Alemanie, Queen Eva Blesinde Margolis) was born in 303 in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD); died in 338 in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD); was buried in 379 in Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: of The East Franks, King Dagobert II. Dagobert (son of of the East Franks, Génébald I and of the Sicambrian Franks, Queen Athildis Coilus) was born in 300 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died on 23 Dec 379 in Cöln, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried on 23 Dec 379 in Sachsen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duke
• Appointments / Titles: Duke of The East Franks
• Appointments / Titles: King of the Salic Franks
• Life Event: 1er Roi Franc en Toxandrie, Patrice De Constantinople, Sénateur
• Life Event: Patrice of Constantinople
• Life Event: Sénateur d'Orient of Rome
• FSID: GMN9-RQ2
• Occupation: Roman General of the fourth century, active under the Emperor Constantius II
• Birth: Jan 295, Kingdom of the Salian Franks
• Birth: 300, Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
• Burial: 360, Gaul, Roman Empire
• Death: Jan 360, Worms, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
• Death: 379, Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Notes:

From Wikipedia

Toxandria -
Toxandria in a map of Central Europe (919-1125).Toxandria is the classical name for a region between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The name is also spelled Taxandria. The Salian Franks that settled the area in the 4th century became known as Toxandrians. These tribes gave rise to the Merovingian dynasty that came to dominate what is now France.

In these ancient times, the many barbarian tribes, given the broad label as Germanic tribes (Latin Germanicus) by the Romans, originated from Scandinavia and had by the 1st century BC spread through vast areas of today's central and western Europe.

Because of their continuous raids, these tribes subdivided into separate clans and moved on to other areas. In the middle of the 3rd century, two members of the tribal confederacy known as the Franks, the Salians and the Ripuarians, began penetrating the Roman frontier around Mainz but were soon driven back by Emperor Probus.

Despite the temporary setback, the moves against the ever-weakening Roman masters resulted in Emperor Julian buying peace in 358 by handing over Toxandria to the Salians who then became Roman allies and provided troops for the imperial army.

This entente would shape both the Salian language and law, resulting in the 6th century Salic law written in Latin. The Ripuarians took up residence in a strip of territory between the Rhine River and the Meuse and, like all the wandering tribes, never formed any permanent alliances with the Salians in Toxandria.

In the ensuing years, the Toxandrians did not continue to collectively wander from one place to another as other Germanic tribes, but instead began to expand their territory outwards. The Romans were soon again under attack with the emergence of the first strong leader Meroveus, after whom the Merovingian dynasty would be named.

Notably, his son, Childeric I made further agreements that expanded their territory while aiding the Romans in driving out several invaders from around Orléans and Angers. In the ensuing years, Childeric's son Clovis I emerged as the dominant force who would, through his military might, add parts of present day Germany to his kingdom and shape what was to become modern day France.

Dagobert is a fictitious character, or rather one whose true facts have escaped genealogists so far.

Family/Spouse: de Lombardy, Asilia. Asilia (daughter of d'Alemanie, Aio Agio Ajonis Agiluf and Iunii Neratii) was born in 304 in Germany; died in 377 in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Life Event: First King of France and Toxandrie
• Life Event: Patrice of Constantinople
• Life Event: Roman General of the fourth century, active under the Emperor Constantius II
• Life Event: Sénateur d'Orient of Rome
• FSID: GMN9-RQ2
• Life Event: 355; He retained the office of Tribune of the Gentiles and protested in the intrigues against the Gaul officer Claudio Silvano.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G7BF-Z9J
• Occupation: Frankish General

Notes:

https://www.geni.com/people/Teutomer-a-Frankish-general/6000000016634239813

Family/Spouse: de Ascyllius, Queen Ascyla. Ascyla (daughter of de France, Ascyllius and de Lombardy, Asilia) was born in 322 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium; died on 15 Aug 413 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of Lombardia
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Franks at Toxandria
• FSID: LZVX-839

Notes:

When Ascyla Queen of Lombardy de Ascyllius was born in 0322, in Gaul, Roman Empire, her father, Ascyllius de Francie, was 19 and her mother, Asilia de Lombardie, was 18. She had at least 3 sons and 3 daughters with Frankish General Teutomer Hildeoch. She died on 15 August 0413, in France, at the age of 91.

Theudemeres is the son of the Roman commander, Ricimer (Richomeres). A Roman army enters Gaul, possibly in retaliation for Frankish support for the Roman usurper, Jovinus. Theudemeres and his mother Ascyla (Ricimer's wife) are executed by the sword.

Family/Spouse: Teutomer Hildeoch. Teutomer (son of de Francs, Germain) was born in 310 in Milano, Lombardia, Italy; died on 26 Jun 363 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LZLX-M8F
• Name: Genebald of The East Franks
• Title: Duke
• Birth: 354, Kingdom of the East Franks
• Appointments / Titles: 388, Köln, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; King of Salian Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Between 414 and 419; Duke of the East Franks
• Death: 419, Moselle, Lorraine, France

Notes:

The History Files

The Sicambri were one of the main branches of the powerful fourth century confederation known as the Franks. As with most Germans, their origins lay in the aforementioned Scandinavia and the northern reaches of mainland Europe, but later legend claimed a homeland for them in the region of the Black Sea. They gradually migrated to the Rhine and were first documented when they were to be found occupying territory on the Lower Rhine valley (on the east bank, in what is now northern Belgium and the southern Netherlands), during the third century (the Period of Migration). This unsettled period eventually forced the creation of several new alliances and confederations, with the Franks being one of the biggest of the latter. They were one of several West Germanic federations, and were formed of elements of the Ampsivarii, Batavi, Bructeri, Chamavi, Chatti, Chattuarii, Cherusci, Frisii, Salians, Sicambri, Tencteri, Tubantes, and Usipetes. Most of these peoples were already living along the Rhine's northern borders in what was becoming known as Francia.

(Names listed as "Sicambri include, Genebald, Merovee, Chlodio, Dagobert, Chlodomer, over several generations)

... in 388, Gendobaud (aka Genobaud), Sunno and Marcomer lead an invasion of Salian Franks into the Roman provinces of Germania and Belgia. Their warriors break through the limes, destroying farmlands and killing people around the city of Cologne, before retreating across the border with their booty. Roman General Quintinus mounts a reprisal raid across the border but his troops are surrounded and beaten, and very few of them make it back.

A later source suggests that after the death of Sunno, Marcomer attempts to unite the Frankish tribes by proposing his own son, Pharamond as the first king, or perhaps 'high king' would be more appropriate. His success or failure is unrecorded, but in the early fifth century, Pharamond is certainly regarded as the first (high) king of the Franks.

From this point, rival Frankish divisions begin to be recorded, and the Sicambrian Franks themselves emerge more into history than the traditional genealogies of previous leaders can allow. The Salian Franks prove to be strong rivals to the Sicambri, although it appears that both branches soon merge under the Salian banner and follow a single, semi-legendary leader in the form of Merovée.

...

Family/Spouse: of Toxandria, Princess Blesinda. Blesinda (daughter of de Toxandria, Priaros and de Menapie, Dulce Douce) was born in 358 in Kingdom of the Sicambrian Franks, Gaul, Roman Empire; died in 420 in Kingdom of the Sicambrian Franks, Gaul, Roman Empire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: de Camulod, Althildis. Althildis was born in 338 in Alsace, Lorraine, France; died in 411 in Somme, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of Lombardia
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Franks at Toxandria
• FSID: LZVX-839

Notes:

When Ascyla Queen of Lombardy de Ascyllius was born in 0322, in Gaul, Roman Empire, her father, Ascyllius de Francie, was 19 and her mother, Asilia de Lombardie, was 18. She had at least 3 sons and 3 daughters with Frankish General Teutomer Hildeoch. She died on 15 August 0413, in France, at the age of 91.

Theudemeres is the son of the Roman commander, Ricimer (Richomeres). A Roman army enters Gaul, possibly in retaliation for Frankish support for the Roman usurper, Jovinus. Theudemeres and his mother Ascyla (Ricimer's wife) are executed by the sword.

Family/Spouse: Teutomer Hildeoch. Teutomer (son of de Francs, Germain) was born in 310 in Milano, Lombardia, Italy; died on 26 Jun 363 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GHMQ-1FV
• Life Event: Between 376 and 396, Gaul, Roman Empire; King of Toxandrie and France

Notes:

roi des Francs en Toxandrie, Chef des Francs 376-396

Family/Spouse: de Menapie, Dulce Douce. Dulce (daughter of Teutomer Hildeoch and de Ascyllius, Queen Ascyla) was born in 340 in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD); died in 375 in Roman Empire ( 27 BC - 389 AD). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G836-3LQ

Family/Spouse: de Toxandria, Priaros. Priaros (son of de Toxandrie, Malaric I) was born in 324 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium; died in 396 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Salian Franks
• FSID: LZGG-LSG
• Occupation: Princess of Cimbri

Notes:

She is said to have descended from people of this area. Cimbri is the area now known as the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark-

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Rois" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM.

Birth: about 376; Sicambria, Western Europe, France.
Death: about 438; Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Prussia, Germany.

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Roys" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM

Family/Spouse: of the Francs, King Pharamund. Pharamund (son of of The East Franks, Duke Marcomir II and de Lombardy, Hatilde) was born in 370 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died on 27 Apr 427 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried in May 427 in Kingdom of the Salian Franks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G836-3LQ

Family/Spouse: de Toxandria, Priaros. Priaros (son of de Toxandrie, Malaric I) was born in 324 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium; died in 396 in Toxandria, De Kempen, Limburg, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duchess Of The West Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the East Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the Suevi
• FSID: LXS1-YZL

Family/Spouse: of the East Franks, King Génébald II. Génébald (son of of The East Franks, King Dagobert II and de Lombardy, Asilia) was born in 354 in Kingdom of the Sicambrian Franks, Gaul, Roman Empire; died in 419 in Cöln, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried in 419 in Kingdom of the Salian Franks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: L8PY-CFB
• Appointments / Titles: Between 428 and 448; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Son of King Pharamond and Argotta Rosamund.
Father of King Meroveus

Biography: He is the oldest king of the Merovingian dynasty whose existence is certain.

Towards the middle of the 5th century, Clodion entered with his army into Roman territory from East of the Rhine (Allemagne) and seized the Cambrésis and the Southern Artois. He founded a small Frankish kingdom, which Clovis I inherited, and which was the embryo of the future kingdom of France.

Before the advent of Clodion and since 342, the Salian Franks are installed as foederatie inside the Roman Empire, in the North of Gaul, in Toxandrie, between the Moesan marshes, North of the current Maastricht, and the Charbonnière forest.

On January 17, 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. From 407, several Germanic peoples entered Gaul and settled there. The Visigoths founded a kingdom in Aquitaine, the Alans (non-Germanic people) took up their quarters near Orleans, the Burgundians and the Alamans settled along the Rhine. During the reign of Clodion, Valentinian III ruled the western part of the Roman Empire.

Clodion begins to reign around 428. He succeeds his father King Theodomir. He leads the people of the Salian Franks from its capital, the fortress of Dispargum, located east of the Rhine.
Towards 432, Clodion learns that the cities of the Roman province of Belgium secondus are defenseless: Aetius, Roman general charged with the defense of Gaul, took many soldiers from these territories to fight alternately the Burgundians, the Alans, the Rhenish Franks, the anti-tax revolts and the Visigoths. Clodion decides to mount an expedition and mobilizes his entire army. Crossing the Charbonnière forest, the Franks seized Tournai, carried Cambrai and Arras at the first assault and reduced the whole country from the surroundings to the Somme. More than easy pillaging, Clodion seeks to give his authority as a warrior king a territorial base. The occupation lasted a few years without Aetius trying to end it.

In 448, Clodion, who celebrated the wedding of an important member of his army in the village of Helena near Arras, was attacked by General Aetius and his lieutenant Majorien. The general wants to put back the Salian Franks who have annexed territories without his authorization. Clodion, not prepared for the confrontation, is forced to flee. But Aetius, who does not have the military means to occupy the territory again, prefers to renegotiate with Clodion and authorizes him to settle in the Empire, in this case on the territories they have already conquered in Arras , Cambrai and Tournai (its capital).
After more than twenty years of reign, Clodion died shortly before the year 451. According to Frankish custom, his kingdom was divided between his sons. The elder, undoubtedly Mérovée, obtains the city of Tournai and its region. A second heir obtains Cambrai and a third Tongeren.

Union and descendants: He married Hildegonde of Cologne who followed. The couple had several children, including:
- Mévovée Ier (411/457) king of the Franks, although few documents attest to his existence.
- Chlodebaud of Cologne (420/483), king of the Rhenish Franks,
- Lambert of Thérouanne (425/451) king of Thérouanne.

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Ildegonde. Ildegonde (daughter of of the Franks, Marcomir and de Lombardy, Ildegonde) was born in 399 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was christened in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: House of Heruli
• House: Ostrogoths
• FSID: LHW3-32S
• Religion: Catholic

Notes:

-- Wikiwand: Ereleuva

Ereleuva was the mother of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great. She often is referred to as the concubine of Theoderic's father, Theodemir, although historian Thomas Hodgkin notes "this word of reproach hardly does justice to her position. In many of the Teutonic nations, as among the Norsemen of a later century, there seems to have been a certain laxity as to the marriage rite..." That Gelasius refers to her as "regina" ("queen") suggests that she had a prominent social position despite the informality of her union with Theodemir.

Ereleuva was Catholic, and was baptized with the name "Eusebia." She had probably converted from Arianism as an adult, but the details are unclear in the historical record. Ereleuva is regarded as having taken to Catholicism quite seriously, as indicated by her correspondence with Pope Gelasius and mention of her in Ennodius's "Panegyric of Theoderic."

Her name was spelled variously by historians in antiquity as "Ereriliva" (by the fragmentary chronicle of Anonymus Valesianus, c. 527) and "Erelieva' (by Jordanes), and now largely is known to modern historians as "Ereleuva," as she was addressed most frequently by Pope Gelasius I. Related to the Erilaz from which the Heruli were tied with the Ostrogoths even after they returned to Scandinavia.
******************

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy-

Concubine: ERELEUVA [Erelieva]. She was baptised a Catholic as EUSEBIA[235]. Iordanes names "Erelieva concubina" as mother of Theodoric[236]. She went with her son to Italy.

Theodemir had three illegitimate children by his concubine:

461 AD; She accompanied her son when he was taken hostage to Constantinople in about 461

2. THEODORIC ([451][260]-30 Aug 526). Iordanes names "Theodericum" as son of Theodemir, in a later passage naming his mother "Erelieva concubina"[261]. He was proclaimed THEODORIC "the Great" King of Italy in Mar 493 after defeating King Odovacar.
- see below.

3. THEODIMUND. The primary source which names him has not yet been identified. He marched westwards to Durazzo with his brother in 479, leading one of the three marching columns[262].

4. daughter (-[479]). The primary source which records her existence has not yet been identified. She died about the time her half-brother marched westwards to Durazzo[263].

Family/Spouse: of the Ostrogoths, King Theodemir. Theodemir was born in 413; died in 471 in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duchess Of The West Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the East Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the Suevi
• FSID: LXS1-YZL

Family/Spouse: of the East Franks, King Génébald II. Génébald (son of of The East Franks, King Dagobert II and de Lombardy, Asilia) was born in 354 in Kingdom of the Sicambrian Franks, Gaul, Roman Empire; died in 419 in Cöln, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried in 419 in Kingdom of the Salian Franks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Salian Franks
• FSID: LZGG-LSG
• Occupation: Princess of Cimbri

Notes:

She is said to have descended from people of this area. Cimbri is the area now known as the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark-

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Rois" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM.

Birth: about 376; Sicambria, Western Europe, France.
Death: about 438; Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Prussia, Germany.

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Roys" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM

Family/Spouse: of the Francs, King Pharamund. Pharamund (son of of The East Franks, Duke Marcomir II and de Lombardy, Hatilde) was born in 370 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died on 27 Apr 427 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried in May 427 in Kingdom of the Salian Franks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: LZ86-1NG
• Appointments / Titles: 450; King of the Salien Franks at Tournai

Notes:

Merovech is the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Salian Franks (although either Childeric I, his supposed son, or Clovis I, his supposed grandson, also can be considered the founder), which later became the dominant Frankish tribe. He is proposed to be one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Gaul.

The family of Childeric and Clovis, the first Frankish large-scale royal dynasty called themselves Merovingians ("descendants of Meroveus") after him, and this was known to historians in the following centuries, but no more contemporary evidence exists. The most important such written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France.

The name "Merovech" is related to Marwig, lit. "famed fight" (compare modern Dutch mare "news, rumour"/vermaard "famous" as well as "(ge)vecht," "fight" with" -vech)."

There is little information about him in the later histories of the Franks. Gregory of Tours named him only once as the father of Childeric I, but remained vague about his relationship to Chlodio. The "Chronicle of Fredegar" recounts that Merovech was born after Chlodio's wife encountered a sea creature while bathing in the sea; according to Fredegar it remained unclear whether Merovech's father was the creature or Chlodio. Another theory considers this legend to be the creation of a mythological past needed to back up the fast-rising Frankish rule in Western Europe.

Clodio is said to have been defeated by Flavius Aëtius at Vicus Helena in Artois in 448. Historian Ian S. Wood therefore would place his son somewhere in the second half of the fifth century.

A contemporary Roman historian, Priscus, writes of having witnessed in Rome a "lad without down on his cheeks as yet and with fair hair so long that it poured down his shoulders, Aetius had made him his adopted son," Priscus writes that the excuse Attila used for waging war on the Franks was the death of their king and the disagreement of his children over the succession, the elder being allied with Attila and the younger with Aetius. As Chlodio died just before Attila's invasion, this seems to suggest that Merovech was in fact Chlodio's son.

The legend about Merovech's conception was adapted in 1982 by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln in their book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," as the seed of a new idea. They hypothesized that this "descended from a fish" legend actually referred to the concept that the Merovingian line had married into the bloodline of Jesus Christ, since the symbol for early Christians also had been a fish. This theory, with no other basis than the authors' hypothesis, was further popularized in 2003 via Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "The Da Vinci Code." However, there was no evidence for this claim that Merovech is descended from Jesus.

The identity and historicity of Merovech is one of the driving mysteries in "The Widow’s Son," second book of Robert Anton Wilson’s "The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles," first introducing the fish legend to the reader by having the early Merovingians appear in a vision as a hideous fish creature resembling H. P. Lovecraft’s Deep Ones, before settling on a variation on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," which goes a step further by identifying Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the bridegroom and bride in "The Alchemical Marriage of Christian Rosycross" and Merovech as the titular Widow's Son from Masonic lore and positing that the entire bloodline is descended from alien-human hybrids.

-- Wikiwand: Merovech

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Chlodeswinthe Verica. Chlodeswinthe was born in 418 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 449. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the Ostrogoths
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Vandals
• FSID: LZNR-Y21
• Life Event: 523; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Notes:

Amalafrida or Amalfrède, was Queen of the Vandals and African Alans. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths of Italy, and the wife of Thrasamund, King of the Vandals from 496 to 523.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THIS LINE THERE ARE ADDITIONAL RECORDS ATTACHED TO READ ONLY FILES

From Wikipedia-

Amalafrida was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom were kings of the Ostrogoths.

In 500, to further cement his authority over the Vandals, Theodoric arranged a marriage alliance with Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, who became Amalfrida's second husband. She brought a very large dowry, but also 5,000 Gothic troops.[1]

After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert.[2]

In 523, Amalafrida's party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony; he also had her Gothic troops killed. She died in prison, exact date unknown.[3]
Amalafrida had two children, the aforementioned Theodahad and Amalaberga, who married Hermanfrid, king of the Thuringii. It is not known who the father of these children was.
********************

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

AMALAFRIDA (-murdered [523/25]). Iordanes names "Amalfridam germanam suam [Theoderici]" as the mother of "Theodehadi" and wife of "Africa regi Vandalorum…Thrasamundo"[237].

Emperor Zeno used her as ambassador to her half-brother in 487 to thwart his attack on Constantinople[238]. Her second marriage was arranged by her half-brother, Theodoric King of Italy, as part of his efforts to foster the support of the Vandals. Amalafrida's dowry was Lilybæum in western Sicily[239].

After the death of her husband, she unsuccessfully protested his successor's withdrawal of support from her brother, but she was outmanœuvred and killed[240].

m firstly [HUGO ---] (-before 500). The Widukindi Res Gestæ Saxonicæ names "Huga rex Francorum…unicam filiam Amalbergam" who married "Irminfredo regi Thuringorum"[241], but there is no indication to whom "Huga rex Francorum" could refer.

m secondly ([500]) THRASAMUND, King of the Vandals, son of [GENTO the Vandal or GELIMER the Vandal]

Summary
Relationships
Parents:
Father: Theodemir or Thiudimir, Co-King of the Ostrogoths (451-468), King of the Ostrogoths (468-474)
Mother: Unknown wife (not Ereleuva, Theodemir's concubine)
Half-Siblings (children of Ereleuva):
1. Theoderic I (b. c451), King of the Ostrogoths (474 - 30 August 526)
2. Theodimund (fl. 479)
3. Unknown daughter (d. c479)
Spouses and children:

First Husband: Hugo Rex Francorum (Peter Heather from the English Wikipedia page apparently does not identify this individual, but FMG does)

1. Theodahad, King of Italy (d. December 536, murdered by his own men mid-flight from battle near Rome toward Ravenna, m. Gudeliva and had two children)

2. Amalaberga, Queen of the Thuringians (510-534, m. Hermanafred, King of the Thuringians, died after 534 in Ravenna)

Second Husband: Thrasamund (b. before 460), King of the Vandals (496-523)
Basic information:
Birth: 455/460 according to Mittelalter Genealogie. The Ostrogoths under her father didn't leave Pannonia until 473, so this is likely her birth location.
Baptism: Unknown, but Arian Christian
Marriage:
1. Before 500 - Hugo Rex Francorum
2. 500 - Thrasamund, King of the Vandals
Death: 525 - imprisoned in Carthago
Burial: Unknown
Occupation:
Before 500, wife of Hugo Rex Francorum
500-523, Queen of the Vandals, or wife of King Thrasamund of the Vandal
523-525, prisoner in Carthago.
Alternate Names: Amalafrida, Amalfrida, Amalafréde

523 AD; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Amalafrida married of The Vandals, King Thrasamund in 500. Thrasamund was born in 456 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; died on 13 Jun 523 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; was buried in 575 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Franks
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Salian Franks
• FSID: LZGG-LSG
• Occupation: Princess of Cimbri

Notes:

She is said to have descended from people of this area. Cimbri is the area now known as the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark-

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Rois" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM.

Birth: about 376; Sicambria, Western Europe, France.
Death: about 438; Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Prussia, Germany.

Argotta "la Mère de tout les Roys" des Francs
French: Argote des Cimbres, Swedish: Argotta av Westphalia (av Östfrankerna)

Also Known As: "Argotta Queen of the (Salic) Franks", "De Thuringia", "Kings Of France", "wife of The King of the Franks", "wife of the King of Westphalia", "Argotta av Friesland", "Argotta Sicambria", "Mother of all the kings of France", "Princess of Sicambrai", "Argotta Rosamonde"

Birthdate: circa 376
Birthplace: Frankish Territory [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]
Death: circa 438 (54-70)
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Immediate Family:

Daughter of Genebald II, duke of the East Franks and Athildis de Camulod

Wife of Pharamond, king of the Franks and Théodémir, King of the Franks at Thérouanne

Mother of Fredemundus; Clodius de Cologne, VI; Adalbertus de Cologne; Chararic (Guerric) de Tongres; Sigebert De Soissons, King de Cologne; Weldelphus; Frotmund; Mérovée I de France; Erlicia Erelieve de Cologne; Basina de Cologne; Chlodégar, king of the Salian Francs at Cologne.

Sister of Amalaberge of the Franks and Dagobert, Duke of the East Franks

Occupation: Queen of the Franks, ABT 0376, Koningin van de Franken, Princesse, des Cimbres, Princess France/Sicambrian Heiress, , Princess of the Salic Franks, Queen of the Salic Franks, Queen of Franks, Queen of the Salian Franks, MSD2-MQM

Family/Spouse: of the Francs, King Pharamund. Pharamund (son of of The East Franks, Duke Marcomir II and de Lombardy, Hatilde) was born in 370 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died on 27 Apr 427 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried in May 427 in Kingdom of the Salian Franks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: L8PY-CFB
• Appointments / Titles: Between 428 and 448; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Son of King Pharamond and Argotta Rosamund.
Father of King Meroveus

Biography: He is the oldest king of the Merovingian dynasty whose existence is certain.

Towards the middle of the 5th century, Clodion entered with his army into Roman territory from East of the Rhine (Allemagne) and seized the Cambrésis and the Southern Artois. He founded a small Frankish kingdom, which Clovis I inherited, and which was the embryo of the future kingdom of France.

Before the advent of Clodion and since 342, the Salian Franks are installed as foederatie inside the Roman Empire, in the North of Gaul, in Toxandrie, between the Moesan marshes, North of the current Maastricht, and the Charbonnière forest.

On January 17, 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. From 407, several Germanic peoples entered Gaul and settled there. The Visigoths founded a kingdom in Aquitaine, the Alans (non-Germanic people) took up their quarters near Orleans, the Burgundians and the Alamans settled along the Rhine. During the reign of Clodion, Valentinian III ruled the western part of the Roman Empire.

Clodion begins to reign around 428. He succeeds his father King Theodomir. He leads the people of the Salian Franks from its capital, the fortress of Dispargum, located east of the Rhine.
Towards 432, Clodion learns that the cities of the Roman province of Belgium secondus are defenseless: Aetius, Roman general charged with the defense of Gaul, took many soldiers from these territories to fight alternately the Burgundians, the Alans, the Rhenish Franks, the anti-tax revolts and the Visigoths. Clodion decides to mount an expedition and mobilizes his entire army. Crossing the Charbonnière forest, the Franks seized Tournai, carried Cambrai and Arras at the first assault and reduced the whole country from the surroundings to the Somme. More than easy pillaging, Clodion seeks to give his authority as a warrior king a territorial base. The occupation lasted a few years without Aetius trying to end it.

In 448, Clodion, who celebrated the wedding of an important member of his army in the village of Helena near Arras, was attacked by General Aetius and his lieutenant Majorien. The general wants to put back the Salian Franks who have annexed territories without his authorization. Clodion, not prepared for the confrontation, is forced to flee. But Aetius, who does not have the military means to occupy the territory again, prefers to renegotiate with Clodion and authorizes him to settle in the Empire, in this case on the territories they have already conquered in Arras , Cambrai and Tournai (its capital).
After more than twenty years of reign, Clodion died shortly before the year 451. According to Frankish custom, his kingdom was divided between his sons. The elder, undoubtedly Mérovée, obtains the city of Tournai and its region. A second heir obtains Cambrai and a third Tongeren.

Union and descendants: He married Hildegonde of Cologne who followed. The couple had several children, including:
- Mévovée Ier (411/457) king of the Franks, although few documents attest to his existence.
- Chlodebaud of Cologne (420/483), king of the Rhenish Franks,
- Lambert of Thérouanne (425/451) king of Thérouanne.

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Ildegonde. Ildegonde (daughter of of the Franks, Marcomir and de Lombardy, Ildegonde) was born in 399 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was christened in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: House of Heruli
• House: Ostrogoths
• FSID: LHW3-32S
• Religion: Catholic

Notes:

-- Wikiwand: Ereleuva

Ereleuva was the mother of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great. She often is referred to as the concubine of Theoderic's father, Theodemir, although historian Thomas Hodgkin notes "this word of reproach hardly does justice to her position. In many of the Teutonic nations, as among the Norsemen of a later century, there seems to have been a certain laxity as to the marriage rite..." That Gelasius refers to her as "regina" ("queen") suggests that she had a prominent social position despite the informality of her union with Theodemir.

Ereleuva was Catholic, and was baptized with the name "Eusebia." She had probably converted from Arianism as an adult, but the details are unclear in the historical record. Ereleuva is regarded as having taken to Catholicism quite seriously, as indicated by her correspondence with Pope Gelasius and mention of her in Ennodius's "Panegyric of Theoderic."

Her name was spelled variously by historians in antiquity as "Ereriliva" (by the fragmentary chronicle of Anonymus Valesianus, c. 527) and "Erelieva' (by Jordanes), and now largely is known to modern historians as "Ereleuva," as she was addressed most frequently by Pope Gelasius I. Related to the Erilaz from which the Heruli were tied with the Ostrogoths even after they returned to Scandinavia.
******************

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy-

Concubine: ERELEUVA [Erelieva]. She was baptised a Catholic as EUSEBIA[235]. Iordanes names "Erelieva concubina" as mother of Theodoric[236]. She went with her son to Italy.

Theodemir had three illegitimate children by his concubine:

461 AD; She accompanied her son when he was taken hostage to Constantinople in about 461

2. THEODORIC ([451][260]-30 Aug 526). Iordanes names "Theodericum" as son of Theodemir, in a later passage naming his mother "Erelieva concubina"[261]. He was proclaimed THEODORIC "the Great" King of Italy in Mar 493 after defeating King Odovacar.
- see below.

3. THEODIMUND. The primary source which names him has not yet been identified. He marched westwards to Durazzo with his brother in 479, leading one of the three marching columns[262].

4. daughter (-[479]). The primary source which records her existence has not yet been identified. She died about the time her half-brother marched westwards to Durazzo[263].

Family/Spouse: of the Ostrogoths, King Theodemir. Theodemir was born in 413; died in 471 in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingians
• FSID: LHNF-P2R
• Appointments / Titles: Between 458 and 481; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Childeric I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Childeric I
CHILDERICI REGIS.jpg
Copy of the signet ring of Childeric I (original stolen in 1831). Inscription CHILDIRICI REGIS ("of Childeric the king").[1] The original was found in his tomb at Tournai (Monnaie de Paris).
King of the Salian Franks
Reign 458–481
Predecessor Merovech
Successor Clovis I
Born c.437 [2]
Died c. 481[3]
Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Burial Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Spouse Basina of Thuringia
Issue
Clovis I
Audofleda
Lanthilde
Albofleda
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Merovech
Childeric I (/ˈkɪldərɪk/; French: Childéric; Latin: Childericus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hildirīk;[4] c. 437 – 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a King (Latin Rex), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired effective control over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul.

Contents
1 Biography
2 Marriage, children, and death
3 Tomb
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Biography
Childeric's father is recorded by several sources including Gregory of Tours to have been Merovech, whose name is the basis of the Merovingian dynasty.[5] Gregory reports that Merovech was reputed by some to be a descendant of Chlodio who was an earlier Frankish king who had conquered Roman Gaulish areas first in the Silva Carbonaria, then in Tournai, Cambrai and as far south as the Somme. This is roughly the definition of the Roman province of Belgica Secunda (approximately the "Belgium" defined by Julius Caesar centuries earlier, the region stretching from north of Paris to the Flemish coast) and later a letter of Saint Remigius to Childeric's son Clovis I implies that Childeric had been the administrative chief of this Roman province.

In records about specific actions of Childeric himself, he is mainly associated with the Roman military actions around the Loire river, where he appears in records involving the Gallo-Roman general Aegidius. According to Gregory of Tours, Childeric was exiled at some point, the reason being given as Frankish unhappiness with Childeric's debauchery and his seduction of the daughters of his subjects. Childeric spent eight years in exile in "Thuringia" waiting to make a return.[6] In the meantime, according to Gregory, Aegidius himself took up the title of king of the Franks. Upon his return Childeric was joined by the wife of his host, Queen Basina, who bore Childeric his son Clovis.[7]

Guy Halsall connects the story to Roman politics, Aegidius being an appointee of Majorian:

Although this is only one interpretation of the fragmentary sources, an eight-year period ending with Aegidius' death would allow us to associate Childeric's expulsion with Majorian's accession and appointment of Aegidius.[8] ... Majorian's commander on the Loire, Aegidius, refused to accept Severus as emperor. It is possible that, to legitimise his position, he took the title king of the Franks.[9]

Halsall (p. 269) speculates that Childeric probably began a Roman military career in the service of Flavius Aetius who defeated Attila in Gaul, and he points out that much of his military career appears to have played out far from the Frankish homelands. Ulrich Nonn (map p. 37, and pp. 99–100), following his teacher Eugen Ewig, believes that the exile story reflects a real sequence of events whereby Childeric was a leader of "Salian" or "Belgian" Franks based in the Romanized areas conquered by Chlodio, who were allies under the lordship of Aegidius, but eventually able to take over his power when he and his imperial patron died. (Childeric's son Clovis I later fought Aegidius' son Syagrius who was remembered as a King of Romans, and who had control of Soissons in the south of Belgica Secunda.)

In a passage normally considered to have come from a lost collection of annals, Gregory (II.18) gives a sequence of events which are very difficult to interpret. In 463 Childeric and Aegidius successfully repelled the Visigoths of Theodoric II from Orléans on the Loire. After the death of Aegidius soon after, Childeric and a comes ("count") Paul are recorded defending the Loire region from Saxon raiders, who were possibly coordinating with the Goths now under Euric. Childeric and Paul fought Saxons under the command of a leader named "Adovacrius" (sometimes given by modern authors in either an Anglo-Saxon spelling form, Eadwacer, or in a spelling the same as used for his contemporary the future King of Italy Odoacer, with whom he is sometimes equated). The origin of these "Saxons" is however unclear, and they are described as being based upon islands somewhere in the Loire region.

Detail of golden bees with garnet insets

Golden bee or fly jewelry from the tomb of Childeric I in Tournai. Drawn by Jacob van Werden and engraved by Cornelis Galle the Younger
Soon after this passage, Gregory of Tours (II.19) reports that Childeric coordinated with "Odovacrius", this time normally assumed to be the King of Italy, against Allemanni who had entered Italy. While some authors interpret these Allemani to be Alans, a people established in the Loire region in this period, there is no consensus on this, because the reference in this case is not apparently to events near the Loire.

Marriage, children, and death
Gregory of Tours, in his History of the Franks, mentions several siblings of Clovis within his narrative, apparently thus children of Childeric:

Clovis I (died 511), whose mother was Basina.
Audofleda, Queen of the Ostrogoths, wife of Theodoric the Great. Gregory III.31 also mentions their daughter Amalasuntha.
Lanthechild. Gregory II.31 mentions she had been an Arian but converted to Catholicism with Clovis.
Albofleda (died approximately 500). Gregory II.31 mentions that she died soon after being baptized with Clovis.
Childeric is generally considered to have died in 481 or 482 based on Gregory's reports that his son Clovis died in 511 and ruled 30 years.[10]

Tomb
Childeric's tomb was discovered in 1653[11] not far from the 12th-century church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, now in Belgium.[12] Numerous precious objects were found, including jewels of gold and garnet cloisonné, gold coins, a gold bull's head, and a ring with the king's name inscribed. Some 300 golden winged insects (usually viewed as bees or cicadas) were also found which had been placed on the king's cloak.[11] Archduke Leopold William, governor of the Southern Netherlands (today's Belgium), had the find published in Latin. The treasure went first to the Habsburgs in Vienna, then as a gift to King Louis XIV of France, who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library, which became the Bibliothèque Nationale de France during the Revolution. Napoleon was more impressed with Childeric's bees and when he was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Bourbon fleur-de-lys, he settled on Childeric's bees as symbols of the French Empire.

On the night of November 5–6, 1831, the treasure of Childeric was among 80 kg of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold. A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine, including two of the bees. The record of the treasure, however, now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs.[13]

Childeric married of Thüringia, Queen BasinaGermany. Basina (daughter of de Cologne, Medelphus and of Thüringia, Basina) was born in 445 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 491 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Saxony
• FSID: LYMW-THH

Notes:

Also of the vandals.

Family/Spouse: of Thüringia, Baderich. Baderich was born in 478 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 529 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: L8PY-CFB
• Appointments / Titles: Between 428 and 448; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Son of King Pharamond and Argotta Rosamund.
Father of King Meroveus

Biography: He is the oldest king of the Merovingian dynasty whose existence is certain.

Towards the middle of the 5th century, Clodion entered with his army into Roman territory from East of the Rhine (Allemagne) and seized the Cambrésis and the Southern Artois. He founded a small Frankish kingdom, which Clovis I inherited, and which was the embryo of the future kingdom of France.

Before the advent of Clodion and since 342, the Salian Franks are installed as foederatie inside the Roman Empire, in the North of Gaul, in Toxandrie, between the Moesan marshes, North of the current Maastricht, and the Charbonnière forest.

On January 17, 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. From 407, several Germanic peoples entered Gaul and settled there. The Visigoths founded a kingdom in Aquitaine, the Alans (non-Germanic people) took up their quarters near Orleans, the Burgundians and the Alamans settled along the Rhine. During the reign of Clodion, Valentinian III ruled the western part of the Roman Empire.

Clodion begins to reign around 428. He succeeds his father King Theodomir. He leads the people of the Salian Franks from its capital, the fortress of Dispargum, located east of the Rhine.
Towards 432, Clodion learns that the cities of the Roman province of Belgium secondus are defenseless: Aetius, Roman general charged with the defense of Gaul, took many soldiers from these territories to fight alternately the Burgundians, the Alans, the Rhenish Franks, the anti-tax revolts and the Visigoths. Clodion decides to mount an expedition and mobilizes his entire army. Crossing the Charbonnière forest, the Franks seized Tournai, carried Cambrai and Arras at the first assault and reduced the whole country from the surroundings to the Somme. More than easy pillaging, Clodion seeks to give his authority as a warrior king a territorial base. The occupation lasted a few years without Aetius trying to end it.

In 448, Clodion, who celebrated the wedding of an important member of his army in the village of Helena near Arras, was attacked by General Aetius and his lieutenant Majorien. The general wants to put back the Salian Franks who have annexed territories without his authorization. Clodion, not prepared for the confrontation, is forced to flee. But Aetius, who does not have the military means to occupy the territory again, prefers to renegotiate with Clodion and authorizes him to settle in the Empire, in this case on the territories they have already conquered in Arras , Cambrai and Tournai (its capital).
After more than twenty years of reign, Clodion died shortly before the year 451. According to Frankish custom, his kingdom was divided between his sons. The elder, undoubtedly Mérovée, obtains the city of Tournai and its region. A second heir obtains Cambrai and a third Tongeren.

Union and descendants: He married Hildegonde of Cologne who followed. The couple had several children, including:
- Mévovée Ier (411/457) king of the Franks, although few documents attest to his existence.
- Chlodebaud of Cologne (420/483), king of the Rhenish Franks,
- Lambert of Thérouanne (425/451) king of Thérouanne.

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Ildegonde. Ildegonde (daughter of of the Franks, Marcomir and de Lombardy, Ildegonde) was born in 399 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was christened in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 450 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: House of Heruli
• House: Ostrogoths
• FSID: LHW3-32S
• Religion: Catholic

Notes:

-- Wikiwand: Ereleuva

Ereleuva was the mother of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great. She often is referred to as the concubine of Theoderic's father, Theodemir, although historian Thomas Hodgkin notes "this word of reproach hardly does justice to her position. In many of the Teutonic nations, as among the Norsemen of a later century, there seems to have been a certain laxity as to the marriage rite..." That Gelasius refers to her as "regina" ("queen") suggests that she had a prominent social position despite the informality of her union with Theodemir.

Ereleuva was Catholic, and was baptized with the name "Eusebia." She had probably converted from Arianism as an adult, but the details are unclear in the historical record. Ereleuva is regarded as having taken to Catholicism quite seriously, as indicated by her correspondence with Pope Gelasius and mention of her in Ennodius's "Panegyric of Theoderic."

Her name was spelled variously by historians in antiquity as "Ereriliva" (by the fragmentary chronicle of Anonymus Valesianus, c. 527) and "Erelieva' (by Jordanes), and now largely is known to modern historians as "Ereleuva," as she was addressed most frequently by Pope Gelasius I. Related to the Erilaz from which the Heruli were tied with the Ostrogoths even after they returned to Scandinavia.
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Foundation for Medieval Genealogy-

Concubine: ERELEUVA [Erelieva]. She was baptised a Catholic as EUSEBIA[235]. Iordanes names "Erelieva concubina" as mother of Theodoric[236]. She went with her son to Italy.

Theodemir had three illegitimate children by his concubine:

461 AD; She accompanied her son when he was taken hostage to Constantinople in about 461

2. THEODORIC ([451][260]-30 Aug 526). Iordanes names "Theodericum" as son of Theodemir, in a later passage naming his mother "Erelieva concubina"[261]. He was proclaimed THEODORIC "the Great" King of Italy in Mar 493 after defeating King Odovacar.
- see below.

3. THEODIMUND. The primary source which names him has not yet been identified. He marched westwards to Durazzo with his brother in 479, leading one of the three marching columns[262].

4. daughter (-[479]). The primary source which records her existence has not yet been identified. She died about the time her half-brother marched westwards to Durazzo[263].

Family/Spouse: of the Ostrogoths, King Theodemir. Theodemir was born in 413; died in 471 in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: LZ86-1NG
• Appointments / Titles: 450; King of the Salien Franks at Tournai

Notes:

Merovech is the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Salian Franks (although either Childeric I, his supposed son, or Clovis I, his supposed grandson, also can be considered the founder), which later became the dominant Frankish tribe. He is proposed to be one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Gaul.

The family of Childeric and Clovis, the first Frankish large-scale royal dynasty called themselves Merovingians ("descendants of Meroveus") after him, and this was known to historians in the following centuries, but no more contemporary evidence exists. The most important such written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France.

The name "Merovech" is related to Marwig, lit. "famed fight" (compare modern Dutch mare "news, rumour"/vermaard "famous" as well as "(ge)vecht," "fight" with" -vech)."

There is little information about him in the later histories of the Franks. Gregory of Tours named him only once as the father of Childeric I, but remained vague about his relationship to Chlodio. The "Chronicle of Fredegar" recounts that Merovech was born after Chlodio's wife encountered a sea creature while bathing in the sea; according to Fredegar it remained unclear whether Merovech's father was the creature or Chlodio. Another theory considers this legend to be the creation of a mythological past needed to back up the fast-rising Frankish rule in Western Europe.

Clodio is said to have been defeated by Flavius Aëtius at Vicus Helena in Artois in 448. Historian Ian S. Wood therefore would place his son somewhere in the second half of the fifth century.

A contemporary Roman historian, Priscus, writes of having witnessed in Rome a "lad without down on his cheeks as yet and with fair hair so long that it poured down his shoulders, Aetius had made him his adopted son," Priscus writes that the excuse Attila used for waging war on the Franks was the death of their king and the disagreement of his children over the succession, the elder being allied with Attila and the younger with Aetius. As Chlodio died just before Attila's invasion, this seems to suggest that Merovech was in fact Chlodio's son.

The legend about Merovech's conception was adapted in 1982 by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln in their book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," as the seed of a new idea. They hypothesized that this "descended from a fish" legend actually referred to the concept that the Merovingian line had married into the bloodline of Jesus Christ, since the symbol for early Christians also had been a fish. This theory, with no other basis than the authors' hypothesis, was further popularized in 2003 via Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "The Da Vinci Code." However, there was no evidence for this claim that Merovech is descended from Jesus.

The identity and historicity of Merovech is one of the driving mysteries in "The Widow’s Son," second book of Robert Anton Wilson’s "The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles," first introducing the fish legend to the reader by having the early Merovingians appear in a vision as a hideous fish creature resembling H. P. Lovecraft’s Deep Ones, before settling on a variation on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," which goes a step further by identifying Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the bridegroom and bride in "The Alchemical Marriage of Christian Rosycross" and Merovech as the titular Widow's Son from Masonic lore and positing that the entire bloodline is descended from alien-human hybrids.

-- Wikiwand: Merovech

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Chlodeswinthe Verica. Chlodeswinthe was born in 418 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 449. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the Ostrogoths
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Vandals
• FSID: LZNR-Y21
• Life Event: 523; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Notes:

Amalafrida or Amalfrède, was Queen of the Vandals and African Alans. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths of Italy, and the wife of Thrasamund, King of the Vandals from 496 to 523.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THIS LINE THERE ARE ADDITIONAL RECORDS ATTACHED TO READ ONLY FILES

From Wikipedia-

Amalafrida was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom were kings of the Ostrogoths.

In 500, to further cement his authority over the Vandals, Theodoric arranged a marriage alliance with Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, who became Amalfrida's second husband. She brought a very large dowry, but also 5,000 Gothic troops.[1]

After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert.[2]

In 523, Amalafrida's party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony; he also had her Gothic troops killed. She died in prison, exact date unknown.[3]
Amalafrida had two children, the aforementioned Theodahad and Amalaberga, who married Hermanfrid, king of the Thuringii. It is not known who the father of these children was.
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Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

AMALAFRIDA (-murdered [523/25]). Iordanes names "Amalfridam germanam suam [Theoderici]" as the mother of "Theodehadi" and wife of "Africa regi Vandalorum…Thrasamundo"[237].

Emperor Zeno used her as ambassador to her half-brother in 487 to thwart his attack on Constantinople[238]. Her second marriage was arranged by her half-brother, Theodoric King of Italy, as part of his efforts to foster the support of the Vandals. Amalafrida's dowry was Lilybæum in western Sicily[239].

After the death of her husband, she unsuccessfully protested his successor's withdrawal of support from her brother, but she was outmanœuvred and killed[240].

m firstly [HUGO ---] (-before 500). The Widukindi Res Gestæ Saxonicæ names "Huga rex Francorum…unicam filiam Amalbergam" who married "Irminfredo regi Thuringorum"[241], but there is no indication to whom "Huga rex Francorum" could refer.

m secondly ([500]) THRASAMUND, King of the Vandals, son of [GENTO the Vandal or GELIMER the Vandal]

Summary
Relationships
Parents:
Father: Theodemir or Thiudimir, Co-King of the Ostrogoths (451-468), King of the Ostrogoths (468-474)
Mother: Unknown wife (not Ereleuva, Theodemir's concubine)
Half-Siblings (children of Ereleuva):
1. Theoderic I (b. c451), King of the Ostrogoths (474 - 30 August 526)
2. Theodimund (fl. 479)
3. Unknown daughter (d. c479)
Spouses and children:

First Husband: Hugo Rex Francorum (Peter Heather from the English Wikipedia page apparently does not identify this individual, but FMG does)

1. Theodahad, King of Italy (d. December 536, murdered by his own men mid-flight from battle near Rome toward Ravenna, m. Gudeliva and had two children)

2. Amalaberga, Queen of the Thuringians (510-534, m. Hermanafred, King of the Thuringians, died after 534 in Ravenna)

Second Husband: Thrasamund (b. before 460), King of the Vandals (496-523)
Basic information:
Birth: 455/460 according to Mittelalter Genealogie. The Ostrogoths under her father didn't leave Pannonia until 473, so this is likely her birth location.
Baptism: Unknown, but Arian Christian
Marriage:
1. Before 500 - Hugo Rex Francorum
2. 500 - Thrasamund, King of the Vandals
Death: 525 - imprisoned in Carthago
Burial: Unknown
Occupation:
Before 500, wife of Hugo Rex Francorum
500-523, Queen of the Vandals, or wife of King Thrasamund of the Vandal
523-525, prisoner in Carthago.
Alternate Names: Amalafrida, Amalfrida, Amalafréde

523 AD; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Amalafrida married of The Vandals, King Thrasamund in 500. Thrasamund was born in 456 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; died on 13 Jun 523 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; was buried in 575 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: LV44-2HT

Notes:

Clovis I

King of the Franks
Reign c. 509 – 27 November 511
King of the Salian Franks
Reign 481 – c. 509
Predecessor Childeric I
Born c. 466
Tournai, Roman Empire (present-day Belgium)
Died 27 November 511 (aged about 45)
Paris, Francia
Burial Originally St. Genevieve Church; now Saint-Denis Basilica
Spouse Clotilde
Issue
Ingomer
Chlodomer
Childebert I
Chlothar I
Clotilde
Theuderic I
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Childeric I
Mother Basina of Thuringia
Religion Initially Frankish paganism, but later converted to Catholic Christianity
vte
Campaigns of Clovis I
Clovis (Latin: Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hlōdowig;[1] c. 466 – 27 November 511)[2] was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of royal chieftains to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs.[3] He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries.

Clovis succeeded his father, Childeric I, as a king of Salian Franks within the Roman empire in 481, and eventually came to rule an area extending from what is now the southern Netherlands to northern France, corresponding in Roman terms to Gallia Belgica (northern Gaul). At the Battle of Soissons (486) he established his military dominance of the rump state of the fragmenting Western Roman Empire which was then under the command of Syagrius. By the time of his death in either 511 or 513, Clovis had conquered several smaller Frankish tribes in the northeast of Gaul or modern day France. Clovis also conquered the Alemanni tribes in eastern Gaul, and the Visigothic kingdom of Aquitania in the southwest. These campaigns had added significantly to Clovis's domains, and established his dynasty as a major political and military presence in western europe.

Clovis is important in the historiography of France as "the first king of what would become France".[4]

Clovis is also significant due to his conversion to Catholicism in 496, largely at the behest of his wife, Clotilde, who would later be venerated as a saint for this act, celebrated today in both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508.[5] The adoption by Clovis of Catholicism (as opposed to the Arianism of most other Germanic tribes) led to widespread conversion among the Frankish peoples; to religious unification across what is now modern-day France, Belgium and Germany; three centuries later, to Charlemagne's alliance with the Bishop of Rome; and in the middle of the 10th century under Otto I the Great, to the consequent birth of the early Holy Roman Empire.

Contents
1 Name
2 Background
3 Early reign (481–491)
3.1 Road to Soissons
3.2 Taming Gaul
4 Middle reign (492–506)
4.1 Barbarian bonding
4.2 Assault of the Alamanni
4.3 Business in Burgundy
4.4 Armonici allies
5 Late reign (507–511)
5.1 Visiting the Visigoths
5.2 Ravishing the Reguli
5.3 Death
6 Baptism
7 Roman Law
8 Legacy
9 Chronology
10 References
11 External links
Name
The name is reconstructed in Frankish as *Hlod(o)wig, composed of the elements hlod ("fame, glory") and wig ("combat, battle").[1]

It is at the origin of the French given name Louis (variant Ludovic), borne by 18 kings of France, through the Latinized form Hludovicus (variants Ludhovicus, Lodhuvicus, Chlodovicus).[1] In Middle Dutch, a Franconian language closely related to Frankish, the name was rendered as Lodewijch, (modern Dutch Lodewijk).[6]

In modern German the name became Ludwig (although the king himself is named Chlodwig in German); in Spanish, Luis; in Italian, Luigi; and in English, Lewis.

Background
Clovis was the son of Childeric I, a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks, and Basina, a Thuringian princess. It was his supposed ancestor, Merovich, for which his Merovingian dynasty is named. Clovis succeeded his father to become king at the age of 15 in 481, as deduced from Gregory of Tours placing the Battle of Tolbiac (Zülpich) in the fifteenth year of Clovis's reign.

Numerous small Frankish petty kingdoms existed during the 5th century. The Salian Franks were the first known Frankish tribe that settled with official Roman permission within the empire, first in Batavia in the Rhine-Maas delta, and then in 375 in Toxandria, roughly the current province of North Brabant in the Netherlands and parts of neighbouring Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Limburg in current Belgium. This put them in the north part of the Roman civitas Tungrorum, with Romanized population still dominant south of the military highway Boulogne-Cologne. Later, Chlodio seems to have attacked westwards from this area to take control of the Roman populations in Tournai, then southwards to Artois, and Cambrai, eventually controlling an area stretching to the Somme river.

Childeric I, Clovis's father, was reputed to be a relative of Chlodio, and was known as the king of the Franks that fought as an army within northern Gaul. In 463 he fought in conjunction with Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul, to defeat the Visigoths in Orléans. Childeric died in 481 and was buried in Tournai; Clovis succeeded him as king, aged just 15. Historians believe that Childeric and Clovis were both commanders of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda and were subordinate to the magister militum.[7] The Franks of Tournai came to dominate their neighbours, initially aided by the association with Aegidius.[8]

The death of Flavius Aetius in 454 led to the decline of imperial power in the Gaul; leaving the Visigoths and the Burgundians compete for predominance in the area. The part of Gaul still under Roman control emerged as a kingdom under Syagrius, Aegidius' son.[9]

Early reign (481–491)
Road to Soissons
See also: Battle of Soissons (486)
The ruler of Tournai died in 481 and was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son, Clovis. His band of warriors probably numbered no more than half a thousand. In 486 he began his efforts to expand the realm by allying himself with his relative, Ragnachar, regulus of Cambrai[10] and another Frankish regulus, Chalaric. Together the triumvirate marched against Syagrius and met the Gallo-Roman commander at Soissons. During the battle Chalaric betrayed his comrades by refusing to take part in the fighting.[11] Despite the betrayal, the Franks landed a decisive victory, forcing Syagrius to flee to the court of Alaric II.[10] This battle is viewed as bringing about the end of the rump state of the Western Roman Empire outside of Italy.[12] Following the battle, Clovis invaded the traitor Chararic's territory and was able to imprison him and his son.[11]

Taming Gaul
See also: Frankish-Thuringian campaign (491)

Conquests of Clovis between 481 and 511
Prior to the battle, Clovis did not enjoy the support of the Gallo-Roman clergy, hence he proceeded to pillage the Roman territory, including the churches. Quickly, the Bishop of Reims requested Clovis to return everything taken from the Church of Reims, the young king aspired to establish cordial relationships with the clergy and returned a valuable ewer taken from Reims.[13] Despite his position, some Roman cities refused to yield to the Franks, namely Verdun‒which surrendered after a brief siege‒and Paris, which stubbornly resisted a few years, perhaps as many as five.[10] He made Paris his capital[14] and established an abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the Seine.[15]

Clovis came to the realisation that he wouldn't be able to rule Gaul without the help of the clergy and aimed to please the clergy by taking a Catholic wife.[13] He also integrated many of Syagrius' units into his own army. The Roman kingdom was probably under Clovis' control by 491, because in the same year Clovis successfully moved against a small number of Thuringians in the eastern Gaul, near the Burgundian border.[16]

Middle reign (492–506)
Barbarian bonding
See also: Audofleda
Around 493 AD, he secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great.[14] In the same year, nearby King of the Burgundians was slain by his brother, Gundobad; bringing a civil turmoil to the kingdom. Gundobad proceeded to drown his sister-in-law and force his niece, Chrona to a convent, yet his other niece, Clotilde managed to flee to the court of her other uncle, Godegisel. Now, finding himself from a precarious position Godegisel decided to ally Clovis by marrying his exiled niece to the Frankish king.[17]

Assault of the Alamanni
See also: Battle of Tolbiac

Clovis I leading the Franks to victory in the Battle of Tolbiac, in Ary Scheffer's 1836 painting
In 496 the Alamanni invaded, some Salians and Ripuarians reguli defected to their side. Clovis met his enemies near the strong fort of Tolbiac. During the fighting, the Franks suffered heavy losses and Clovis (+three thousand Frankish companions) might have converted to Christianity.[18] With the help of the Ripuarian Franks he narrowly defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac in 496.[14] Now Christian, Clovis confined his prisoners, Chararic and his son to a monastery.[11]

Business in Burgundy
See also: Franco-Visigothic Wars § Burgundian_civil_war_(500–501)
In 500 or 501 the relationship between the Burgundian brothers took the turn to the worse began scheming against his brother. He promised his brother-in-law territory and annual tribute for defeating his brother. He seduced his brother-in-law with the promises of territory and annual tribute for deposing his brother; Clovis was eager to subdue the political threat to his realm and crossed to the Burgundian territory. After hearing about the incident Gundobad moved against Clovis and called his brother. The three armies met near Dijon, where both the Franks and Godegisel's forces defeated the host of dumbfounded Gundobad, who was able to escape to Avignon. Clovis proceeded to follow to the Burgundian king and laid siege to the city, however, after some months he was convinced to abandon the siege and settled for an annual tributary from Gundobad.[19]

Armonici allies
In 501, 502 or 503 Clovis led his troops to Armorica. He had previously restricted his operations to minor raids, yet, this time the goal was subjugation. Clovis' failed to complete his objective via military means, therefore, he was constrained to statecraft, which proved fruitful for the Armonici shared Clovis' disdain for the Arian Visigoths. And thus Armorica and her fighters were integrated into Frankish realm.[20]

Late reign (507–511)
Visiting the Visigoths
See also: Franco-Visigothic Wars § Second Franco-Visigothic war (507–508)

Frankish territories at the time of Clovis's death in 511
In 507 Clovis was allowed by the magnates of his realm to invade the remaining threat of the Kingdom of the Visigoths.[21] King Alaric had previously tried to establish a cordial relationship with Clovis by serving him the head of exiled Syagrius on a silver plate in 486 or 487.[10] However, Clovis was no longer able to resist the temptation to move against the Visigoths for many Catholics under Visigoth yoke were unhappy and implored Clovis to make a move. [22] But just to be absolutely certain about retaining the loyalties of the Catholics under Visigoths, Clovis ordered his troops to omit raiding and plunder, for this was not a foreign invasion, but a liberation.[21]

Armonici assisted him in defeating the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507, eliminating Visigothic power in Gaul. The battle added most of Aquitaine to Clovis's kingdom[14] and resulted in the death of the Visigothic king Alaric II.

According to Gregory of Tours, following the battle, the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I granted Clovis the title of consul. Since Clovis's name does not appear in the consular lists, it is likely he was granted a suffect consulship.[citation needed]

Ravishing the Reguli
In 507, following Vouillé, Clovis heard about Chararic's plan to escape from his monastic prison and had him murdered.[11]

In the same year, Clovis convinced Prince Chlodoric to murder his father, earning him his nickname. Following the murder, Clovis betrayed Chlodoric and had his envoys strike him down. [23]

In 509, Clovis visited his old ally, Ragnachar in Cambrai. Following his conversion, many of his pagan retainers had defected to Ragnachar's side, making him a political threat. Ragnachar denied Clovis's entry, prompting Clovis to make a move against him. He bribed Ragnachar's retainers and soon, Ragnachar and his brother, Ricchar were captured and executed.[24]

Death

The partition of the Frankish kingdom among the four sons of Clovis with Clotilde presiding, Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis (Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse)
Shortly before his death, Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet in Orléans to reform the Church and create a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate. This was the First Council of Orléans. Thirty-three bishops assisted and passed 31 decrees on the duties and obligations of individuals, the right of sanctuary, and ecclesiastical discipline. These decrees, equally applicable to Franks and Romans, first established equality between conquerors and conquered.

Clovis I is traditionally said to have died on 27 November 511; however, the Liber Pontificalis suggests that he was still alive in 513, so the exact date of his death is not known.[25] After his death, Clovis was laid to rest in the Abbey of St Genevieve in Paris. His remains were relocated to Saint Denis Basilica in the mid- to late-18th century.

When Clovis died, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Clotaire. This partition created the new political units of the Kingdoms of Rheims, Orléans, Paris and Soissons, and inaugurated a tradition that would lead to disunity lasting until the end of the Merovingian dynasty in 751. Clovis had been a king with no fixed capital and no central administration beyond his entourage. By deciding to be interred at Paris, Clovis gave the city symbolic weight. When his grandchildren divided royal power 50 years after his death in 511, Paris was kept as a joint property and a fixed symbol of the dynasty.[26]

The disunity continued under the Carolingians until, after a brief unity under Charlemagne, the Franks splintered into distinct spheres of cultural influence that coalesced around Eastern and Western centers of royal power. These later political, linguistic, and cultural entities became the Kingdom of France, the myriad German States, and the semi-autonomous kingdoms of Burgundy and Lotharingia.

Baptism

Tomb of Clovis I at the Basilica of St Denis in Saint Denis
Clovis was born a pagan but later became interested in converting to Arian Christianity, whose followers believed that Jesus was a distinct and separate being from God the Father, both subordinate to and created by Him. This contrasted Nicene Christianity, whose followers believe that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons of one being (consubstantiality). While the theology of the Arians was declared a heresy at the First Council of Nicea in 325, the missionary work of Bishop Ulfilas converted the pagan Goths to Arian Christianity in the 4th century. By the time of the ascension of Clovis, Gothic Arians dominated Christian Gaul, and Catholics were in the minority.

Clovis's wife Clotilde, a Burgundian princess, was a Catholic despite the Arianism that surrounded her at court.[27] Her persistence eventually persuaded Clovis to convert to Catholicism, which he initially resisted. Clotilde had wanted her son to be baptized, but Clovis refused, so she had the child baptized without Clovis's knowledge. Shortly after his baptism, their son died, which further strengthened Clovis's resistance to conversion. Clotilde also had their second son baptized without her husband's permission, and this son became ill and nearly died after his baptism.[28] Clovis eventually converted to Catholicism following the Battle of Tolbiac on Christmas Day 508[29][30] in a small church in the vicinity of the subsequent Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims; a statue of his baptism by Saint Remigius can still be seen there. The details of this event have been passed down by Gregory of Tours, who recorded them many years later in the 6th century.

The king's Catholic baptism was of immense importance in the subsequent history of Western and Central Europe in general, as Clovis expanded his dominion over almost all of Gaul. Catholicism offered certain advantages to Clovis as he fought to distinguish his rule among many competing power centers in Western Europe. His conversion to the Roman Catholic form of Christianity served to set him apart from the other Germanic kings of his time, such as those of the Visigoths and the Vandals, who had converted from Germanic paganism to Arian Christianity. His embrace of the Roman Catholic faith may have also gained him the support of the Catholic Gallo-Roman aristocracy in his later campaign against the Visigoths, which drove them from southern Gaul in 507 and resulted in a great many of his people converting to Catholicism as well.[31]

On the other hand, Bernard Bachrach has argued that his conversion from Frankish paganism alienated many of the other Frankish sub-kings and weakened his military position over the next few years. In the interpretatio romana, Saint Gregory of Tours gave the Germanic gods that Clovis abandoned the names of roughly equivalent Roman gods, such as Jupiter and Mercury.[32] William Daly, more directly assessing Clovis's allegedly barbaric and pagan origins,[33] ignored the Gregory of Tours version and based his account on the scant earlier sources, a sixth-century "vita" of Saint Genevieve and letters to or concerning Clovis from bishops and Theodoric.

Clovis and his wife were buried in the Abbey of St Genevieve (St. Pierre) in Paris; the original name of the church was the Church of the Holy Apostles.[34]

Roman Law
Main article: Lex Salica
Under Clovis, the first codification of the Salian Frank law took place. The Roman Law was written with the assistance of Gallo-Romans to reflect the Salic legal tradition and Christianity, while containing much from Roman tradition. The Roman Law lists various crimes as well as the fines associated with them.[35]

Legacy

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The legacy of Clovis's conquests, a Frankish kingdom that included most of Roman Gaul and parts of western Germany, survived long after his death.[36] To the French people, he is the founder of France.

Detracting, perhaps, from this legacy, is his aforementioned division of the state. This was done not along national or even largely geographical lines, but primarily to assure equal income amongst his sons after his death. While it may or may not have been his intention, this division was the cause of much internal discord in Gaul. This precedent led in the long run to the fall of his dynasty, for it was a pattern repeated in future reigns.[37] Clovis did bequeath to his heirs the support of both people and Church such that, when the magnates were ready to do away with the royal house, the sanction of the Pope was sought first.

By his conversion to Christianity he made himself the ally of the papacy and its protector as well as that of the people, who were mostly Catholics.

Clovis I, (born c. 466—died November 27, 511, Paris, France), king of the Franks and ruler of much of Gaul from 481 to 511, a key period during the transformation of the Roman Empire into Europe. His dynasty, the Merovingians, survived more than 200 years, until the rise of the Carolingians in the 8th century. While he was not the first Frankish king, he was the kingdom’s political and religious founder.

Family/Spouse: de France, Saint Clotilda. Clotilda was born in 474 in Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France; died in 545 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France; was buried on 3 Jun 548 in Abbey of St. Genevieve, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Thuringa Queen Consort of the Franks
• FSID: GW9Q-W3X

Aregunda married of the Franks, King Clothar in 533. Clothar (son of of the Franks, King of France Clovis I and de France, Saint Clotilda) was born in 497 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was christened in 497 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 29 Nov 561 in Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France; was buried on 31 Dec 561 in Abbey of Saint-Médard de Soissons, Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: LZ86-1NG
• Appointments / Titles: 450; King of the Salien Franks at Tournai

Notes:

Merovech is the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Salian Franks (although either Childeric I, his supposed son, or Clovis I, his supposed grandson, also can be considered the founder), which later became the dominant Frankish tribe. He is proposed to be one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Gaul.

The family of Childeric and Clovis, the first Frankish large-scale royal dynasty called themselves Merovingians ("descendants of Meroveus") after him, and this was known to historians in the following centuries, but no more contemporary evidence exists. The most important such written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France.

The name "Merovech" is related to Marwig, lit. "famed fight" (compare modern Dutch mare "news, rumour"/vermaard "famous" as well as "(ge)vecht," "fight" with" -vech)."

There is little information about him in the later histories of the Franks. Gregory of Tours named him only once as the father of Childeric I, but remained vague about his relationship to Chlodio. The "Chronicle of Fredegar" recounts that Merovech was born after Chlodio's wife encountered a sea creature while bathing in the sea; according to Fredegar it remained unclear whether Merovech's father was the creature or Chlodio. Another theory considers this legend to be the creation of a mythological past needed to back up the fast-rising Frankish rule in Western Europe.

Clodio is said to have been defeated by Flavius Aëtius at Vicus Helena in Artois in 448. Historian Ian S. Wood therefore would place his son somewhere in the second half of the fifth century.

A contemporary Roman historian, Priscus, writes of having witnessed in Rome a "lad without down on his cheeks as yet and with fair hair so long that it poured down his shoulders, Aetius had made him his adopted son," Priscus writes that the excuse Attila used for waging war on the Franks was the death of their king and the disagreement of his children over the succession, the elder being allied with Attila and the younger with Aetius. As Chlodio died just before Attila's invasion, this seems to suggest that Merovech was in fact Chlodio's son.

The legend about Merovech's conception was adapted in 1982 by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln in their book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," as the seed of a new idea. They hypothesized that this "descended from a fish" legend actually referred to the concept that the Merovingian line had married into the bloodline of Jesus Christ, since the symbol for early Christians also had been a fish. This theory, with no other basis than the authors' hypothesis, was further popularized in 2003 via Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "The Da Vinci Code." However, there was no evidence for this claim that Merovech is descended from Jesus.

The identity and historicity of Merovech is one of the driving mysteries in "The Widow’s Son," second book of Robert Anton Wilson’s "The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles," first introducing the fish legend to the reader by having the early Merovingians appear in a vision as a hideous fish creature resembling H. P. Lovecraft’s Deep Ones, before settling on a variation on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," which goes a step further by identifying Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the bridegroom and bride in "The Alchemical Marriage of Christian Rosycross" and Merovech as the titular Widow's Son from Masonic lore and positing that the entire bloodline is descended from alien-human hybrids.

-- Wikiwand: Merovech

Family/Spouse: de Cologne, Chlodeswinthe Verica. Chlodeswinthe was born in 418 in Cologne, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died in 449. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of the Ostrogoths
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of the Vandals
• FSID: LZNR-Y21
• Life Event: 523; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Notes:

Amalafrida or Amalfrède, was Queen of the Vandals and African Alans. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths of Italy, and the wife of Thrasamund, King of the Vandals from 496 to 523.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THIS LINE THERE ARE ADDITIONAL RECORDS ATTACHED TO READ ONLY FILES

From Wikipedia-

Amalafrida was the daughter of Theodemir, king of the Ostrogoths, and his wife Erelieva. She was the sister of Theodoric the Great, and mother of Theodahad, both of whom were kings of the Ostrogoths.

In 500, to further cement his authority over the Vandals, Theodoric arranged a marriage alliance with Thrasamund, king of the Vandals, who became Amalfrida's second husband. She brought a very large dowry, but also 5,000 Gothic troops.[1]

After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert.[2]

In 523, Amalafrida's party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony; he also had her Gothic troops killed. She died in prison, exact date unknown.[3]
Amalafrida had two children, the aforementioned Theodahad and Amalaberga, who married Hermanfrid, king of the Thuringii. It is not known who the father of these children was.
********************

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

AMALAFRIDA (-murdered [523/25]). Iordanes names "Amalfridam germanam suam [Theoderici]" as the mother of "Theodehadi" and wife of "Africa regi Vandalorum…Thrasamundo"[237].

Emperor Zeno used her as ambassador to her half-brother in 487 to thwart his attack on Constantinople[238]. Her second marriage was arranged by her half-brother, Theodoric King of Italy, as part of his efforts to foster the support of the Vandals. Amalafrida's dowry was Lilybæum in western Sicily[239].

After the death of her husband, she unsuccessfully protested his successor's withdrawal of support from her brother, but she was outmanœuvred and killed[240].

m firstly [HUGO ---] (-before 500). The Widukindi Res Gestæ Saxonicæ names "Huga rex Francorum…unicam filiam Amalbergam" who married "Irminfredo regi Thuringorum"[241], but there is no indication to whom "Huga rex Francorum" could refer.

m secondly ([500]) THRASAMUND, King of the Vandals, son of [GENTO the Vandal or GELIMER the Vandal]

Summary
Relationships
Parents:
Father: Theodemir or Thiudimir, Co-King of the Ostrogoths (451-468), King of the Ostrogoths (468-474)
Mother: Unknown wife (not Ereleuva, Theodemir's concubine)
Half-Siblings (children of Ereleuva):
1. Theoderic I (b. c451), King of the Ostrogoths (474 - 30 August 526)
2. Theodimund (fl. 479)
3. Unknown daughter (d. c479)
Spouses and children:

First Husband: Hugo Rex Francorum (Peter Heather from the English Wikipedia page apparently does not identify this individual, but FMG does)

1. Theodahad, King of Italy (d. December 536, murdered by his own men mid-flight from battle near Rome toward Ravenna, m. Gudeliva and had two children)

2. Amalaberga, Queen of the Thuringians (510-534, m. Hermanafred, King of the Thuringians, died after 534 in Ravenna)

Second Husband: Thrasamund (b. before 460), King of the Vandals (496-523)
Basic information:
Birth: 455/460 according to Mittelalter Genealogie. The Ostrogoths under her father didn't leave Pannonia until 473, so this is likely her birth location.
Baptism: Unknown, but Arian Christian
Marriage:
1. Before 500 - Hugo Rex Francorum
2. 500 - Thrasamund, King of the Vandals
Death: 525 - imprisoned in Carthago
Burial: Unknown
Occupation:
Before 500, wife of Hugo Rex Francorum
500-523, Queen of the Vandals, or wife of King Thrasamund of the Vandal
523-525, prisoner in Carthago.
Alternate Names: Amalafrida, Amalfrida, Amalafréde

523 AD; After her husband Thrasamund's death, his successor Hilderic issued orders for the return of all the Catholic bishops from exile, and Boniface, a strenuous asserter of orthodoxy, bishop of the African Church. In response, Amalfrida headed a party of revolt; she called in the assistance of the Moors, and battle was joined at Capsa, about three hundred miles to the south of the capital, on the edge of the Libyan desert. party was beaten, and Hilderic had her arrested and imprisoned in a successful bid to overthrow Ostrogothic hegemony.

Amalafrida married of The Vandals, King Thrasamund in 500. Thrasamund was born in 456 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; died on 13 Jun 523 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa; was buried in 575 in Carthage, Tunis, Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingians
• FSID: LHNF-P2R
• Appointments / Titles: Between 458 and 481; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Childeric I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Childeric I
CHILDERICI REGIS.jpg
Copy of the signet ring of Childeric I (original stolen in 1831). Inscription CHILDIRICI REGIS ("of Childeric the king").[1] The original was found in his tomb at Tournai (Monnaie de Paris).
King of the Salian Franks
Reign 458–481
Predecessor Merovech
Successor Clovis I
Born c.437 [2]
Died c. 481[3]
Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Burial Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Spouse Basina of Thuringia
Issue
Clovis I
Audofleda
Lanthilde
Albofleda
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Merovech
Childeric I (/ˈkɪldərɪk/; French: Childéric; Latin: Childericus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hildirīk;[4] c. 437 – 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a King (Latin Rex), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired effective control over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul.

Contents
1 Biography
2 Marriage, children, and death
3 Tomb
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Biography
Childeric's father is recorded by several sources including Gregory of Tours to have been Merovech, whose name is the basis of the Merovingian dynasty.[5] Gregory reports that Merovech was reputed by some to be a descendant of Chlodio who was an earlier Frankish king who had conquered Roman Gaulish areas first in the Silva Carbonaria, then in Tournai, Cambrai and as far south as the Somme. This is roughly the definition of the Roman province of Belgica Secunda (approximately the "Belgium" defined by Julius Caesar centuries earlier, the region stretching from north of Paris to the Flemish coast) and later a letter of Saint Remigius to Childeric's son Clovis I implies that Childeric had been the administrative chief of this Roman province.

In records about specific actions of Childeric himself, he is mainly associated with the Roman military actions around the Loire river, where he appears in records involving the Gallo-Roman general Aegidius. According to Gregory of Tours, Childeric was exiled at some point, the reason being given as Frankish unhappiness with Childeric's debauchery and his seduction of the daughters of his subjects. Childeric spent eight years in exile in "Thuringia" waiting to make a return.[6] In the meantime, according to Gregory, Aegidius himself took up the title of king of the Franks. Upon his return Childeric was joined by the wife of his host, Queen Basina, who bore Childeric his son Clovis.[7]

Guy Halsall connects the story to Roman politics, Aegidius being an appointee of Majorian:

Although this is only one interpretation of the fragmentary sources, an eight-year period ending with Aegidius' death would allow us to associate Childeric's expulsion with Majorian's accession and appointment of Aegidius.[8] ... Majorian's commander on the Loire, Aegidius, refused to accept Severus as emperor. It is possible that, to legitimise his position, he took the title king of the Franks.[9]

Halsall (p. 269) speculates that Childeric probably began a Roman military career in the service of Flavius Aetius who defeated Attila in Gaul, and he points out that much of his military career appears to have played out far from the Frankish homelands. Ulrich Nonn (map p. 37, and pp. 99–100), following his teacher Eugen Ewig, believes that the exile story reflects a real sequence of events whereby Childeric was a leader of "Salian" or "Belgian" Franks based in the Romanized areas conquered by Chlodio, who were allies under the lordship of Aegidius, but eventually able to take over his power when he and his imperial patron died. (Childeric's son Clovis I later fought Aegidius' son Syagrius who was remembered as a King of Romans, and who had control of Soissons in the south of Belgica Secunda.)

In a passage normally considered to have come from a lost collection of annals, Gregory (II.18) gives a sequence of events which are very difficult to interpret. In 463 Childeric and Aegidius successfully repelled the Visigoths of Theodoric II from Orléans on the Loire. After the death of Aegidius soon after, Childeric and a comes ("count") Paul are recorded defending the Loire region from Saxon raiders, who were possibly coordinating with the Goths now under Euric. Childeric and Paul fought Saxons under the command of a leader named "Adovacrius" (sometimes given by modern authors in either an Anglo-Saxon spelling form, Eadwacer, or in a spelling the same as used for his contemporary the future King of Italy Odoacer, with whom he is sometimes equated). The origin of these "Saxons" is however unclear, and they are described as being based upon islands somewhere in the Loire region.

Detail of golden bees with garnet insets

Golden bee or fly jewelry from the tomb of Childeric I in Tournai. Drawn by Jacob van Werden and engraved by Cornelis Galle the Younger
Soon after this passage, Gregory of Tours (II.19) reports that Childeric coordinated with "Odovacrius", this time normally assumed to be the King of Italy, against Allemanni who had entered Italy. While some authors interpret these Allemani to be Alans, a people established in the Loire region in this period, there is no consensus on this, because the reference in this case is not apparently to events near the Loire.

Marriage, children, and death
Gregory of Tours, in his History of the Franks, mentions several siblings of Clovis within his narrative, apparently thus children of Childeric:

Clovis I (died 511), whose mother was Basina.
Audofleda, Queen of the Ostrogoths, wife of Theodoric the Great. Gregory III.31 also mentions their daughter Amalasuntha.
Lanthechild. Gregory II.31 mentions she had been an Arian but converted to Catholicism with Clovis.
Albofleda (died approximately 500). Gregory II.31 mentions that she died soon after being baptized with Clovis.
Childeric is generally considered to have died in 481 or 482 based on Gregory's reports that his son Clovis died in 511 and ruled 30 years.[10]

Tomb
Childeric's tomb was discovered in 1653[11] not far from the 12th-century church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, now in Belgium.[12] Numerous precious objects were found, including jewels of gold and garnet cloisonné, gold coins, a gold bull's head, and a ring with the king's name inscribed. Some 300 golden winged insects (usually viewed as bees or cicadas) were also found which had been placed on the king's cloak.[11] Archduke Leopold William, governor of the Southern Netherlands (today's Belgium), had the find published in Latin. The treasure went first to the Habsburgs in Vienna, then as a gift to King Louis XIV of France, who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library, which became the Bibliothèque Nationale de France during the Revolution. Napoleon was more impressed with Childeric's bees and when he was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Bourbon fleur-de-lys, he settled on Childeric's bees as symbols of the French Empire.

On the night of November 5–6, 1831, the treasure of Childeric was among 80 kg of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold. A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine, including two of the bees. The record of the treasure, however, now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs.[13]

Childeric married of Thüringia, Queen BasinaGermany. Basina (daughter of de Cologne, Medelphus and of Thüringia, Basina) was born in 445 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 491 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Saxony
• FSID: LYMW-THH

Notes:

Also of the vandals.

Family/Spouse: of Thüringia, Baderich. Baderich was born in 478 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 529 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• Nickname: The Old
• FSID: 9MTD-7C8
• Religion: Catholic
• Appointments / Titles: 511; He succeeded his father as King of the Franks at Soissons, his territory covering Soissons, Laon, Noyon, Arras, Cambrai, Tournai and the lower Meuse, the lands that later were to become the kingdom of Neustria.
• Appointments / Titles: Between 27 Nov 511 and 31 Dec 558, Kingdom of Neustria (Historical); King of Neustra
• Appointments / Titles: Between 27 Nov 511 and 31 Dec 558, Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; King of Soissons
• Appointments / Titles: Between 524 and 558; King of Orléans
• Appointments / Titles: Between 23 Dec 558 and 29 Nov 561; King of the Franks

Notes:

Chlothar I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Chlothar I
Monnaie d'argent de Clotaire Ier.jpeg
Silver coin of Chlothar I
King of Soissons
Reign 511–558
Predecessor Clovis I
Successor Chilperic I
King of Orléans
Reign 524–558
Predecessor Chlodomer
Successor St. Guntram
King of Reims
Reign 555–558
Predecessor Theudebald
Successor Sigebert I
King of Paris
Reign 558
Predecessor Childebert I
Successor Charibert I
King of the Franks
Reign 558–561
Predecessor Vacant (last held by Clovis I)
Successor Vacant (next held by Clotaire II)
Born c. 497
Died 29 November 561
Compiègne
Spouse Guntheuc
Radegund
Ingund
Aregund
Chunsina
Issue Gunthar
Childeric
Charibert
St. Guntram
Sigebert
Chilperic
Chlothsind
Chram
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Clovis I
Mother Clotilde
Religion Roman Catholic
Chlothar I (c. 497 – 29 November 561)[a] was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I.

Chlothar's father, Clovis I, divided the kingdom between his four sons. In 511, Clothar I inherited two large territories on the Western coast of Francia, separated by the lands of his brother Childebert I's Kingdom of Paris. Chlothar spent most of his life in a campaign to expand his territories at the expense of his relatives and neighbouring realms in all directions.

His brothers avoided outright war by cooperating with his attacks on neighbouring lands in concert or by invading lands when their rulers died. The spoils were shared between the participating brothers. By the end of his life, Chlothar had managed to reunite Francia by surviving his brothers and seizing their territories after they died. But upon his own death, the Kingdom of the Franks was once again divided between his own four surviving sons. A fifth son had rebelled and was killed, along with his family.

Chlothar's father, Clovis I, had converted to Nicene Christianity, but Chlothar, like other Merovingians, did not consider that the Christian doctrine of monogamy should be expected of royalty: he had five wives, more from political expediency, for the purpose of forming alliances, than for personal motives. Although at the instigation of his queens he gave money for several new ecclesiastical edifices, he was a less than enthusiastic Christian and succeeded in introducing taxes on ecclesiastical property.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Life
2.1 Early life
2.2 Accession to the throne
2.3 First Burgundian war
2.4 Marriage with Guntheuc
2.5 Marriage with Aregund
2.6 Thuringian conquest
2.7 Princess Radegund
2.8 Acquisition of the kingdom of Orléans
2.9 Second Burgundian war
2.10 First Visigoth war
2.11 Civil war
2.12 Ceding of Provence
2.13 Second Visigoth war
2.14 Tuscan tribute
2.15 Death of Clotilde
2.16 Acquisition of Metz
2.17 Saxon war
2.18 Submission of Auvergne
2.19 War with Chram
2.20 Unification of all Francia
2.21 Relations with the church
3 Death
3.1 Succession
3.2 Female monasticism
4 Family
5 Notes
6 References
7 Further reading
Introduction

The expansion of Clothar's territories, shown in brown
Frankish customs of the day allowed for the practice of polygamy, especially among royalty. So it was not uncommon for a king to have multiple wives and several competing heirs upon his death. This was a major deviation from the monogamy of late Roman customs, influenced by the Church. Frankish rulers followed this practice mainly to increase their influence across larger areas of land in the wake of the Roman empire's collapse. The aim was to maintain peace and ensure the preservation of the kingdom by appeasing local leaders.[1] In the Germanic tradition succession fell, not to sons, but to younger brothers, uncles, and cousins. But under Salic law, Clovis I instituted the custom of sons being the primary heirs in all respects. However, it was not a system of primogeniture, with the eldest son receiving the vast majority of an inheritance, rather the inheritance was split evenly between all the sons. Therefore, the greater Frankish Kingdom was often splintered into smaller sub-kingdoms.[1]

Life
Early life
Chlothar was the fifth son of Clovis I and the fourth son of Queen Clotilde. The name 'Chlothar' means "glory".[2] Chlothar was born around 497 in Soissons. Upon the death of his father on 27 November 511, he received as his share of the kingdom: the town of Soissons, which he made his capital; the cities of Laon, Noyon, Cambrai, and Maastricht; and the lower course of the Meuse River. But he was very ambitious and sought to extend his domain.

Bust of Chlothar
Accession to the throne
Upon the death of Clovis I in the year 511, the Frankish kingdom was divided between Chlothar and his brothers, Theuderic, Childebert, and Chlodomer.[3] Because of the rights of mothers, queens were granted a portion of their son's kingdom. Clovis I, who had two wives, divided his kingdom into two for each of his wives, then parceled out pieces to his respective sons. The eldest, Theuderic, son of the first wife, had the benefit of receiving one half of the kingdom of Francia, Reims. Chlothar shared the second half of the kingdom with his brothers Childebert and Chlodomer. Chlothar received the northern portion, Childebert the central kingdom of Paris, and Chlodomer the southern Kingdom of Orléans.[1] The domain inherited by Chlothar consisted of two distinct parts: one in Gaulic Belgium, corresponding to the kingdom of the Salian Franks, where he established his capital at Soissons and included the dioceses of Amiens, Arras, Saint-Quentin and Tournai; and the other in Aquitane including the dioceses of Agen, Bazas, and Périgueux.[1]

First Burgundian war
In 516 Gundobad, king of Burgundy, died, and the throne passed to his son Sigismund, who converted to Catholicism. Sigismund adopted an extreme anti-Arian policy, going so far as to execute his Arian son Sigeric, who was the grandson of the Ostrogoth King Theoderic the Great. Sigismund also nearly prompted the Franks to launch an offensive against him, but he avoided a conflict by giving one of his daughters, Suavegotha, in marriage to Chlothar's older half-brother, Theuderic I.

In 523, at the instigation of their mother, Clotilde, Chlothar, Childebert, and Chlodomer joined forces in an expedition against the Burgundians. The Burgundian army was defeated, and Sigismund was captured and executed. Sigismund's brother Godomar replaced him on the throne, with the support of the aristocracy, and the Franks were forced to leave.

In 524 Chlothar and his brothers, including Theuderic, began a new campaign, advancing to the Isère Valley. But on 25 June 524, they suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Vézeronce, and Chlodomer was killed. The Franks left Burgundy, and Godomar resumed his rule until 534.[4]

Marriage with Guntheuc

Radegonde's wedding, depiction of her praying, and prostrate in the marital bed
Chlothar married Guntheuc, Queen of Orléans and widow of Chlodomer, his brother. This union gave Chlothar access to Chlodomer's treasury and ensured Guntheuc's position as sole heiress to King Godegisel lands; Frankish law allowed a woman to inherit land if she had no sons.[5]

Marriage with Aregund
Chlothar's wife Ingund requested that he find a husband worthy of her sister, Aregund. Finding no one suitable, Chlothar took Aregund as one of his own wives. The year was c. 533–538. She remained his wife until the death of her sister, Ingund, in 546, after which she fell out of favor with Chlothar.[6]

Thuringian conquest
In 531 Hermanafrid, king of the Thuringians, promised to give Chlothar's half-brother, Theuderic, part of the Kingdom of Thuringia if he would help to depose Baderic, Hermanafrid's rival and brother. Theuderic accepted. However, having been injured after a victory, he appealed to Chlothar to continue the war. Hermanafrid died around this time, and the goal became simply to conquer Thuringia.

The alliance, along with the aid of his nephew Theudebert I, conquered Thuringia, and it became a part of the Frankish domain. During the division of the spoils, Chlothar and Theuderic argued fiercely over the hand of Princess Radegund, but eventually Chlothar won the dispute on the grounds that it had been his men who had captured her.[7]

Princess Radegund

Radegund is brought before Chlothar
In 538, Radegund was brought to Soissons to marry Chlothar, as "not illegitimate but legitimate queen," who could help consolidate his dominance over Thuringia.

While her title and status were necessary for Chlothar to attain authority over Thuringia, Radegund remained in simple clothing and was not treated in the customary manner of a queen. This was largely due to her Christian faith; she did not want to appear luxurious.

Radegund did not eat to excess. She insisted that much of her food be given to the poor. She spent most of her time praying and singing psalms but spent very little time with the king. Her allegiance was to God first and to Chlothar second. Chlothar became irritated and had many disputes with her.[8]

She retired to a convent and went on to found the abbey in Poitiers St. Croix, the first nunnery in Europe. She was canonized Saint Radegund.[9]

Acquisition of the kingdom of Orléans
Chlothar was the chief instigator in the murder of his brother Chlodomer's children in 524, and his share of the spoils consisted of the cities of Tours and Poitiers. Chlothar's brother, Chlodomer was killed on 25 June 524 during an expedition against the Burgundians at the Battle of Vezeronce. Upon Chlodomer's death, his three sons, Theodebald, Gunther, and Clodoald, were entrusted to care of their grandmother, hence the young princes were raised in Paris by Chlodomer's mother, Chlotilde.

To prevent the kingdom of Orleans from returning to his nephews, Chlothar joined with his brother Childebert in 532 to threaten the young heirs with death unless they agreed to join a monastery. They sent Arcadius, grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris, to their mother, Clotilde, with a pair of scissors and a sword. He gave the queen an ultimatum: the boys could either live as monks or die.

Germanic traditions gave Queen Clotilde, as the mother, the right as head of her household. However, among kings the lineage passed to younger brothers before it passed to the next generation. Due to tribal politics, shearing of the boys' hair could lead to a civil war; long hair was a symbol of Frankish royalty, and to remove it was considered a grave insult. But Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald could someday lay claim to the throne, and it was Chlothar and Childebert's duty to pass authority on to them.

Clotilde was disgusted and shocked at the demands relayed by Arcadius and stated that she would rather see her sons dead than see their hair shorn.[10]

Assassination of Thibaut and Gunthar
The two uncles went through with their plan to murder the children. Chlothar stabbed Theodebald in the armpit. Gunthar threw himself at the feet of Childebert, who began to cry and almost gave in to the pleas of his nephew. Chlothar, however, demanded that Childebert carry through with the murder, stating that it was the only way to consolidate power. Childebert gave Gunthar up to Chlothar, who stabbed him.[11] Theodebald and Gunthar were ten and seven years old respectively.

Clodoald remained alive by managing to escape, hidden by loyal supporters. He renounced all claims and chose a monastic life. Childebert and Chlothar could then freely share their acquired territory. Meanwhile, Theuderic captured a parcel consisting of Auxerrois, Berry and Sens.

Second Burgundian war
In 532, Childebert and Chlothar seized Autun. They hunted for Godomar III, brother of Sigismund, with the help of his father and ally, the king of the Ostrogoths Theoderic the Great.

The death of Athalaric, the grandson and successor of Theodoric the Great, in 534 generated a succession crisis in the Ostrogothic kingdom, the Burgundian ally. Chlothar, Theudebert, and Childebert took the opportunity to invade the Burgundian kingdom, now devoid of Ostrogothic protection. The Burgundian kingdom was overtaken and divided between the three Frankish rulers. Chlothar received Grenoble, Die and many of the neighbouring cities.[12]

First Visigoth war

Imagined Bust of Chlothar on coin minted by Louis XVIII
Over the years, the Spanish Visigoths had made many incursions into Frankish territories and had taken lands. Clovis had retrieved them and even made further conquests of Gothic territories. Chlothar sent his eldest sons to reclaim lost territories. Although there was some success, for some unknown reason Gunthar, his second eldest, ended his campaign and returned home. Theudebert, the eldest, continued the war and took the strongholds of Dio-et-Valquières and Cabrières. Most of the lost Frankish lands were recovered.[13]

Civil war
Chlothar attempted to take advantage of Theuderic's illness during this time, trying to attain his kingdom with the help of Childebert. However Theudebert, who was busy securing Arles, rushed back to his father Theuderic's aid. Theuderic died a few days later. And Theudebert, supported by his vassals, managed to keep his kingdom and restrained his uncles from taking over.

Childebert and Theudebert joined forces and declared war on Chlothar. They initially defeated him, forcing him to take refuge in a forest for protection against the alliance. While Chlothar was besieged, a storm ravaged equipment, roads, and horses and disorganized the allied army. Childebert and Theudebert were forced to abandon the siege and make peace with Chlothar.[14]

Ceding of Provence
In 537, a conflict broke out between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic kingdom. To ensure Frankish neutrality in the conflict, King Vitiges offered Provence, which the Frankish Kings shared between them, along with the northern Alps with sovereignty over the Alemanni, by grabbing the upper Rhine valley, Main, and high Danube.[15] When the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks, he received the cities of Orange, Carpentras, and Gap.

Second Visigoth war
In spring 542, Childebert and Chlothar, accompanied by three of his sons, led an army into Visigoth Hispania. They seized Pamplona and Zaragoza but were finally forced to abandon after conquering most of the country. Since most of the king's army was still with Theudis and there was still enough power to be shown, they were ceded some major lands beyond the Pyrénées, although not as much as they had occupied.[13]

Tuscan tribute
The murder of Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theodoric the Great, and of Audofleda, sister of Clovis I, at the hands of King Theodahad of Tuscany caused Chlothar to threaten invasion if he did not receive a payment. The agreement that averted the war was for the Tuscan king to offer gold and land. However, Childebert and Theudebert cheated Chlothar, Childebert taking the money and Theudebert the land that Theodahad's successor, Vitiges turned over.[16] Chlothar's treasury was still much larger than either Childebert's or Theudebert's.

Death of Clotilde

Frankish Realm in 548
On 3 June 548, Clotilde, Chlothar's mother, died in the city of Tours. Chlothar and his brother Childebert transported her body by funeral procession to the Basilica of St. Apostles to be buried alongside her husband, Clovis I, and St. Genevieve.

Acquisition of Metz
Theudebald, Chlothar's great-nephew and the grandson of the late Theuderic, died childless in 555. So Chlothar immediately went to Metz to take possession of the kingdom from his late nephew, but under Salic Law he had to share it with his brother. So he married Vuldetrade, Theudebald's widow and the daughter of the Lombard king Wacho. This ensured the smooth succession to the kingdom of Metz, as well as an alliance with the Lombards, established since the reign of Theudebert. But the bishops condemned this incestuous marriage and forced Chlothar to divorce her. They gave her in marriage to the Bavarian Duke Garibald. To compensate for the breakdown of the marriage with Vuldetrade (Waldrada), Chlothar gave Chlothsind, his daughter, to the Lombard prince and future king, Alboin. Condat the Domesticus, great administrator of the palace of King Theudebald, retained his position after the annexation of the kingdom of Metz.[17]

Saxon war
In 555, Chlothar attacked and conquered the Saxons, who had revolted, in the upper valley of the Weser, Elbe, and the coast of the North Sea. As a submission, Chlothar required them to pay a substantial annual tribute and for some time exacted from the Saxons an annual tribute of 500 cows.[18]

Between 555 and 556, the Saxons revolted again, perhaps instigated by Childebert. Faced with the Saxon revolt and threat of a massacre, Chlothar preferred peace talks. He offered to forego battle if they would accept his demand to continue to pay him tribute, despite a previous rejection. But his men, aggressive, eager for battle, contested the decision. Talks were cut short when the soldiers forced him, with insults and death threats, to take on the Saxons. After an incredibly bloody battle, the Saxons and Franks made peace.[19]

Frankish Real from 556–560
Submission of Auvergne
Auvergne, a once prosperous Roman province, which had resisted the Visigoths and Franks, had hoped they could avoid destruction by offering their loyalty. Theuderic had devastated much of the land, and Theudebert pacified the land by marrying a Gallo-Roman woman of Senatorial descent. In anticipation of the death of Theodebald, Chlothar sent his son Chram to take possession of the area. In time, Chram came to control a larger area and desired to break away from his father entirely. To achieve this, he joined politically with Childebert who encouraged his dissent. In time his influence was expanded over Poitiers, Tours, Limoges, Clermont, Bourges, Le Puy, Javols, Rodez, Cahors, Albi, and Toulouse.[20]

War with Chram
Chlothar again engaged in war with the Saxons. He sent his sons Charibert and Guntram to lead an army against Chram. They marched to Auvergne and Limoges and finally found Chram in Saint-Georges-Nigremont. Their armies met at the foot of a "black mountain" where they demanded that Chram relinquish land belonging to their father. He refused, but a storm prevented the battle. Chram sent a messenger to his half-brothers, falsely informing them of the death of Chlothar at the hand of the Saxons. Charibert and Guntram immediately marched to Burgundy. The rumor that Chlothar had died in Saxony spread throughout Gaul, even reaching the ears of Childebert. It is possible that Childebert was behind the rumor as well. Chram then took the opportunity to extend his influence to Chalon-sur-Saône. He besieged the city and won. Chram married Chalda, daughter of Wiliachaire (Willacharius), Count of Orléans, which was under Childebert's authority.[21]

Unification of all Francia

The Death of Chramn, in a 16th-century miniature
On 23 December 558, Childebert died childless after a long illness. This allowed Chlothar to reunite the Greater Frankish Kingdom, as his father Clovis had done, and seize the treasure of his brother.[22]

The news of Childebert's death had caused many kingdoms to unify under Chlothar. Paris, which had fought against him, submitted to his rule. Chram therefore called on the Bretons to allow him refuge. He had made such an agreement with his father-in-law Willacharius, Count of Orléans, although he was currently taking refuge himself in the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. He[who?] was caught and subsequently burned "for the sins of the people and the scandals that were perpetrated by Wiliachaire and his wife." Chlothar then restored the Basilica.[22]

Between 1 September and 31 August 559, with the help of the Bretons, Chram plundered and destroyed a large number of places belonging to his father. Chlothar, accompanied by his son Chilperic, advanced to Domnonée and arrived there in November or December of 560. During the battle, located near the coast, Conomor was defeated and killed when he attempted to flee. Conomor owned land on both sides of the Channel, and Chram perhaps intended to flee from Chlothar to take refuge in England with the support of Conomor. Chram fled for the sea, but first attempted to rescue his wife and daughters. He was then captured and immediately sentenced to death. He and his wife and daughters were locked in a shack and were strangled and burned.[23] Overwhelmed with remorse, Clothar went to Tours to implore forgiveness at the tomb of St Martin and died shortly afterwards at the royal palace at Compiègne.

Relations with the church
In 561 Chlothar attempted to raise taxes on churches, despite the exemption granted by Roman law which had been routinely confirmed by past kings. Indeed, Childeric I had granted immunities to ecclesiastics. The Bishop of Tours, Injuriosus refused, left his diocese, and abandoned Chlothar. At the death of the bishop, the king replaced him with a member of his household named Baudin. Similarly, he exiled the bishop of Trier, Nizier, because of its inflexibility on canon law. Thus the tax on churches held.

Ingund and Chlothar made many additions to churches, including the decorations of the tomb of Saint-Germain Auxerre; the basilica are preserved with a given royal chalice.

Death
At the end of his reign, the Frankish kingdom was at its peak, covering the whole of Gaul (except Septimania) and part of present-day Germany. He died at the end of 561 of acute pneumonia at the age of 64, leaving his kingdom to his four sons. They went to bury him at Soissons in the Basilica of St. Marie, where he had started to build the tomb of St. Médard.[24]

Succession
Charibert received the ancient kingdom of Childebert I, between the Somme and Pyrénées, with Paris as its capital, and including the Paris Basin, Aquitaine and Provence.
Guntram received Burgundy with a part of the Kingdom of Orléans, where he established his capital.
Sigebert received the Kingdom of Metz with its capital Reims and Metz.
Chilperic received the territories north of the Kingdom of Soissons.[25]
Female monasticism
Chlothar financed the construction of the monastery of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, which folds Radegund. He transferred reliquaries that the queen had accumulated during her stay with the king to the monastery of St. Croix.

Family
"Blithilde" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Bilichild.
According to Gregory of Tours, "The King Chlothar had seven sons of various women, namely: with Ingund he had Gunthar, Childeric, Charibert, Guntram, Sigebert, and a daughter named Chlothsind; of Aregund, sister of Ingund he had Chilperic; and of Chunsine he had Chram."

Breakup of the Frankish Kingdoms upon Chlothar's death in 561
Chlothar's first marriage was to Guntheuc, widow of his brother Chlodomer, sometime around 524. They had no children. His second marriage, which occurred around 532, was to Radegund, daughter of Bertachar, King of Thuringia, whom he and his brother Theuderic defeated.[26] She was later canonized. They also had no children. His third and most successful marriage was to Ingund,[27] by whom he had five sons and two daughters:

Gunthar, predeceased father
Childeric, predeceased father
Charibert, King of Paris
Guntram, King of Burgundy
Sigebert, King of Austrasia
Chlothsind, married Alboin, King of the Lombards
He likely had an illegitimate son named Gondovald with an unnamed woman, born sometime in the late 540s or early 550s. Since Chlothar had sown children all throughout Gaul this was not unlikely. The boy was given a literary education and allowed to grow his hair long, a symbol of belonging to royalty. Although Chlothar would offer no more aid or privilege to the boy, his mother took him to the court of Childebert, who recognized him as his nephew and agreed to keep him in court.

His next marriage was to a sister of Ingund, Aregund, with whom he had a son, Chilperic, King of Soissons.[27] His last wife was Chunsina (or Chunsine), with whom he had one son, Chram,[28] who became his father's enemy and predeceased him. Chlothar may have married and repudiated Waldrada.

A false genealogy found in the Brabant trophies, made in the ninth century during the reign of Charles the Bald, invents a daughter of Chlothar's named Blithilde who supposedly married the saint and bishop Ansbert of Rouen, who was himself alleged to be son of Ironwood III. The Duke Arnoald, father of Arnulf of Metz, was said to have been born of this marriage, thus connecting the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties and creating the appearance that the Carolingian ruled by right of inheritance. It also linked them to the Romans by their affiliation with the senatorial family Ferreoli.

Notes

Clothar married of Thüringia, Queen Aregunda in 533. Aregunda (daughter of of Thüringia, Baderich and of Saxony, Princess Amegonde) was born in 515 in Rheims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 13 Aug 563 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried after 13 Aug 563 in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• Nickname: The Old
• FSID: LV44-V6X
• Appointments / Titles: 561; King of Neustria
• Appointments / Titles: Between 561 and 584, Verberie, Oise, Picardie, France; King of Soissons

Notes:

Chilperic I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the Burgundian king ruling 473–474, see Chilperic I of Burgundy.
Chilperic I
King of Neustria
Reign 561–584
Predecessor Chlothar I
Successor Chlothar II
Born c. 539
Died September 584 (aged 44–45)
Chelles
Spouse Audovera
Galswintha
Fredegund
Issue
more... Theudebert
Basina
Rigunth
Chlothar II
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Chlothar I
Mother Aregund
Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.

Contents
1 Life
2 Family
3 Etymology
4 Cultural references
5 References
6 Sources
7 External links
Life
Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he endeavoured to take possession of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of Berny and entered Paris. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Thérouanne, Tournai, and Boulogne fell to Chilperic's share. His eldest brother Charibert received Paris, the second eldest brother Guntram received Burgundy with its capital at Orléans, and Sigebert received Austrasia. On the death of Charibert in 567, Chilperic's estates were augmented when the brothers divided Charibert's kingdom among themselves and agreed to share Paris.

Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. Sigebert defeated him and marched to Soissons, where he defeated and imprisoned Chilperic's eldest son, Theudebert. The war flared in 567, at the death of Charibert. Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's new lands, but Sigebert defeated him. Chilperic later allied with Guntram against Sigebert (573), but Guntram changed sides and Chilperic again lost the war.

When Sigebert married Brunhilda, daughter of the Visigothic sovereign in Spain (Athanagild), Chilperic also wished to make a brilliant marriage. He had already repudiated his first wife, Audovera, and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called Fredegund. He accordingly dismissed Fredegund, and married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. But he soon tired of his new partner, and one morning Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. A few days afterwards Chilperic married Fredegund.

This murder was the cause of more long and bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert. In 575, Sigebert was assassinated by Fredegund at the very moment when he had Chilperic at his mercy. Chilperic then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram. Chilperic retrieved his position, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine, and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.

In 578, Chilperic sent an army to fight the Breton ruler Waroch II of the Bro-Wened along the Vilaine. The Frankish army consisted of units from the Poitou, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, and Bayeux. The Baiocassenses (men from Bayeux) were Saxons and they in particular were routed by the Bretons.[1] The armies fought for three days before Waroch submitted, did homage for Vannes, sent his son as a hostage, and agreed to pay an annual tribute. He subsequently broke his oath but Chilperic's dominion over the Bretons was relatively secure, as evidenced by Venantius Fortunatus's celebration of it in a poem.

Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him "the Nero and Herod of his time" (VI.46): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics. Gregory also objected to Chilperic's attempts to teach a new doctrine of the Trinity.[2] Although some scholars dispute the extent to which Gregory disliked Chilperic.[3]

Chilperic's reign in Neustria saw the introduction of the Byzantine punishment of eye-gouging. Yet, he was also a man of culture: he was a musician of some talent, and he wrote verse (modelled on that of Sedulius); he attempted to reform the Frankish alphabet; and he worked to reduce the worst effects of Salic law upon women.

In September 584, while returning from a hunting expedition at his royal villa of Chelles, Chilperic was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant.[4]

Family
Chilperic I's first marriage was to Audovera. They had five children:

Theudebert (killed at battle 573).
Merovech (killed by a servant at his request in 577), married the widow Brunhilda (his aunt by marriage) and became his father's enemy
Clovis (assassinated by Fredegund in 580).
Basina (d. aft. 590), nun, led a revolt in the abbey of Poitiers
Childesinda (died young from dysentery)
His short second marriage to Galswintha produced no children.

His concubinage and subsequent marriage to Fredegund in about 568 produced six more legitimate offspring:

Rigunth (born c. 569 – aft. 589), betrothed to Reccared but never married.
Chlodebert (c. 570/72 – 580), died young.
Samson (c. 573 – late 577), died young.
Dagobert (c. 579/80 – 580), died young.
Theuderic (c. 582 – 584), died young.
Chlothar II (born before September 584 – died 18 October 629), Chilperic's successor in Neustria, later sole king of the Franks.
Etymology
Chilperic's name in Frankish meant "powerful supporter", akin to German hilfreich "auxiliary" (cf. German Hilfe "aid" and reich "rich, orig. powerful")

Cultural references
An operetta on the subject, Chilpéric, was created by Hervé, first performed in 1864.

References
Howorth, 309.
Gregory of Tours
Halsall, Guy (2002). Mitchell, Kathleen; Wood, Ian (eds.). 'Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours' writing of history' in The World of Gregory of Tours. Brill. pp. 337–350.
Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 476-918, Rivingtons, 1908, p. 169 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Sources
Sérésia, L'Eglise el l'Etat sous les rois francs au VI siècle (Ghent, 1888).
Dahmus, Joseph Henry. Seven Medieval Queens. 1972.
Halsall, Guy. "Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours’ writing of history," in The World of Gregory of Tours, ed. Kathleen Mitchell and Ian Wood (Leiden: Brill, 2002).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chilperic". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 163.

Chilperic married de Cambrai, Frèdègonde in 568 in Paris, Île-de-France, France. Frèdègonde (daughter of de Cambraia, Brunulfo and d'Ostrogothie, Crotechilde) was born in 546 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; died on 8 Dec 597 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; was buried after 8 Dec 597 in Abbey of Saint-German-Des-Prés, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingians
• FSID: LHNF-P2R
• Appointments / Titles: Between 458 and 481; King of the Salian Franks

Notes:

Childeric I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Childeric I
CHILDERICI REGIS.jpg
Copy of the signet ring of Childeric I (original stolen in 1831). Inscription CHILDIRICI REGIS ("of Childeric the king").[1] The original was found in his tomb at Tournai (Monnaie de Paris).
King of the Salian Franks
Reign 458–481
Predecessor Merovech
Successor Clovis I
Born c.437 [2]
Died c. 481[3]
Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Burial Tournai (present-day Belgium)
Spouse Basina of Thuringia
Issue
Clovis I
Audofleda
Lanthilde
Albofleda
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Merovech
Childeric I (/ˈkɪldərɪk/; French: Childéric; Latin: Childericus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hildirīk;[4] c. 437 – 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a King (Latin Rex), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired effective control over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul.

Contents
1 Biography
2 Marriage, children, and death
3 Tomb
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Biography
Childeric's father is recorded by several sources including Gregory of Tours to have been Merovech, whose name is the basis of the Merovingian dynasty.[5] Gregory reports that Merovech was reputed by some to be a descendant of Chlodio who was an earlier Frankish king who had conquered Roman Gaulish areas first in the Silva Carbonaria, then in Tournai, Cambrai and as far south as the Somme. This is roughly the definition of the Roman province of Belgica Secunda (approximately the "Belgium" defined by Julius Caesar centuries earlier, the region stretching from north of Paris to the Flemish coast) and later a letter of Saint Remigius to Childeric's son Clovis I implies that Childeric had been the administrative chief of this Roman province.

In records about specific actions of Childeric himself, he is mainly associated with the Roman military actions around the Loire river, where he appears in records involving the Gallo-Roman general Aegidius. According to Gregory of Tours, Childeric was exiled at some point, the reason being given as Frankish unhappiness with Childeric's debauchery and his seduction of the daughters of his subjects. Childeric spent eight years in exile in "Thuringia" waiting to make a return.[6] In the meantime, according to Gregory, Aegidius himself took up the title of king of the Franks. Upon his return Childeric was joined by the wife of his host, Queen Basina, who bore Childeric his son Clovis.[7]

Guy Halsall connects the story to Roman politics, Aegidius being an appointee of Majorian:

Although this is only one interpretation of the fragmentary sources, an eight-year period ending with Aegidius' death would allow us to associate Childeric's expulsion with Majorian's accession and appointment of Aegidius.[8] ... Majorian's commander on the Loire, Aegidius, refused to accept Severus as emperor. It is possible that, to legitimise his position, he took the title king of the Franks.[9]

Halsall (p. 269) speculates that Childeric probably began a Roman military career in the service of Flavius Aetius who defeated Attila in Gaul, and he points out that much of his military career appears to have played out far from the Frankish homelands. Ulrich Nonn (map p. 37, and pp. 99–100), following his teacher Eugen Ewig, believes that the exile story reflects a real sequence of events whereby Childeric was a leader of "Salian" or "Belgian" Franks based in the Romanized areas conquered by Chlodio, who were allies under the lordship of Aegidius, but eventually able to take over his power when he and his imperial patron died. (Childeric's son Clovis I later fought Aegidius' son Syagrius who was remembered as a King of Romans, and who had control of Soissons in the south of Belgica Secunda.)

In a passage normally considered to have come from a lost collection of annals, Gregory (II.18) gives a sequence of events which are very difficult to interpret. In 463 Childeric and Aegidius successfully repelled the Visigoths of Theodoric II from Orléans on the Loire. After the death of Aegidius soon after, Childeric and a comes ("count") Paul are recorded defending the Loire region from Saxon raiders, who were possibly coordinating with the Goths now under Euric. Childeric and Paul fought Saxons under the command of a leader named "Adovacrius" (sometimes given by modern authors in either an Anglo-Saxon spelling form, Eadwacer, or in a spelling the same as used for his contemporary the future King of Italy Odoacer, with whom he is sometimes equated). The origin of these "Saxons" is however unclear, and they are described as being based upon islands somewhere in the Loire region.

Detail of golden bees with garnet insets

Golden bee or fly jewelry from the tomb of Childeric I in Tournai. Drawn by Jacob van Werden and engraved by Cornelis Galle the Younger
Soon after this passage, Gregory of Tours (II.19) reports that Childeric coordinated with "Odovacrius", this time normally assumed to be the King of Italy, against Allemanni who had entered Italy. While some authors interpret these Allemani to be Alans, a people established in the Loire region in this period, there is no consensus on this, because the reference in this case is not apparently to events near the Loire.

Marriage, children, and death
Gregory of Tours, in his History of the Franks, mentions several siblings of Clovis within his narrative, apparently thus children of Childeric:

Clovis I (died 511), whose mother was Basina.
Audofleda, Queen of the Ostrogoths, wife of Theodoric the Great. Gregory III.31 also mentions their daughter Amalasuntha.
Lanthechild. Gregory II.31 mentions she had been an Arian but converted to Catholicism with Clovis.
Albofleda (died approximately 500). Gregory II.31 mentions that she died soon after being baptized with Clovis.
Childeric is generally considered to have died in 481 or 482 based on Gregory's reports that his son Clovis died in 511 and ruled 30 years.[10]

Tomb
Childeric's tomb was discovered in 1653[11] not far from the 12th-century church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, now in Belgium.[12] Numerous precious objects were found, including jewels of gold and garnet cloisonné, gold coins, a gold bull's head, and a ring with the king's name inscribed. Some 300 golden winged insects (usually viewed as bees or cicadas) were also found which had been placed on the king's cloak.[11] Archduke Leopold William, governor of the Southern Netherlands (today's Belgium), had the find published in Latin. The treasure went first to the Habsburgs in Vienna, then as a gift to King Louis XIV of France, who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library, which became the Bibliothèque Nationale de France during the Revolution. Napoleon was more impressed with Childeric's bees and when he was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Bourbon fleur-de-lys, he settled on Childeric's bees as symbols of the French Empire.

On the night of November 5–6, 1831, the treasure of Childeric was among 80 kg of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold. A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine, including two of the bees. The record of the treasure, however, now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs.[13]

Childeric married of Thüringia, Queen BasinaGermany. Basina (daughter of de Cologne, Medelphus and of Thüringia, Basina) was born in 445 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 491 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Saxony
• FSID: LYMW-THH

Notes:

Also of the vandals.

Family/Spouse: of Thüringia, Baderich. Baderich was born in 478 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical); died in 529 in Dutchy of Thüringia (Historical). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• FSID: LV44-2HT

Notes:

Clovis I

King of the Franks
Reign c. 509 – 27 November 511
King of the Salian Franks
Reign 481 – c. 509
Predecessor Childeric I
Born c. 466
Tournai, Roman Empire (present-day Belgium)
Died 27 November 511 (aged about 45)
Paris, Francia
Burial Originally St. Genevieve Church; now Saint-Denis Basilica
Spouse Clotilde
Issue
Ingomer
Chlodomer
Childebert I
Chlothar I
Clotilde
Theuderic I
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Childeric I
Mother Basina of Thuringia
Religion Initially Frankish paganism, but later converted to Catholic Christianity
vte
Campaigns of Clovis I
Clovis (Latin: Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hlōdowig;[1] c. 466 – 27 November 511)[2] was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of royal chieftains to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs.[3] He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries.

Clovis succeeded his father, Childeric I, as a king of Salian Franks within the Roman empire in 481, and eventually came to rule an area extending from what is now the southern Netherlands to northern France, corresponding in Roman terms to Gallia Belgica (northern Gaul). At the Battle of Soissons (486) he established his military dominance of the rump state of the fragmenting Western Roman Empire which was then under the command of Syagrius. By the time of his death in either 511 or 513, Clovis had conquered several smaller Frankish tribes in the northeast of Gaul or modern day France. Clovis also conquered the Alemanni tribes in eastern Gaul, and the Visigothic kingdom of Aquitania in the southwest. These campaigns had added significantly to Clovis's domains, and established his dynasty as a major political and military presence in western europe.

Clovis is important in the historiography of France as "the first king of what would become France".[4]

Clovis is also significant due to his conversion to Catholicism in 496, largely at the behest of his wife, Clotilde, who would later be venerated as a saint for this act, celebrated today in both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508.[5] The adoption by Clovis of Catholicism (as opposed to the Arianism of most other Germanic tribes) led to widespread conversion among the Frankish peoples; to religious unification across what is now modern-day France, Belgium and Germany; three centuries later, to Charlemagne's alliance with the Bishop of Rome; and in the middle of the 10th century under Otto I the Great, to the consequent birth of the early Holy Roman Empire.

Contents
1 Name
2 Background
3 Early reign (481–491)
3.1 Road to Soissons
3.2 Taming Gaul
4 Middle reign (492–506)
4.1 Barbarian bonding
4.2 Assault of the Alamanni
4.3 Business in Burgundy
4.4 Armonici allies
5 Late reign (507–511)
5.1 Visiting the Visigoths
5.2 Ravishing the Reguli
5.3 Death
6 Baptism
7 Roman Law
8 Legacy
9 Chronology
10 References
11 External links
Name
The name is reconstructed in Frankish as *Hlod(o)wig, composed of the elements hlod ("fame, glory") and wig ("combat, battle").[1]

It is at the origin of the French given name Louis (variant Ludovic), borne by 18 kings of France, through the Latinized form Hludovicus (variants Ludhovicus, Lodhuvicus, Chlodovicus).[1] In Middle Dutch, a Franconian language closely related to Frankish, the name was rendered as Lodewijch, (modern Dutch Lodewijk).[6]

In modern German the name became Ludwig (although the king himself is named Chlodwig in German); in Spanish, Luis; in Italian, Luigi; and in English, Lewis.

Background
Clovis was the son of Childeric I, a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks, and Basina, a Thuringian princess. It was his supposed ancestor, Merovich, for which his Merovingian dynasty is named. Clovis succeeded his father to become king at the age of 15 in 481, as deduced from Gregory of Tours placing the Battle of Tolbiac (Zülpich) in the fifteenth year of Clovis's reign.

Numerous small Frankish petty kingdoms existed during the 5th century. The Salian Franks were the first known Frankish tribe that settled with official Roman permission within the empire, first in Batavia in the Rhine-Maas delta, and then in 375 in Toxandria, roughly the current province of North Brabant in the Netherlands and parts of neighbouring Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Limburg in current Belgium. This put them in the north part of the Roman civitas Tungrorum, with Romanized population still dominant south of the military highway Boulogne-Cologne. Later, Chlodio seems to have attacked westwards from this area to take control of the Roman populations in Tournai, then southwards to Artois, and Cambrai, eventually controlling an area stretching to the Somme river.

Childeric I, Clovis's father, was reputed to be a relative of Chlodio, and was known as the king of the Franks that fought as an army within northern Gaul. In 463 he fought in conjunction with Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul, to defeat the Visigoths in Orléans. Childeric died in 481 and was buried in Tournai; Clovis succeeded him as king, aged just 15. Historians believe that Childeric and Clovis were both commanders of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda and were subordinate to the magister militum.[7] The Franks of Tournai came to dominate their neighbours, initially aided by the association with Aegidius.[8]

The death of Flavius Aetius in 454 led to the decline of imperial power in the Gaul; leaving the Visigoths and the Burgundians compete for predominance in the area. The part of Gaul still under Roman control emerged as a kingdom under Syagrius, Aegidius' son.[9]

Early reign (481–491)
Road to Soissons
See also: Battle of Soissons (486)
The ruler of Tournai died in 481 and was succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son, Clovis. His band of warriors probably numbered no more than half a thousand. In 486 he began his efforts to expand the realm by allying himself with his relative, Ragnachar, regulus of Cambrai[10] and another Frankish regulus, Chalaric. Together the triumvirate marched against Syagrius and met the Gallo-Roman commander at Soissons. During the battle Chalaric betrayed his comrades by refusing to take part in the fighting.[11] Despite the betrayal, the Franks landed a decisive victory, forcing Syagrius to flee to the court of Alaric II.[10] This battle is viewed as bringing about the end of the rump state of the Western Roman Empire outside of Italy.[12] Following the battle, Clovis invaded the traitor Chararic's territory and was able to imprison him and his son.[11]

Taming Gaul
See also: Frankish-Thuringian campaign (491)

Conquests of Clovis between 481 and 511
Prior to the battle, Clovis did not enjoy the support of the Gallo-Roman clergy, hence he proceeded to pillage the Roman territory, including the churches. Quickly, the Bishop of Reims requested Clovis to return everything taken from the Church of Reims, the young king aspired to establish cordial relationships with the clergy and returned a valuable ewer taken from Reims.[13] Despite his position, some Roman cities refused to yield to the Franks, namely Verdun‒which surrendered after a brief siege‒and Paris, which stubbornly resisted a few years, perhaps as many as five.[10] He made Paris his capital[14] and established an abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the Seine.[15]

Clovis came to the realisation that he wouldn't be able to rule Gaul without the help of the clergy and aimed to please the clergy by taking a Catholic wife.[13] He also integrated many of Syagrius' units into his own army. The Roman kingdom was probably under Clovis' control by 491, because in the same year Clovis successfully moved against a small number of Thuringians in the eastern Gaul, near the Burgundian border.[16]

Middle reign (492–506)
Barbarian bonding
See also: Audofleda
Around 493 AD, he secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great.[14] In the same year, nearby King of the Burgundians was slain by his brother, Gundobad; bringing a civil turmoil to the kingdom. Gundobad proceeded to drown his sister-in-law and force his niece, Chrona to a convent, yet his other niece, Clotilde managed to flee to the court of her other uncle, Godegisel. Now, finding himself from a precarious position Godegisel decided to ally Clovis by marrying his exiled niece to the Frankish king.[17]

Assault of the Alamanni
See also: Battle of Tolbiac

Clovis I leading the Franks to victory in the Battle of Tolbiac, in Ary Scheffer's 1836 painting
In 496 the Alamanni invaded, some Salians and Ripuarians reguli defected to their side. Clovis met his enemies near the strong fort of Tolbiac. During the fighting, the Franks suffered heavy losses and Clovis (+three thousand Frankish companions) might have converted to Christianity.[18] With the help of the Ripuarian Franks he narrowly defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac in 496.[14] Now Christian, Clovis confined his prisoners, Chararic and his son to a monastery.[11]

Business in Burgundy
See also: Franco-Visigothic Wars § Burgundian_civil_war_(500–501)
In 500 or 501 the relationship between the Burgundian brothers took the turn to the worse began scheming against his brother. He promised his brother-in-law territory and annual tribute for defeating his brother. He seduced his brother-in-law with the promises of territory and annual tribute for deposing his brother; Clovis was eager to subdue the political threat to his realm and crossed to the Burgundian territory. After hearing about the incident Gundobad moved against Clovis and called his brother. The three armies met near Dijon, where both the Franks and Godegisel's forces defeated the host of dumbfounded Gundobad, who was able to escape to Avignon. Clovis proceeded to follow to the Burgundian king and laid siege to the city, however, after some months he was convinced to abandon the siege and settled for an annual tributary from Gundobad.[19]

Armonici allies
In 501, 502 or 503 Clovis led his troops to Armorica. He had previously restricted his operations to minor raids, yet, this time the goal was subjugation. Clovis' failed to complete his objective via military means, therefore, he was constrained to statecraft, which proved fruitful for the Armonici shared Clovis' disdain for the Arian Visigoths. And thus Armorica and her fighters were integrated into Frankish realm.[20]

Late reign (507–511)
Visiting the Visigoths
See also: Franco-Visigothic Wars § Second Franco-Visigothic war (507–508)

Frankish territories at the time of Clovis's death in 511
In 507 Clovis was allowed by the magnates of his realm to invade the remaining threat of the Kingdom of the Visigoths.[21] King Alaric had previously tried to establish a cordial relationship with Clovis by serving him the head of exiled Syagrius on a silver plate in 486 or 487.[10] However, Clovis was no longer able to resist the temptation to move against the Visigoths for many Catholics under Visigoth yoke were unhappy and implored Clovis to make a move. [22] But just to be absolutely certain about retaining the loyalties of the Catholics under Visigoths, Clovis ordered his troops to omit raiding and plunder, for this was not a foreign invasion, but a liberation.[21]

Armonici assisted him in defeating the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507, eliminating Visigothic power in Gaul. The battle added most of Aquitaine to Clovis's kingdom[14] and resulted in the death of the Visigothic king Alaric II.

According to Gregory of Tours, following the battle, the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I granted Clovis the title of consul. Since Clovis's name does not appear in the consular lists, it is likely he was granted a suffect consulship.[citation needed]

Ravishing the Reguli
In 507, following Vouillé, Clovis heard about Chararic's plan to escape from his monastic prison and had him murdered.[11]

In the same year, Clovis convinced Prince Chlodoric to murder his father, earning him his nickname. Following the murder, Clovis betrayed Chlodoric and had his envoys strike him down. [23]

In 509, Clovis visited his old ally, Ragnachar in Cambrai. Following his conversion, many of his pagan retainers had defected to Ragnachar's side, making him a political threat. Ragnachar denied Clovis's entry, prompting Clovis to make a move against him. He bribed Ragnachar's retainers and soon, Ragnachar and his brother, Ricchar were captured and executed.[24]

Death

The partition of the Frankish kingdom among the four sons of Clovis with Clotilde presiding, Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis (Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse)
Shortly before his death, Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet in Orléans to reform the Church and create a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate. This was the First Council of Orléans. Thirty-three bishops assisted and passed 31 decrees on the duties and obligations of individuals, the right of sanctuary, and ecclesiastical discipline. These decrees, equally applicable to Franks and Romans, first established equality between conquerors and conquered.

Clovis I is traditionally said to have died on 27 November 511; however, the Liber Pontificalis suggests that he was still alive in 513, so the exact date of his death is not known.[25] After his death, Clovis was laid to rest in the Abbey of St Genevieve in Paris. His remains were relocated to Saint Denis Basilica in the mid- to late-18th century.

When Clovis died, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Clotaire. This partition created the new political units of the Kingdoms of Rheims, Orléans, Paris and Soissons, and inaugurated a tradition that would lead to disunity lasting until the end of the Merovingian dynasty in 751. Clovis had been a king with no fixed capital and no central administration beyond his entourage. By deciding to be interred at Paris, Clovis gave the city symbolic weight. When his grandchildren divided royal power 50 years after his death in 511, Paris was kept as a joint property and a fixed symbol of the dynasty.[26]

The disunity continued under the Carolingians until, after a brief unity under Charlemagne, the Franks splintered into distinct spheres of cultural influence that coalesced around Eastern and Western centers of royal power. These later political, linguistic, and cultural entities became the Kingdom of France, the myriad German States, and the semi-autonomous kingdoms of Burgundy and Lotharingia.

Baptism

Tomb of Clovis I at the Basilica of St Denis in Saint Denis
Clovis was born a pagan but later became interested in converting to Arian Christianity, whose followers believed that Jesus was a distinct and separate being from God the Father, both subordinate to and created by Him. This contrasted Nicene Christianity, whose followers believe that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons of one being (consubstantiality). While the theology of the Arians was declared a heresy at the First Council of Nicea in 325, the missionary work of Bishop Ulfilas converted the pagan Goths to Arian Christianity in the 4th century. By the time of the ascension of Clovis, Gothic Arians dominated Christian Gaul, and Catholics were in the minority.

Clovis's wife Clotilde, a Burgundian princess, was a Catholic despite the Arianism that surrounded her at court.[27] Her persistence eventually persuaded Clovis to convert to Catholicism, which he initially resisted. Clotilde had wanted her son to be baptized, but Clovis refused, so she had the child baptized without Clovis's knowledge. Shortly after his baptism, their son died, which further strengthened Clovis's resistance to conversion. Clotilde also had their second son baptized without her husband's permission, and this son became ill and nearly died after his baptism.[28] Clovis eventually converted to Catholicism following the Battle of Tolbiac on Christmas Day 508[29][30] in a small church in the vicinity of the subsequent Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims; a statue of his baptism by Saint Remigius can still be seen there. The details of this event have been passed down by Gregory of Tours, who recorded them many years later in the 6th century.

The king's Catholic baptism was of immense importance in the subsequent history of Western and Central Europe in general, as Clovis expanded his dominion over almost all of Gaul. Catholicism offered certain advantages to Clovis as he fought to distinguish his rule among many competing power centers in Western Europe. His conversion to the Roman Catholic form of Christianity served to set him apart from the other Germanic kings of his time, such as those of the Visigoths and the Vandals, who had converted from Germanic paganism to Arian Christianity. His embrace of the Roman Catholic faith may have also gained him the support of the Catholic Gallo-Roman aristocracy in his later campaign against the Visigoths, which drove them from southern Gaul in 507 and resulted in a great many of his people converting to Catholicism as well.[31]

On the other hand, Bernard Bachrach has argued that his conversion from Frankish paganism alienated many of the other Frankish sub-kings and weakened his military position over the next few years. In the interpretatio romana, Saint Gregory of Tours gave the Germanic gods that Clovis abandoned the names of roughly equivalent Roman gods, such as Jupiter and Mercury.[32] William Daly, more directly assessing Clovis's allegedly barbaric and pagan origins,[33] ignored the Gregory of Tours version and based his account on the scant earlier sources, a sixth-century "vita" of Saint Genevieve and letters to or concerning Clovis from bishops and Theodoric.

Clovis and his wife were buried in the Abbey of St Genevieve (St. Pierre) in Paris; the original name of the church was the Church of the Holy Apostles.[34]

Roman Law
Main article: Lex Salica
Under Clovis, the first codification of the Salian Frank law took place. The Roman Law was written with the assistance of Gallo-Romans to reflect the Salic legal tradition and Christianity, while containing much from Roman tradition. The Roman Law lists various crimes as well as the fines associated with them.[35]

Legacy

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The legacy of Clovis's conquests, a Frankish kingdom that included most of Roman Gaul and parts of western Germany, survived long after his death.[36] To the French people, he is the founder of France.

Detracting, perhaps, from this legacy, is his aforementioned division of the state. This was done not along national or even largely geographical lines, but primarily to assure equal income amongst his sons after his death. While it may or may not have been his intention, this division was the cause of much internal discord in Gaul. This precedent led in the long run to the fall of his dynasty, for it was a pattern repeated in future reigns.[37] Clovis did bequeath to his heirs the support of both people and Church such that, when the magnates were ready to do away with the royal house, the sanction of the Pope was sought first.

By his conversion to Christianity he made himself the ally of the papacy and its protector as well as that of the people, who were mostly Catholics.

Clovis I, (born c. 466—died November 27, 511, Paris, France), king of the Franks and ruler of much of Gaul from 481 to 511, a key period during the transformation of the Roman Empire into Europe. His dynasty, the Merovingians, survived more than 200 years, until the rise of the Carolingians in the 8th century. While he was not the first Frankish king, he was the kingdom’s political and religious founder.

Family/Spouse: de France, Saint Clotilda. Clotilda was born in 474 in Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France; died in 545 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France; was buried on 3 Jun 548 in Abbey of St. Genevieve, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Thuringa Queen Consort of the Franks
• FSID: GW9Q-W3X

Aregunda married of the Franks, King Clothar in 533. Clothar (son of of the Franks, King of France Clovis I and de France, Saint Clotilda) was born in 497 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was christened in 497 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; died on 29 Nov 561 in Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France; was buried on 31 Dec 561 in Abbey of Saint-Médard de Soissons, Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Merovingian
• Nickname: The Old
• FSID: LV44-V6X
• Appointments / Titles: 561; King of Neustria
• Appointments / Titles: Between 561 and 584, Verberie, Oise, Picardie, France; King of Soissons

Notes:

Chilperic I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the Burgundian king ruling 473–474, see Chilperic I of Burgundy.
Chilperic I
King of Neustria
Reign 561–584
Predecessor Chlothar I
Successor Chlothar II
Born c. 539
Died September 584 (aged 44–45)
Chelles
Spouse Audovera
Galswintha
Fredegund
Issue
more... Theudebert
Basina
Rigunth
Chlothar II
Dynasty Merovingian
Father Chlothar I
Mother Aregund
Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.

Contents
1 Life
2 Family
3 Etymology
4 Cultural references
5 References
6 Sources
7 External links
Life
Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he endeavoured to take possession of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of Berny and entered Paris. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Thérouanne, Tournai, and Boulogne fell to Chilperic's share. His eldest brother Charibert received Paris, the second eldest brother Guntram received Burgundy with its capital at Orléans, and Sigebert received Austrasia. On the death of Charibert in 567, Chilperic's estates were augmented when the brothers divided Charibert's kingdom among themselves and agreed to share Paris.

Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. Sigebert defeated him and marched to Soissons, where he defeated and imprisoned Chilperic's eldest son, Theudebert. The war flared in 567, at the death of Charibert. Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's new lands, but Sigebert defeated him. Chilperic later allied with Guntram against Sigebert (573), but Guntram changed sides and Chilperic again lost the war.

When Sigebert married Brunhilda, daughter of the Visigothic sovereign in Spain (Athanagild), Chilperic also wished to make a brilliant marriage. He had already repudiated his first wife, Audovera, and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called Fredegund. He accordingly dismissed Fredegund, and married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. But he soon tired of his new partner, and one morning Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. A few days afterwards Chilperic married Fredegund.

This murder was the cause of more long and bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert. In 575, Sigebert was assassinated by Fredegund at the very moment when he had Chilperic at his mercy. Chilperic then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram. Chilperic retrieved his position, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine, and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.

In 578, Chilperic sent an army to fight the Breton ruler Waroch II of the Bro-Wened along the Vilaine. The Frankish army consisted of units from the Poitou, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, and Bayeux. The Baiocassenses (men from Bayeux) were Saxons and they in particular were routed by the Bretons.[1] The armies fought for three days before Waroch submitted, did homage for Vannes, sent his son as a hostage, and agreed to pay an annual tribute. He subsequently broke his oath but Chilperic's dominion over the Bretons was relatively secure, as evidenced by Venantius Fortunatus's celebration of it in a poem.

Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him "the Nero and Herod of his time" (VI.46): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics. Gregory also objected to Chilperic's attempts to teach a new doctrine of the Trinity.[2] Although some scholars dispute the extent to which Gregory disliked Chilperic.[3]

Chilperic's reign in Neustria saw the introduction of the Byzantine punishment of eye-gouging. Yet, he was also a man of culture: he was a musician of some talent, and he wrote verse (modelled on that of Sedulius); he attempted to reform the Frankish alphabet; and he worked to reduce the worst effects of Salic law upon women.

In September 584, while returning from a hunting expedition at his royal villa of Chelles, Chilperic was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant.[4]

Family
Chilperic I's first marriage was to Audovera. They had five children:

Theudebert (killed at battle 573).
Merovech (killed by a servant at his request in 577), married the widow Brunhilda (his aunt by marriage) and became his father's enemy
Clovis (assassinated by Fredegund in 580).
Basina (d. aft. 590), nun, led a revolt in the abbey of Poitiers
Childesinda (died young from dysentery)
His short second marriage to Galswintha produced no children.

His concubinage and subsequent marriage to Fredegund in about 568 produced six more legitimate offspring:

Rigunth (born c. 569 – aft. 589), betrothed to Reccared but never married.
Chlodebert (c. 570/72 – 580), died young.
Samson (c. 573 – late 577), died young.
Dagobert (c. 579/80 – 580), died young.
Theuderic (c. 582 – 584), died young.
Chlothar II (born before September 584 – died 18 October 629), Chilperic's successor in Neustria, later sole king of the Franks.
Etymology
Chilperic's name in Frankish meant "powerful supporter", akin to German hilfreich "auxiliary" (cf. German Hilfe "aid" and reich "rich, orig. powerful")

Cultural references
An operetta on the subject, Chilpéric, was created by Hervé, first performed in 1864.

References
Howorth, 309.
Gregory of Tours
Halsall, Guy (2002). Mitchell, Kathleen; Wood, Ian (eds.). 'Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours' writing of history' in The World of Gregory of Tours. Brill. pp. 337–350.
Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 476-918, Rivingtons, 1908, p. 169 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Sources
Sérésia, L'Eglise el l'Etat sous les rois francs au VI siècle (Ghent, 1888).
Dahmus, Joseph Henry. Seven Medieval Queens. 1972.
Halsall, Guy. "Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours’ writing of history," in The World of Gregory of Tours, ed. Kathleen Mitchell and Ian Wood (Leiden: Brill, 2002).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chilperic". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 163.

Chilperic married de Cambrai, Frèdègonde in 568 in Paris, Île-de-France, France. Frèdègonde (daughter of de Cambraia, Brunulfo and d'Ostrogothie, Crotechilde) was born in 546 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; died on 8 Dec 597 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; was buried after 8 Dec 597 in Abbey of Saint-German-Des-Prés, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Kingdom of Neustria (Historical); King of Neustria
• House: Merovingian
• FSID: 941J-5PC
• Appointments / Titles: Jun 584; He succeeded his father as Clotaire II, King of the Franks, under the regency of his mother Queen Frédégonde.
• Appointments / Titles: Between Jun 584 and 629, Kingdom of Mewrovingia (Historical); King of Merovingia
• Appointments / Titles: 618; After the capture, torture and murder of the queen, he was recognised as sole King of the Franks.

Notes:

Chlothar II
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Clothar II
Clothaire II 584 628.jpg
Coin of Clothar II
King of the Franks
Reign 10 October 613 – 18 October 629
Predecessor Sigibert II
Successor Dagobert I as King of the Franks
Charibert II as King of Aquitaine
King of Neustria
Reign 584–613
Predecessor Chilperic I
King of Paris
Reign 595–613
Predecessor Childebert II
Born 584
Died 18 October 629 (aged 44–45)
Spouse
Haldetrude
Bertrude
Sichilde
Issue Charibert II
Dagobert I
House Merovingian
Father Chilperic I
Mother Fredegund
Signature Clothar II's signature

The kingdom of Chlothar at the start of his reign (yellow). By 613 he had inherited or conquered all of the coloured portions of the map.

A treaty of King Chlothar II and the Lombards.
Chlothar II (or Chlotar, Clothar, Clotaire, Chlotochar, or Hlothar; 584 – 18 October 629), called the Great or the Young, was king of Neustria and king of the Franks, and the son of Chilperic I and his third wife, Fredegund. He started his reign as an infant under the regency of his mother, who was in an uneasy alliance with Clothar's uncle King Guntram of Burgundy, who died in 592. Clothar took power upon the death of his mother in 597; though rich, Neustria was one of the smallest portions of Francia. He continued his mother's feud with Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia with equal viciousness and bloodshed, finally achieving her execution in an especially brutal manner in 613, after winning the battle that enabled Chlothar to unite Francia under his rule. Like his father, he built up his territories by seizing lands after the deaths of other kings.

His reign was long by contemporary standards, but saw the continuing erosion of royal power to the French nobility and the church against a backdrop of feuding among the Merovingians. The Edict of Paris in 614, concerned with several aspects of appointments to offices and the administration of the kingdom, has been interpreted in different ways by modern historians. In 617 he made the mayor of the Palace a role held for life, an important step in the progress of this office from being first the manager of the royal household to the effective head of government, and eventually the monarch, under Pepin the Short in 751. Chlothar was forced to cede rule over Austrasia to his young son Dagobert I in 623.

Unusually for a Merovingian monarch, he practised monogamy, though early deaths meant that he had three wives. He was generally an ally of the church and, perhaps inspired by the example of his uncle Guntram, his reign seems to lack the outrageous acts of murder perpetrated by many of his relations, the execution of Brunhilda excepted.

Contents
1 Background
1.1 Frankish territories in the sixth century
1.2 Ambitions of Fredegund
2 Sources
3 Early life
4 Ruler of Neustria
4.1 Battle of Dormelles
4.2 War between Austrasia and Burgundy (610–612)
4.3 War between Clothar and Austrasia-Burgundy (613)
5 King of All Franks (613–629)
5.1 Mayors of the Palace
5.2 Edict of 614
5.3 Dagobert King of Austrasia (623)
5.4 Barbarian and Christian relations
6 Death
7 Family
8 References
9 Bibliography
9.1 Period sources
9.2 Contemporary studies
10 External links
Background
Frankish territories in the sixth century
The domain of Clothar II was located in the territorial and political framework derived from the Frankish kingdom present at 561 at the death of Clothar, son of Clovis and grandfather of Clothar II.

On the death of Clovis in 511, four kingdoms were established with capitals at Reims, Soissons, Paris, and Orléans, Aquitaine being distributed separately. In the year 550, Clothar I, the last survivor of four brothers reunited the Frankish kingdom, and added Burgundian territory (Burgundia) by conquest.

In 561, the four sons of Clothar I followed the events of 511 similarly and split the kingdom again: Sigebert I in Reims, Chilperic I in Soissons, Charibert I in Paris, and Guntram in Orleans, which then included the Burgundian kingdom territory (Burgundia). They divided Aquitaine separately again. Very quickly, Sigebert moved his capital from Reims to Metz, while Guntram moved his from Orléans to Chalon. On the death of Charibert in 567, the land was again split between the three survivors, of greatest importance Sigebert (Metz) received Paris and Chilperic (Soissons) received Rouen. The names Austrasia and Neustria seem to have appeared as the names of these kingdoms for the first time at this point.

Ambitions of Fredegund
In 560, Sigebert and Chilperic married two sisters, daughters of the Visigoth king of Spain Athanagild; princesses Brunhilda, and Galswintha respectively. However Chilperic was still very much attached to his lover and consort, Fredegund, causing Galswintha to wish to return to her homeland in Toledo. In 568 she was murdered and within days, after a brief period of grieving, Chilperic officially married Fredegund and elevated her to a queen of a Frankish kingdom. "After this action his brothers thought that the queen mentioned above had been killed at his command..."[1]

Chilperic agreed, at first, to pay a sum of money to end the feud, but not soon after decided to embark on a series of military operations against Sigebert. This was the beginning of what is called the "royal feud " which did not end until Brunhilda died in 613. The main episodes until the assassination of Chilperic in 584 were as follows: the assassination of Sigebert (575), the imprisonment of Brunhilde and her marriage to a son of Chilperic, and the return of Brunhilda to her son Childebert II, successor of Sigebert.

Moreover, Fredegund strove to ensure her position, since she was from lower origins, by eliminating the sons that Chilperic had with his previous wife Audovera: Merovech and Clovis. Her own children, however, died at a very young age and appeared to be by foul play. When Fredegund had a son in the spring of 584, he would have been the future successor of Chilperic I, if he had lived long enough.

Sources
The main sources from the time are the chronicles of Gregory of Tours and the Chronicle of Fredegar. It is possible, however, that the authors contain a degree of bias in their works; for instance Gregory was a key figure in some of the conflicts of the time. The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours in the late sixth century only recounts up to 591. It is favorable to Queen Brunhild, Sigebert, and Chilperic but extremely hostile to Fredegund. The Chronicle of Fredegar, beginning in 584, on the other hand is extremely hostile to Brunhild. That chronicle includes:

The Biography of Clothar II
Clothar II deals with the Lombards
Early life
Under Frankish customs, newborns did not receive names initially, in order not to spread concern related to the symbolic name of the Merovingian. Wanting to choose a name based on the development of unrest in the kingdom of the Franks, his father did not baptize him immediately.[2] Chilperic and Fredegund desired to protect their child, since their four older sons may have been victims of murder, and there was much political intrigue at the time. He was raised in secret in the royal villa in Vitry-en-Artois to avoid detection.

In September 584, Chilperic I was murdered after a hunt near his villa of Chelles perhaps on the order of Queen Brunhilda. This event produced general disorder and unrest.[3] In this time Austrasians plundered parts of Neustria, seizing valuable treasures and goods, as well as important documents.[4] Princess Rigunth, on the way to Spain to marry Prince Reccared, was captured by Duke Didier of Toulouse and was linked in conspiracy with Gondovald who stole all that remained of her dowry, so that she was forced to abandon the marriage.[5] Wars broke out between rival cities, and Orléans, Blois and Chartres stood against Châteaudun.[6]

Fredegund managed to keep most of the treasury of the state as well as key political figures, such as the generals Ansoald and Audon, although many, such as chamberlain Eberul, abandoned her. She took her son to Vitry and sent a message to Guntram, King of Burgundy, asking him to adopt the child and offer his protection to him in return for exercising his authority over Neustria until the boy came of age.[7]

Childebert II, who was at Meaux when Chilperic was murdered, considered an attack on Paris, but Guntram was ahead of him. Childebert II began negotiations with Brunhilda on one hand, Guntram on the other: but Guntram refused many of his requests, including allowing him into Paris. He refused to deliver Fredegund, whom Brunhilda claimed was behind the regicide of Sigebert I, Clovis, and even Chilperic I.[4]

Guntram convened a meeting of Greater Neustria, in which the court recognized Clothar as the son of Chilperic, although there were some doubts about his paternal identity. It was at this time that they gave him the name Clothar, naming him after his grandfather. Guntram then took legal responsibility of the child, adopting him and becoming his godfather.[4]

Ansoald was responsible for regaining control of cities Neustria had lost since the death of Chilperic. They then swore allegiance to Guntram and Clothar after their capture. Guntram, attempting to restore order in the affairs of Neustria, likely against the advice of Fredegund and perhaps to show his authority, replaced key figures in the episcopal see of the church and moved its location.[8] Bishop Promotus of Châteaudun, whose diocese was demoted after the parish council of Paris in 573, saw this as a violation of canon law; the death of Sigebert I he demanded to return from exiled, and was thus restored much of his personal property.[4]

Two envoys from Brunhilde, Duke Gararic and chamberlain Eberon, succeeded in swaying Limoges, Tours, and Poitiers towards Austrasian influence, with the help of bishops Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunat. Guntram responded by sending troops to recover the lost cities that promptly returned their loyalties to Guntram and Cothar.[4] Fredegund was sent to the Villa de Vaudreuil, in the diocese of Rouen, where she was put under the supervision of the bishop Pretextatus.

During the summer of 585, Guntram returned to Paris to act as godfather of Clothar, as he swore to Fredegund, along with three bishops and three hundred nobles of Neustria who recognized Clothar II as the son of Chilperic I. However the baptism at this time was postponed. It was expected to reconvene at the council of Troyes, but Austrasia refused to participate if Guntram would not disinherit Clothar. The council is moved to Burgundy and he was baptized on 23 October 585.

While Guntram campaigned to capture Visigothic Septimania, Fredegund escaped custody of the bishop and fled Rouen. During Sunday Mass, Pretextatus was stabbed, although he did not die immediately. Fredegund attempted to fetch doctors and gain his favor. However, he openly accused her of being behind this attack and the murder of the various kings. He publicly cursed and denounced her before dying soon after.[4]

Fredegund is cursed by Pretextatus, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
The queen then used her new freedom to rally as many nobles and bishops as could be found to her son. She was reinstalled into power despite Guntram's exile of her.[4] Guntram then attempted to weaken Fredegund's influence by swaying some of the Neustrian aristocracy to his side, and keep Neustrian lands he held between the Loire and Seine by rallying Duke Beppolène. In 587, he managed to capture the towns of Angers, Saintes, and Nantes.[4]

Fredegund then offered to negotiate peace and sent ambassadors to Guntram. But they were arrested and Guntram severed relations with Neustria, approaching Brunhilda and Childebert II, with whom he concludes the pact of Andelot: agreeing that upon the death of one of the two kings, the other would inherit his kingdom. In 592 Guntram dies and Childebert becomes king of Austrasia and Burgundy.[4]

The Austrasia-Burgundy union lasted only until 595, when the death of Childebert II brought it to an end. His realm was then split between his two sons: Theudebert II inherited Austrasia, while Theuderic II received the kingdom of Burgundy. The two brothers then campaigned united against their cousin Chlothar II of Neustria, but their alliance lasted only until 599, when they took up arms against each other.[4]

A young Clothar at the head of the army
In 593, although only as a symbolic presence since he was only nine years old, Clothar II appeared at the head of his army, which routed the Austrasian Duke Wintrio who was invading Neustria. In 596, Clotaire and Fredegund took Paris, which was supposed to be held in common. Fredegund, then her son's regent, sent a force to Laffaux, and the armies of Theudebert and Theuderic were defeated.[4] Fredegund died in 597, leaving Clothar to rule over Neustria alone, although the boy king didn't do anything significant for 2 more years.

Ruler of Neustria
Battle of Dormelles
In 599, he made war with his nephews, Theuderic II of Burgundy and Theudebert II of Austrasia, who were old enough to be his cousins. They defeated him at Dormelles (near Montereau), forcing him to sign a treaty that reduced his kingdom to the regions of Beauvais, Amiens and Rouen, with the remainder split between the two brothers. At this point, however, the two brothers took up arms against each other. In 605, he invaded Theuderic's kingdom, but did not subdue it. He remained often at war with Theuderic until the latter died in Metz in late 613 while preparing a campaign against him.

In 604, a first attempt to reconquer his kingdom ended in failure for Clothar. His son Merovech was taken prisoner by Theuderic at the Battle of Étampes and was murdered at the order of Brunhilda by Bertoald. Clothar agreed that he would become the godfather of Theuderic's son in 607, naming him Merovech.[9]

Around the same time, Theuderic, seeking a marriage to the Spanish Visigoth princess Ermenberge, daughter of King Witteric, created new political tensions. Witteric then negotiated with Clothar II for an alliance, as well as Agilulf, King of the Lombards. The coalition against Theuderic does not appear to have been followed by significant effects.

War between Austrasia and Burgundy (610–612)
In 610 Theudebert and Theuderic entered into a war. Theudebert won initial victories in 610, which led Theuderic to approach Clothar, promising to return northern Neustria to him for his aid. Theudebert was crushed in 612, at the battles of Toul and Tolbiac, near Cologne.

War between Clothar and Austrasia-Burgundy (613)

Clothar slays Bertoald
As agreed, Theuderic ceded northern Neustria to Clothar, but then turned around and organized an invasion of Neustria. However he died of dysentery in Metz in 613. His troops dispersed immediately, and Brunhilda placed her great-grandson Sigebert II on the throne of Austrasia.[10]

Brunhilde is dragged to her death
At that time, Warnachar, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and Rado, mayor of the palace of Burgundy, abandoned the cause of Brunhilda and her great-grandson, Sigebert II, and the entire realm was delivered into Chlothar's hands. Brunhilda and Sigebert met Chlothar's army on the Aisne, but the Patrician Aletheus, Duke Rocco, and Duke Sigvald deserted the host and the grand old woman and her king had to flee. They got as far as the Orbe, but Chlothar's soldiers caught up with them by the lake Neuchâtel. Both of them and Sigebert's younger brother Corbo were executed by Chlothar's orders, then proceeded to execute many of the family members of this house except Merovech, his godson, and perhaps Childebert who had fled.

Brunhilde was accused of murdering ten members of the Neustrian royal family, as well as other Frankish royalty, and was tried and convicted. She underwent a very severe torture and execution by being dragged on the back of a horse and drawn-and-quartered.[11] After this victory, Clothar was left as the sole royal ruler of the Frankish peoples and consolidated his power.

King of All Franks (613–629)
Upon his unification of all Franks, Clothar took up residence in Paris and in the villas of Alentours.[12]

Mayors of the Palace
An important key aspect that was maintained in all three administrations of the kingdoms even after unification was the presence of the Mayors of the Palace. The mayor of the palace was originally the king's servant in charge of administrative events of the palace. During the royal feud, however, the role grew in importance as more of a steward of lands to care more directly than the king could and was placed in the hands of aristocracy. One of the most notable figures in this role was Warnachaire, mayor of the palace of Burgundy in 613, who was one of the leaders responsible for capturing Brunhild, and held the position until his death in 626. Warnachaire's wife, Berthe, was likely a daughter of Clothar.[13]

Edict of 614
In 614, Chlothar II promulgated the Edict of Paris, a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that reserved many rights to the Frankish nobles while it excluded Jews from all civil employment for the Crown.[14][15] The ban effectively placed all literacy in the Merovingian monarchy squarely under ecclesiastical control and also greatly pleased the nobles, from whose ranks the bishops were ordinarily exclusively drawn. Article 11 of the Edict states that it is to restore "peace and discipline in [the] kingdom" and "suppress rebellion and insolence". The edict for was ratified for all three kingdoms. Due to several abuses of powers by officials, many of whom had been appointed by Chilperic, several mandates were made, among them the requirement that officials must have come from the region they officiate over.[16]

Chlothar was induced by Warnachar and Rado to make the mayoralty of the palace a lifetime appointment at Bonneuil-sur-Marne, near Paris, in 617. By these actions, Chlothar lost his own legislative abilities and the great number of laws enacted in his reign are probably the result of the nobles' petitions, which the king had no authority not to heed.

Dagobert King of Austrasia (623)

Clothar and a young Dagobert
In 623, he gave the kingdom of Austrasia to his young son Dagobert I. This was a political move as repayment for the support of Bishop Arnulf of Metz and Pepin I, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, the two leading Austrasian nobles, who were effectively granted semi-autonomy.[17]

At the same time, Clothar made territorial changes by assigning the region of Reims to Neustria. But Dagobert, now the semi-autonomous king of Austrasia, negotiated its return in 626.

Barbarian and Christian relations
Clothar was no exception in the line of Merovingians of its history of family feuding. This was considered to be a very 'barbarian' custom. However, he was one of the few Merovingians that did not practice polygamy, instead remaining faithful to a single wife until her death. He remained respectful of the Church and its doctrines, keeping it as an ally. He likely tried to maintain himself as a pious king, inspired by the holiness of his uncle Guntram who had protected him and allowed him the throne.[18]

In 617, he renewed the treaty of friendship that bound the Frankish kings with the kings of the Lombards. He likely had the policy of maintaining good relations with Christianized-barbarian peoples so long as they kept good relations themselves with the Church.[19]

Death

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Portrait of Clothar II
Clothar died on 18 October 629 at age 45, and was buried, like his father, in the Saint Vincent Basilica of Paris, later incorporated in the Saint- Germain -des- Prés. His rule lasted longer than any other Merovingian king save for his grandfather Chlothar I. He left the crown greatly reduced in power, with more power resting among the nobles, and paved the way for the rise of the mayors and the rois fainéants.

The Neustrian aristocracy chose King Caribert, the half-brother of Dagobert, as king. However, Dagobert was supported by the Austrasians and Burgundians, and soon reigned over all three domains. Caribert formed his own kingdom composed of Aquitaine territories.

Family
He first married Haldetrude, with whom he had the following children :

Merovech, who was sent Landéric, mayor of the palace of Neustria, to avoid Austrasien Berthoald at Arele in 604, but was caught and killed.
Emma, married in 618 to Eadbald († 640), King of Kent. Though recently it has been suggested that she may have instead been the daughter of Erchinoald, mayor of the palace in Neustria.[20]
Dagobert I (c. 603–639), King of the Franks
His second wife, Bertrude, was likely the daughter of Richomer, patrician of the Burgundians, and Gertrude. This marriage produced:

A son who died in infancy in 617.
Bertha, wife of Warnachaire, mayor of the palace of Bourgogne.
In 618, he married Sichilde, sister of Gomatrude who later married Dagobert I, and probably Brodulfe (or Brunulfe), who would later support Caribert II. From this marriage there was:

Charibert II († 632), king of Aquitaine.
Oda, a daughter.

Family/Spouse: of Burgundy, Bertrude. Bertrude (daughter of of Burgundy, Duke Richemer and of Bavaria, Saint Garitrudis) was born in 582 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; died in 618 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; was buried in 618 in Abbey of Saint-German-Des-Prés, Paris, Île-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]