The History of the Franks

During Clovis’s reign as king of the Franks from 481 to 509, he conquered most of Gaul and forcefully united the various Frankish kingdoms under his sole rule. He married a Christian Burgundian princess, Clotild, who with the help of Bishop Remigius of Reims convinced him to convert from paganism to Catholic Christianity.

The royal line Clovis established, the Merovingians, would rule over Gaul until 751. Clovis I is often considered to be the first king of what would become France, with the place he was baptized at, Reims, becoming the traditional coronation site of the French kings. When he died in 509, he divided his kingdom between his sons Theuderic, Lothar, Chlodomer, and Childebert.

One of the sons of Clovis I, Lothar, was given part of his father’s kingdom along with his brothers. He reigned from 511 to 561. After his brother Chlodomer’s death in battle, he and his brother Childebert had Chlodomer’s sons killed (although one survived and became a monk) and annexed Chlodomer’s portion of the kingdom. In 558, he became the sole king of Gaul.

When his son Chramn rebelled against him, Lothar had Chramn killed by trapping him and his family in a burning hut. Lothar died a year later, in 561. Following Merovingian practice, his domains were divided between his surviving sons Chilperic, Sigibert, Guntram, and Charibert.

An heir of Lothar I, from 561 Chilperic ruled a kingdom whose capital was the city of Soissons. Uniquely for a Merovingian, as king he had intellectual pretensions, writing poetry and attempting to change the alphabet by introducing new letters. He had numerous wives, including Audovera, who was forced into a convent, and Galswinth, a Visigothic princess whom he had killed when she opposed his continued relationship with Fredegund. It was Fredegund, a former servant, who would become the most successful and notorious of Chilperic’s wives, ruling as queen regent in the name of their son, Lothar II, after Chilperic’s assassination in 584.

After his father Lothar I’s death in 561, Sigibert ruled a portion of Gaul that had Rheims as its capital. Sigibert married Brunhild, the daughter of King Athanagild of Spain. After he was reportedly assassinated by men sent by Fredegund during a war against his brother Chilperic, he was succeeded by his young son Childebert II, but Brunhild ruled in his name for a time as queen regent.

A son of Lothar I, after Lothar’s death in 561 Guntram was given a kingdom based around the region of Burgundy (what is now eastern France). In his lifetime, Guntram was known for his pious behavior and, after his death, was made a saint by the Church. He died without a living son in 592 and bequeathed his realm to his nephew, Childebert II.

Formerly a servant, Fredegund managed to become one of the wives of King Chilperic. When he married a Visigothic princess named Galswinth (also Brunhild’s sister) who asked that he get rid of his other wives, Fredegund reportedly goaded Chilperic into killing her.

Gregory of Tours alleges that Fredegund was the mastermind behind numerous successful and failed assassination attempts, including the murder of King Sigibert. After Chilperic’s assassination, Fredegund eventually managed to take control of her husband’s kingdom in the name of her son, Lothar II. She died in 597, after the period covered in History of the Franks.

The daughter of the Visigothic king Athanagild who ruled over Spain and Portugal, Brunhild was married to King Sigibert. Brunhild entered a feud with King Chilperic’s wife, Fredegund, when Fredegund instigated Chilperic to kill his wife and Brunhild’s sister, Galswinth. After Sigibert’s assassination—which was also blamed on Fredegund—Brunhild fought to rule over her husband’s kingdom for her son, Childebert II.

After the period covered in History of the Franks, Brunhild’s situation worsened. Defeated in battle and betrayed by her own nobles, Brunhild was captured by Lothar II, who accused her of killing 10 members of the royal family, including his father Chilperic. In 613, Brunhild was executed by being torn apart by four horses.

The son of Brunhild and King Sigibert, Childebert II ruled his father’s kingdom from 575 to 596 after Sigibert was reportedly assassinated on Fredegund’s orders. After 592, he also inherited the kingdom of Burgundy from his uncle Guntram.

After the period covered in History of the Franks, he died in 596, leaving his kingdom to two young sons, Theudebert II and Theuderic II, with Brunhild again serving as queen regent.