The Life of Clovis The Great, King of the Franks

[hurtmeplease]

Here is the orginal piece on the life of Clovis. The original post had it broke into nice sections with Section headings, but alas, I did that here in the forums and posted the sections as I wrote them, but the original document I just wrote in a continous fashion and copy pasted from that to the forum. So this is the complete piece in one post. I hope those of you that have never read it will enjoy it. Feedback is always welcome. New posts will be coming soon.

Hurtme

CLOVIS: THE MEROVINGIAN ("LONG-HAIRED"), GREAT KING OF THE FRANKS


The Franks were a coalition of tribes on the North-east Roman border. They held some type of unity of belonging to the same group of people, but it is unclear what that common bond was. Clovis was from the Frank tribe of the Salii. He was from the Royal house of the Merwings. “Merwing” translates loosely to meaning long haired, and that was the trait of the Merovingian kings. If a member of the Royal house had his hair cut, it was because he was thrust out of the family and could not legitimately hold any power.

Clovis, with what was given to him by his forefathers, carved out the Frankish kingdom which would eventually lead to modern day France. He also secured the Merovingian line as the supreme rulers over all the Franks for over 200 years, until the Carolingians were able to slowly wrest control from incompetent Merovingians. The Carolingians would go on to give birth to Charlemagne.

The beginning of the Merovingian line is just a shadow in written history. It falls in the gap between Roman historians and the writings of the Christian clergy; which took up the task of history writing after the fall of the western empire. In the mythos that we in this present day have, it was believed that Clovis’s Grandfather, Merovech, was the first in the Merovingian line and the tales of him allude to his mother having sex with some kind of serpent beast and then giving birth to him. This was used to support the idea that the Merovingians came from the supernatural and were blessed with the power to lead.

Clovis’s Father, Childeric, however, is based more in the mundane, and history is much more reliable in his existence. In fact, his grave was found in 1653 in the Belgian town of Tournai, just north of the river Scheldt. Though it was very long ago and archaeology was not even a discipline at that time, it was done methodically and carefully and it was documented, so one might say it was done with an archaeological spirit.

Childeric was wild in his youth and Gregory of Tours put it in these terms, “Childeric, who reigned over the Franks, was sunk in debauchery, and began to dishonor their daughters.” His was expelled for a time from the Frankish kingdom and went to live with the Thuringians. The Franks and the Thuringians have always had close relations.

During his time there he stayed with the Thuringian King, Bisinus, and the Thuringian Queen, Basina. Basina found him to be much better than her present husband, evidently from everything from in the bed to intelligence. (The sexual prowess of all the Merovingians is talked about like a God given trait among them.) In eight years Childeric was called back to his kingdom and Basina left her husband and went with Childeric. When Childeric asked why she followed him, Basina is quoted as saying that if she knew of a man more capable and of strenuous action; wiser, stronger and beautiful than Childeric, even in parts beyond the sea, then that man would have been the object of her preference and she would have sought him for a husband. Truly this relationship was one of a very few Royal marriages that was solely created out of love and respect for one another. This union, of course, gave birth to a son named Clovis.

When Childeric died he left Clovis, at only 15/16 years old, the mantle of the Frank Kingdom. This kingdom was small and consisted only of the island of the Batavians and the region around Tournai and the ancient diocese of Arras. Even at the time of Clovis’s conversion to Christianity, (discussed latter) he only had no more than 5000 warriors. The other tribes of the Franks who settled along the rivers: Scheldt, Meuse, Moselle and the Rhine were ruled by other independent Kings of the Merovingian line. The Salic Prince, Clovis, would end up uniting them all either through warfare, sabotage or just gaining the people’s allegiance through his merit and deeds.


We know nothing of Clovis’s childhood, other then he was born in 467 and probably grew up in and around Tournai, where his father died and many scholars believe was the original Frankish capital. The death of his father in 482 must have been a big event at the time, as he was not only a Merovingian king, but also a Roman general and was buried in rich attire and fully armed as was the custom of Pagan men. The sexual power of the Merovingian line that many writers give them tribute to, is once again instilled in Clovis. Even at the time of Childeric’s death, Clovis, only barely 16 years of age, already had a son with a “concubina”.

Clovis would have had a Roman education that would have included knowledge in civilian administrative practice. He was welcomed and praised by Bishop Remigius of Rheims as administrator of Belgica Secunda, which included the towns of Rheims and Tournai, and the first two years of his rule were in a time of peace that began before his father’s death.

Southwest of the young Frankish Kingdom, in southern Gaul; in an area that included Paris, Tours, Troyes and Soissons, there was aGallo-Roman state. This state was still technically controlled by the last remaining authorities of the Western Roman Empire. Aegidius, one of the last “Roman” Roman generals, started his career in 458, under Emperor Majorian, when he took the area away from the Burgundians. The Franks had even made him their King during Clovis’s father’s exile in Thuringia. When Childeric returned the two worked closely together and where more allies than enemies. The fall of the last Western Roman Emperor in 476 left the two kingdoms as described. At the time of Clovis’s reign the kingdom of Aegidius had passed on to his son, Syagrius. Clovis, in a time of frail peace, had the will and the means of going on the offensive and Syagrius and the lands he held were first on his list.

War was waged and the amount of battles is not known. It may be that small skirmishes were taking place even as Clovis inherited the small Frankish kingdom. The battle that decided matters is recorded as the Battle of Soissons in 486. Clovis actually sent a challenge to Syagrius naming the time and place, which was very chivalric in nature for the time period, and Syagrius accepted. Syagrius and his armies were way out matched for this engagement and were crushed quickly. Syagrius fled to the court of Toulouse and sought protection from the Visigothic King, Alaric. The Visigoths entertained him for a short awhile, but their fear of the Franks finally made them turn Syagrius over to Clovis, who promptly had Syagrius beheaded. Syagrius’s kingdom surrendered to the Franks and the complete takeover of the Kingdom was finished in 492 when the wealthy diocese of Tongres was subdued.

As the war against the Gallo-Roman state was wrapping up, Clovis also gained control of most, if not all, of Thuringia in 492. This control, however secure it may have been, was brief as it is once again independent and ruled by three brothers after Clovis’s death.

Clovis is painted as a figure that possessed a superior merit that attracted respect and allegiance to the national confederacy of the Frankish people. Clovis had a national treasury of virtually nothing. He had no gold or silver and no food or drink in any reserve or abundance. He seemed to exemplify Caesar by acquiring wealth through a sword and gaining soldiers with the spoils of conquest. After each victory the collected winnings where spilt evenly between him and all his forces. Through this system his army learned the importance of regular discipline. He was said to be cool and prudent and that he judged the proportion of interest, passion and opinion in all matters and was cultured not only in Germanic ways but the ways of the Romans. He was able to control his force by seeing them as equals. On his command his force would not even touch a blade of grass in peaceful territory and careless or disobedient soldiers were punished with death.

There is one known story that takes place after the Battle of Soissons about Clovis’s relationship with his military. Clovis as a Pagan had little care for Christian beliefs or sanctity. The forces of Clovis plundered many churches in their collection of war spoils. A great ewer from the church at Soissons was taken and the Bishop sent envoys requesting that if no other sacred object be restored to the church then might the ewer be the exception. Clovis is said to have said, “Follow us to Soissons, for there all the booty is to be divided and if the lot gives me the vessel, I will fulfill the desire of the Bishop.” Once in Soissons and the dividing about to begin, Clovis spoke to his gathered forces, “I ask you, most valiant warriors, not to refuse to cede to me that vessel over and above my share.” (I assume he requested this because he was not planning on keeping the vessel.) The consensus of the warriors agreed with at least one warrior’s statement, “All that is before our eyes, most glorious king, is thine; we ourselves are submitted to thy power. Do now that which seemeth good to thee, for none is so strong as to say thee nay.” One soldier, however, raised his axe and smashed the ewer, crying out, “Naught shalt thou receive of this but that which is thine own lot giveth thee.” All stood astounded by this act, but Clovis remained cool and suppressed his anger at the wrong just committed by the soldier. Clovis gave that busted ewer to the envoys, with his apologies and nothing more was said at that time. Later in the year during a full complete inspection of the military; every warrior and arm was carefully examined. This was done at least once a year, (this also shows the great amount of Roman discipline installed in Clovis’s army). Clovis inspected every one of his warriors personally and when he came to inspect the man who had smashed the ewer in Soissons, he looked the man up and down and said, “None hath appeared with his arms as ill-kept as thou; neither thy lance, nor thy sword, nor thy axe is fit for use.” He then grabbed the warriors axe and threw it on the ground and as the man bent down to pick it up, Clovis swung his own axe and spilt the man’s skull in two, saying, “Thus didst thou treat the ewer at Soissons.” I believe this story illustrates the relationship of the King and his free army very well.

Clovis marries Clothild, the daughter of a former Burgundian king, Chilperic, in 493(?), (give or take a year). Queen Clothild has visions of her own and plans a different social and spiritual career for Clovis; one that she is very successful in accomplishing with her influence over the king and her newfound subjects.


Clothild came from the Catholic side of the Burgundian royal family. She was very devout in her faith and she would see that her family would take up her faith as well. It can be sure that Clothild spent many evenings in conversation about the virtues of Christianity with Clovis, and Clovis did listen out of respect and love for her. When they had their first-born son, Ingomer; a name Clovis chose to honor the pagan god Ing, Clothild insisted that he be baptized. She said to her husband, “The gods whom ye worship are naught; they cannot aid either themselves or others, seeing that they are images carved of wood or stone, or metal. Moreover the names which ye have given them are the names of men and not of gods. Saturn was a man, fabled to have escaped by flight from his son to avoid being thrust from his kingdom; Jupiter also, the lewdest practicer of all debaucheries and of unnatural vice, the abuser of women of his own family, who could not even abstain from sex with his own sister, as she herself admitted in the words ‘sister and spouse of Jove’. What power had Mars and Mercury? They may have been endowed with magical arts; they never had the power of the divine name. But ye should rather serve Him, who at His word created out of nothing and adorned the heaven with stars; who filled the waters with fish, the earth with animals, the air with birds; at whose word the lands are made fair with fruits, the trees with apples, the vines with grapes; by whose hand the race of mankind was created; by whose largess every creature was made to render homage and service to mankind whom He created.” Clovis responded by saying, “It is by command of our gods that all things are created and come forth; it is manifest that thy god availeth in nothing; nay more, he is not even proven to belong to the race of gods.”

It is an important point to remind here that the Merovingians believed that they were descended from gods, as the story of Merovech proclaims, and that the Franks themselves also believed this. Because of this dynamic the decision of conversion could not be taken lightly by Clovis at all. If his people thought that he was abandoning them and their ways, he would surely not be king for long.

However, Clovis does agree to baptize Ingomer, but it is said that the boy grew sick and died while still in his baptism clothing. Clovis said to Clothild, “If the child had been dedicated in the name of my gods, surely he would have survived, but now, baptized in the name of thy God, he could not live a day.” Clothild responded, “I render thanks to Almighty God, Creator of all things, who hath not judged me all unworthy, and deigneth to take into His kingdom this child born of my womb.”

Their second child, named Chlodomir, Clothild also insisted on baptizing and when Clodomir also became ill, Clovis said, “It cannot befall that this infant like his brother shall straightway die, being baptized in the name of Christ.” Clovis gave up hope, but Clothild prayed constantly and avidly and the child did recover. Clothild admonished her husband; expressing the power of faith as the reason God answered her prayers. This statement must have made an impact on Clovis, because he uses it in his time of need.

In 496 Clovis was waging war against the Alamanni and his forces were getting slaughtered by their might. In tears and with his heart swelling, Clovis looked to the heavens and cried, “Jesus Christ, Thou that art proclaimed by Clothild Son of the living God, Thou that art said to give aid to those in stress, and to grant victory to those that hope in Thee, I entreat from my devout heart the glory of Thy succor. If Thou grant me victory over these enemies, and experience confirm that power which the people dedicated to Thy Name claimth to have proved, then will I also believe on Thee and be baptized in Thy Name. I have called upon mine own gods, but here is the proof that they have withdrawn themselves from helping me; wherefore I believe that they have no power, since they come not to the succor of their servants. Thee do I now invoke, on Thee am I fain to believe, if but I may be plucked out of the hands of mine adversaries.” As he said these words, suddenly the Alamanni broke and in chaos began to flee. Clovis’s army began to chase them down and butcher the whole lot of them. The king of the Alamanni was killed and it is claimed by some that he was the last king of the Alamanni, though Clovis did not win complete victory over them until 506, and even then Theodoric the Great was protecting some tribes that originally belonged to the Alamanni confederacy. I do not know the name of this king killed in this battle in the plain of Tolbiac, about twenty four miles from Cologne, in fact I am having trouble finding much of any thing about the Alamanni rulers and can not find anything on the king Chlodomar of the Alamanni in the FoR game. If any one knows anything more I would love to hear of it. Whether this king was Chlodomar or someone else and whether the Alamanni were completely destroyed or not Clovis did indeed taking most of their territory and claimed a huge victory for the Franks.

Clovis returned home and straight away told his Queen how he had won his victory. Clothild immediately called for Remigius, bishop of Rheims, to be summoned secretly and he began to instruct Clovis in the Catholic faith and asked him to forego his old gods. Clovis confided in him, saying, “I myself, most holy father, will gladly hearken to thee; but one thing yet remaineth. The people that follow me will not suffer it that I forsake their gods; yet will I go, and reason with them according to thy word.” Clothild’s reputation and hard work, along with Remigius and members of the priesthood, however, had been working on the conversion of the people and when Clovis went out to them to share his thoughts many people cried out, “O gracious king, we drive forth our gods that perish, and are ready to follow that immortal God whom Remigius preacheth.”

Clovis was baptized probably on Christmas day in 498 in Rheims by bishop Remigius, who is said to have said, “Bow your head in meekness, Sicamber (Frank). Worship what you have burnt, burn what you have been wont to worship.” During the baptism, Clovis was joined in baptism by his oldest sister, another Merovingian king, named Chararic, and his son, also three or six thousand Franks, depending on which account you read. One very important aspect of this baptism is that Clovis became the first Catholic king, which fit into the greater roman populace and secured the skills of the clergy, which had been keeping the towns and cities running in absence of any other authority. All of the other Germanic tribes that had come to Christianity had done so by becoming of the Arian faith of Christianity. This act alone gave Clovis an incredible advantage and sway with people all over Europe.

Clothild became very upset at the events unfolding back in her native kingdom. Her father and mother had been murdered by the now ruler of Burgundy, king Gundobad. She urged Clovis to address this injustice and he did by joining forces with Gundobad’s brother, Godegisil. They met with Gundobad’s forces and won and Gundobad was forced to pay tribute to Clovis. Gundobad, however, got his revenge against Godegisil shortly afterwards, killing him and all of his main supporters. This was a draw back for Clovis as it allowed Gundobad to consolidate the Burgundian kingdom and strengthen its power. An alliance was upheld between the two kingdoms, much to the disappoint of Queen Clothild, as the time was just not right for further confrontation and the assistance of the Burgundian forces would be sorely needed for the conquests Clovis had in mind for his people.

Through his ambition and open-mindedness, Clovis put himself into a position that could make his kingdom a very powerful force in the post-roman world. He was also lucky to have respected and intelligent people around him, like his wife and members of the priesthood. Becoming a Catholic was the greatest thing Clovis could have done for his influence and power, even if the full effect of that decision was not fully realized.


Somewhere between the time of his Baptism and his war with the Visigoths (yet to come), Clovis went against the Armorican Celts, also own as the Arborychoi. They were not lead, of course, by the great King Arthur as Fall of Rome has things set up, but, as best as I can deduce, by ---- ------. Clovis was unable to defeat them in the field of battle. It is said by the Greek historian Procopius that they still held strongly to the old Roman military ways and even kept alive the old Roman legions they use to belong to, with their banners, customs and dress preserved; just as their forefathers had done. This may be why Clovis found it impossible to defeat them and it maybe also be something that Clovis would latter learn that enabled him to be so successful in future battles. Not to be shamed, Clovis offered a marriage proposal between their two ruling houses. Unfortunately I do not know who married who, but suffice to say the Armoricans agreed. They were actually quite joyous as they were Catholic Christians also, and through this bond they entered the Frankish fold as willing vassals to Clovis.

Now it is time to turn to Clovis’s greatest triumph, his war with the Visigoths. The Visigoths controlled more than the entire southern half of modern day France and west into modern day Italy and Germany. Clovis’s successes had insulted the honor of the Goths and they were actually afraid of Clovis’s rapid progress.

I would like to pause here and discuss the reality of reuniting the Western Roman Empire. Many people would assume that the power, wealth and organizational skills of the Roman Empire had completely fallen apart by this time and would assume that these are the major reasons why it fell apart in the first place. While this assumption is not totally wrong, it is not accurate. The territories of the Western Roman Empire were still very organized and politically strong and the groups of Germanic tribes that inherited parts of it knew that and very much wanted to reunite the empire under their own people. Many groups held power and dealing with them took time and as a certain group fell by another group, another group would fell even another group, and so on and so forth. This, of course, would make it all the more difficult to reclaim the Western Roman Empire. All of this was also accompanied by a complicated dance to seek approval from the Eastern Roman Empire that was the legitimate heirs of this great society that had been created in Western Europe. This kept Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths from coming to the aid of the Visigoths in a timely fashion against Clovis. The Goths had not long been separated, and while they recognized there political split and acknowledged two separate rulers, they where still kin to each other. Theodoric had signed a peace agreement with the Eastern Roman Empire emperor, Anastasius I, because of minor wars and political disputes that occurred earlier. Theodoric was given Roman titles that he needed in order to become the legitimate ruler of the west, this treaty also kept his hands tied somewhat to come to the Visigoth’s aid. In fact, until the complete defeat of the Visigoths in Gaul, it was Clovis and the Burgundian King, Gundobad, and the Vandal king, Thrasamund, along with complications from Anastasius and rival factions in the Visigoth kingdom that kept Theodoric from being able to secure his claim to the Visigoth throne after Alaric II.

One other note here to illustrate the deep ties and ambitions of the Germanic tribes to rule the Western Roman Empire is the tight web of marriages between the rulers. Clovis was married to a Burgundian princess. Theodoric was married to Audofleda, Clovis’s sister. The marriage Theodoric had before this produced a daughter, Thiudigotho, who went on to marry the Visigoth king, Alaric II. Theodoric’s other daughter, Ostroghotho, married the Burgundian prince, Sigismond. Theodoric’s sister, Amalafrida married the Vandal king Thrasamund and their daughter, Amalaberga, married the Thuringian king, Herminafrid. Theodoric also had blood ties with the king of the Heruli, Rudolf. We already know that Clovis’s mother was a Thuringian and that marriage ties with the Armoricans had been made with the Merovingian family. This is quite a complex weave of unions and it is all in part to accomplish dominion over the old Western Roman Empire, and it is exactly these schemes and warfare that in the end totally destroyed what was left of the power of the Western Roman Empire and thrust Western Europe into what is now known as the “dark ages”.

We shall now return to the war at hand. There had been many skirmishes between the Franks and the Visigoths about the exact boundaries between their kingdoms. It was decided through negotiations that the two kings would meet in person at a small island of the Loire near Amboise. Clovis and Alaric II talked and feasted and supposedly left each other in good spirits of warm friendship and peaceful relations. This did not last and it may have been do to the fact that Alaric II was suppose to pay tribute to Clovis and it is believed that Alaric stamped more coin in order to pay Clovis. This debased the value of Visigoth coin and Clovis took this as an insult to his own worth in the eyes of Alaric II. In Paris, which Clovis had begun to make his new capitol, he assembled his nobles and warriors and said, “It grieves me to see that the Arians still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we will possess and divide their fertile provinces.” The assembled group cheered and agreed by making a vow never to shave their beards until victory was achieved.

Clothild privately and publicly supported the war against the Visigoths. She commented to her husband that erecting a pious building would please God and give Clovis extra blessings in his campaign against the Visigoths. Clovis pulls out his axe and threw it out into the city, “There, on that spot where my axe has fallen, will I erect a church in honor of the holy apostles.” This made all the Catholic people overjoyed and their faith bond them to Clovis and his desires. It also helped that many people were not happy with Alaric II, even in his own country. The majority was Catholic and could not appreciate his and his court’s Arian ways.

Clovis called on his allies, who included another Frankish King, Sigibert the Lame, and his Burgundian ally, King Gundobad. Alaric II also called up his forces which far outnumbered the forces of Clovis, and the cities of Gaul reluctantly supplied them. Alaric II also called upon Theodoric the Great for support and the kinship and religious ties of the Ostrogoths to the Visigoths made Theodoric readily agree to send troops.

Clovis marched south out of Paris with his force while the Burgundians started attacking eastern Visigoth territories. In Tours Clovis thought it best to seek more aid from God and sent men to consult the shrine of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. They were given offerings to place in the Church and Clovis said to them, “Go now and happily you shall bring good word of victory from that sacred house. If Thou, O Lord, art my helper, and if Thou hast determined to deliver onto my hands this unbelieving people, ever set against Thee, then offer a sign to my messengers as they enter the basilica of the blessed Martin, so that I may know that Thou bless me with Thy favor.”

When the messengers entered the basilica one of the priests broke into chant, “Thou has girded me, O Lord, with strength unto battle; Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs upon me, and Thou hast destroyed them that hate me.” The messengers gave the offerings rejoicing and quickly ran back to Clovis to give him the good news of God’s blessing.

Clovis, now confident that his God was behind him, marched on and the inhabitants of Orleans secured a bridge across the Loire. Some 40 miles from Poitiers, Clovis and his force was stopped by the flooded river Vienne. The opposite banks of the river were covered by the encampment of the Visigoth army. Soon, however, probably spurred by some peasants that were impatient to welcome their deliverer for the Arians, a white hart, a white cow, came through Clovis’s army and went to the river. In the flooded waters it waded across the river and thus showed Clovis and his army a ford where it was still possible to cross. This ford is still called the Hart to this day. Impatient warriors overconfident in their strength urged Alaric to attack, but older leaders warned not to engage Clovis now and to withdraw and wait for reinforcements from Theodoric and his Ostroghoth army. They retreated, but they wasted precious time in coming to that decision and in doing so, they may have left an advantageous post too soon. The opportunity to make a secure retreat was lost do to their slow and disorderly movements. Clovis made a night march that was guided by a flaming meteor suspended in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers, which was taken as another sign from God; this time as a blessing from St. Hillary, which was the patron saint of the Cathedral. In the third hour of the day, Clovis overtook the Visigoths at about ten miles beyond Poitiers and immediately attacked the terror stricken and confused army. Full of youths of the Visigoth army rallied in distress and refused to flee, but they could not escape from death. Clovis and Alaric II encountered each other on the battlefield and engaged in single combat. Alaric II was cut down and killed by Clovis and Clovis was barely saved by his cuirass and the speed of his horse as two desperate Visigoth warriors tried to avenge their king. The rest of the army was slaughtered; the entire army wiped out of existence.

Alaric II left behind an infant son, a bastard competitor, factious nobles and a disloyal people. The remaining Visigoth armies were oppressed by these conditions or their generals made civil war against one another. Clovis moved forward to secure all of Aquitaine. He went to siege Angouleme and at the sound of his army approaching the walls of the city suddenly all fell to the ground (probably with a little help for some clerical engineers the supported Clovis and had secretly compromised the foundations of the ramparts). Clovis then moved on to Bordeaux and that city gave no resistance and he wintered there. The treasury of the Visigoths in Toulouse saw secured to Clovis and he delegated the task moping up the rest of the Visigoth forces in the west to his oldest son, Theuderic.

The remaining Visigoths still had the protection of the Ostrogoths and while the army may have been too late for Alaric it still showed up and it forced the Franks and the Burgundians to raise the siege of Arles. The Franks and Burgundians are said to have lost 30,000 warriors in that failed siege and this made Clovis agree to a peace treaty. This peace treaty gave to Franks everything north of the Pyrenees all the way to the Loire. This more than doubled the kingdom’s size and gave it a rich and highly Romanized region. What was left of the Visigoths was given only the small strip of coast, from the Rhone to the Pyrenees, called Septimania. The Visigoths would eventually recover from this devastating loss and move into what is today Spain and rule there until completely wiped out by the Arab invasion in 711.

After Clovis had delegated cleaning duties he began his return to Paris where he would consolidate is newfound kingdom. On the way back he stopped in Tours and made offerings to the holy shrine of Saint Martin. He received letters there from Emperor Anastasius, who was now at war with Theodoric. The Emperor praised Clovis’s accomplishments, ratifying Clovis’s usurpation of Gaul and conferring the title and ensigns of Consul to him. Clovis was vested in a purple tunic, a mantle and a diadem was placed on his head. Clovis then got on his horse and rode from the church of Saint Martin to the cathedral of Tours. A massive joyful crowd had gathered on the streets and was cheering and shouting out, “Consul!” As Clovis passed people he showered them with gold and silver coins and rejoiced with them.

When Clovis finally returned to Paris he knew the next step was to consolidate his power in order to make his kingdom strong and efficient. One major priority undertaken to accomplish this was to eliminate all other Frankish tribal kings, or, that is to say, kill off his relatives. One interesting note, before I retell these stories of subduing other tribal kings, is that it seems that if the characters would have been more honorable and loyal men they might have faired better. It is as if Clovis was testing them and they all failed.

The first and most powerful was Sigibert the Lame, King of the Rhineland Franks. It is assumed that he had good relations with Clovis until then, as his son, Chloderic, had fought alongside Clovis in the war against the Visigoths. Clovis talks Chloderic into killing his father as his father is walking in the forest outside Cologne. When Chloderic was selecting his reward from his father’s treasure chest, one of Clovis’s men splits his skull with an axe. Clovis tells the Rhineland Franks that Chloderic had killed his father and as just punishment he was executed. The Rhinelanders approved of this action and made Clovis their king.

The next was king Chararic, who was baptized with Clovis but did not support the war with Syagrius; remember that this was before the baptism. This was the excuse Clovis made and he ordered Chararic and his son to be tonsured and ordained clerics. Clovis heard later that Chararic’s son was planning on killing Clovis as soon as the son’s hair grew back. Clovis decided that it was just best to kill them both. He did, they were beheaded and Clovis took over their kingdom.

Clovis then went on to deal with King Ragnachar. He gave some of Ragnachar’s sworn followers arm rings of bronze gilded to look like solid gold, saying that they were gold and that the sworn followers could have more if they would deliver Ragnachar and his brother Ricchar. The sworn followers did so and Clovis killed them both with his axe and then berated the hapless followers for betraying their lord. Ragnachar’s other brother, Rignomer, was at Le Mans and was also put to death. We are told that Clovis killed other kings and blood relatives that he suspected of conspiring against his kingdom in the same fashion. Clovis remarked once to a general assembly of his subjects that, “How sad a thing it is that I live among strangers like some solitary pilgrim, and that I have none of my own relations left to help me when disaster threatens.” It is said that he said this not because he grieved their deaths, but because he hoped to find some relative alive whom he could kill.

Clovis passed away in 511, just at the age of 45. He had ruled for 30 years had had accomplished a great deal. He had made the Franks a great power and a nation of Catholics. He spent all of that effort in consolidating his power that it make one scratch one’s head when his final order was to spilt the kingdom up between his four sons, Theuderic, the oldest and not Clothild’s son, Childebert, Chlodomer and Chlothar. This actually may have some basis in Frankish history. It also could have been argued by Clothild to make sure Clovis’s first son did not cut her sons out of their inheritance, and it could be argued that this left no heir bitter and was fair, but it hurt the power base and all it did was make sons dislike each other and covet one another’s land, often leading to civil war. No, hindsight tells us that this was a very bad idea. Chlothar would eventually out live his other brothers and rule the kingdom alone. He, however, does the same thing at the end of his life and split the kingdom up for his four sons. The stories of these four sons and their wives are greatly entertaining and fascinating. They, however, are for another time and another place.

[rmcdowell]

Hurtme,

Thanks for taking the time to re-post this fine piece, and for the time you originally took to write it. Looking forward to more coming!

[MaximusDominus]

But, more never came.

Too busy grooming that long mane of his, I'll wager.