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Clovis I (variously spelled
Chlodowech or Chlodwig, giving modern French Louis and modern
German Ludwig) (c.466 – November 27, 511) was the first king of
the Franks to unite that entire barbarian (according to the
Romans) nation. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481[1] as
King of the Salian Franks, one of two main groups of Frankish
tribes,[2] who were then occupying the area west of the lower
Rhine, with their centre around Tournai and Cambrai along the
modern frontier between France and Belgium, in an area known as
Toxandria. Clovis conquered the neighbouring Frankish tribes and
established himself as sole king before his death.
He converted to Catholicism as
opposed to the Arian Christianity common among Germanic peoples,
at the instigation of his wife, the Burgundian Clotilde, a
Catholic. He was baptized in the Cathedral of Rheims as most
future French kings would be. This act was of immense importance
in the subsequent history of France and Western Europe in
general, for Clovis expanded his dominion over almost all of the
old Roman province of Gaul (roughly modern France) which stands
at the centre of European affairs. He is considered the founder
both of France (which his state closely resembled geographically
at his death) and the Merovingian dynasty which ruled the Franks
for the next two centuries.
****
Frankish consolidation
In 486, with the help of Ragnachar,
Clovis defeated Syagrius, the last Roman official in northern
Gaul, who ruled the area around Soissons in present-day
Picardie.[3] This victory at Soissons extended Frankish rule to
most of the area north of the Loire. After this, Clovis secured
an alliance with the Ostrogoths, through the marriage of his
sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great. He followed
this victory with another in 491 over a small group of
Thuringians east of his territories. Later, with the help of the
other Frankish sub-kings, he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle
of Tolbiac. He had previously married the Burgundian princess
Clotilde (493), and, following his victory at Tolbiac, he
converted, traditionally in 496 to her Trinitarian Catholic
faith. This was a significant change from the other Germanic
kings, like the Visigoths and Vandals, who embraced the rival
Arian beliefs.
Christian king
The conversion of Clovis to Roman
Catholic Christianity, the religion of the majority of his
subjects, strengthened the bonds between his Roman subjects, led
by their Catholic bishops, and their Germanic conquerors.
However, Bernard Bachrach has argued that this conversion from
his Frankish, so-called pagan, beliefs alienated many of the
other Frankish sub-kings and weakened his military position over
the next few years. William Daly, in order more directly to
assess Clovis'allegedly barbaric and pagan origins[4] was
obliged to ignore the bishop Gregory of Tours and base his
account on the scant earlier sources, a sixth-century vita of
Saint Genevieve and letters to or concerning Clovis from bishops
and Theodoric.
Perhaps surprisingly, Gregory of
Tours wrote that the beliefs that Clovis abandoned were in Roman
gods, such as Jupiter and Mercury, rather than their Germanic
equivalents. If Gregory's account is accurate it suggests a
strong affinity of Frankish rulers for the prestige of Roman
culture, which they must have embraced as allies and federates
of the Empire during the previous century.
Though he fought a battle in Dijon
in the year 500, Clovis did not successfully subdue the
Burgundian kingdom. It appears that he somehow gained the
support of the Armoricans in the following years, for they
assisted him in his defeat of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse
in the Battle of Vouillé (507) which confined the Visigoths to
Spain and added most of Aquitaine to Clovis' kingdom.[3] He then
established Paris as his capital,[3] and established an abbey
dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the
Seine. All that remains of this great abbey is the Tour Clovis,
a Romanesque tower which now lies within the grounds of the
prestigious Lycée Henri IV, just east of The Panthéon. (After
its founding, the abbey was renamed in honor of Paris' patron
saint, Geneviève. It was demolished in 1802.
According to Gregory of Tours,
following the Battle of Vouillé, Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I,
granted Clovis the title of consul. Since Clovis' name does not
appear in the consular lists, it is likely he was granted a
suffect consulship. Gregory also records Clovis' systematic
campaigns following his victory in Vouillé to eliminate the
other Frankish reguli or sub-kings. These included Sigibert of
Cologne and his son Clotaire; Chararic, another king of the
Salian Franks; Ragnachar of Cambrai, his brother Ricchar, and
their brother Rigomer of Le Mans.
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.
Death and succession
Clovis I died in 511 and is
interred in Saint Denis Basilica, Paris, France, whereas his
father had been buried with the older Merovingian kings in
Tournai. Upon his death, his realm was divided among his four
sons, Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Clotaire. This
created the new political units of the Kingdoms of Reims,
Orléans, Paris and Soissons and inaugurated a period of disunity
which was to last, with brief interruptions, until the end (751)
of his Merovingian dynasty.
Legacy
The legacy of Clovis is
well-established on three very large acts: his unification of
the Frankish nation, his conquest of Gaul, and his conversion to
Roman Catholicism. By the first act, he assured the influence of
his people in wider affairs, something no petty regional king
could accomplish. By the second act, he laid the foundations of
a later nation-state: France. Finally, by the third act, he made
himself the ally of the papacy and its protector as well as of
the people, who were mostly Catholics.
Aside from these acts of more than
just national importance, division of the state, not along
national or even largely geographical lines, but primarily to
assure equal income amongst the brothers, on his death, which
may or may not have been his intention, was the cause of much
internal discord in Gaul and contributed in the long run to the
fall of his dynasty, for it was a pattern constantly
repeated.[5] Clovis did bequeath to his heirs the support of
both people and church such that, when finally the magnates were
ready to do away with the royal house, the sanction of the pope
was sought first.
Notes
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^ The date is
arrived at by counting back from the Battle of Tolbiac,
which Gregory of Tours places in the fifteenth year of
Clovis' reign.
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^ The other group
were the Ripuarian Franks.
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^ a b c Iron Age
Braumeisters of the Teutonic Forests. BeerAdvocate.
Retrieved on 2006-06-02.
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^ Daly, William
M. Daly, "Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan?" Speculum 69.3
(July 1994, pp. 619-664
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^ The Rise of the
Carolingians or the Decline of the Merovingians? (pdf)
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_I
Date Article Copied:
February 2007
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