Clovis I (c. 466 – 27 November 511) was the first
King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish
tribes under one ruler. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481[1] as King of the Salian Franks, one of
the Frankish tribes, 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 Roman Catholicism, as opposed to the Arianism common among Germanic peoples, at the instigation of his wife, the Burgundian Clotilda, 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). 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.
Name
In primary sources Clovis' name is spelled in a number of variants: The Frankish form Chlodovech was Latinised as
Chlodovechus, from which came the Latin name Clovis, which evolved into the
French name Louis.
The name features prominently in subsequent history: Three other Merovingian Kings have been called Clovis, while nine
Carolingian rulers and thirteen other French kings and one Holy Roman Emperor have
been called Louis.
About every European language in has developed his own spelling of his name. Louis (French), "Chlodwig" and
Ludwig (German), Lodewijk (Dutch), and Lewis (English) are just four of the over 100 possible
variations.
Scholars differ about the meaning of his name. Chlodovech is composed out of the Germanic roots Chlod- and -vech, which are usually associated with glow- and -soldier. His name thus
might have meant "illustrious in combat".
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.[2] 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.He was a very powerful ruler
Christian king
Saint Remigius baptizes Clovis.
The conversion of Clovis to 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 paganism 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[3] 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.[citation needed]
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 Arvernians
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.[2] He then established Paris as his
capital,[2] 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 Sigobert the Lame and his son Chlodoric the
Parricide; Chararic, another king of the Salian Franks; Ragnachar of Cambrai, his brother Ricchar, and their brother Rignomer 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.
Medal with obverse legend "Clovis Roy de France."
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 partitioning 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
Gaul after Clovis' death.
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 that of the people, who were
mostly Catholics.
Detracting, perhaps, from these acts of more than just national importance, his 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.[4]
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
Sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Daly, William M., "Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan?" Speculum 69.3 (July 1994, pp. 619-664.
- James, Edward. The Origins of France: Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000. Macmillan, 1982.
- Kaiser, Reinhold. Das römische Erbe und das Merowingerreich. München 2004. (Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte 26)
- Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages 476-918. Rivingtons: London, 1914.
- Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Long-haired Kings. London, 1962.
- The Oxford Merovingian Page.
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