THE MEROVINGIAN ERA
The Merovingian era lasted three centuries, from 460 to 751. It derives its name
from the rulers of this period, the Merovingian kings. They in their turn have
their name from a legendary King Merovech.
SOURCES
The principal medieval sources for this period are:
Gregory of Tours (Gregorius Turonensis), Historiae Francorum Libri Decem. Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH), Scriptores rerum Merovingiarum I (Hannover, 1951). German translation by Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, neu bearbeitet von Siegmund Hellmann, Zehn Bücher Fränkischer Geschichte (Leipzig, 1911-1913). Dutch translation by F.J.A.M. Meijer, Historien (Baarn, 1994).
Fredegarius, Chronicae, with the Continuatio. MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingiarum II (Hannover, 1888, photostatic reprint 1956). German translation, with the Continuatio, by Andreas Kustering, Quellen zur Geschichte des 7. und 8. Jahrhunderts. (Darmstadt, 1982).
SECONDARY WORKS
Good secondary works are:
Reinhard Schneider, Das Frankenreich. Oldenbourg Grundriß der Geschichte, Band 5 (München/Wien, 1982).
Patrick J. Geary, Before France and Germany. The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World (New York/Oxford, 1988).
Ian Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751 (London (1994)). This book contains three excellent genealogies of the Merovingian kings and three very good maps.
Waltraut Bleiber, Das Frankenreich der Merovinger (Wien-Köln-Graz, 1988).
THE SALIAN FRANKS
At the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476
the Germanic nation of the Franks lived in south-western Germany, in the Benelux
countries, and in the north of France. One of its tribes was that of the Salian
Franks, who lived in the north-west of France and the south-west of Belgium,
with Tournai (Doornik, B) as its capital.
THE MEROVINGIAN KINGS
There have been thirty-three Merovingian kings in all, the
first being Childeric I (460-481/482) and the last Childeric III (743-751). The
first solidly historical king is Clovis (481/482-511). This Chlodwig or Clodovec
= Clovis I is the first of a long line of French kings with the name of `Louis’
, the last one being Louis XVIII (1814-1830).
THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOVIS
Clovis is important for two reasons:
He was the founder of the Frankish Empire;
He converted to Roman Catholicism.
CLOVIS’S CONQUESTS
His conquests are:
The Realm of Syagrius in 486. This was the last remnant of the Western Roman Empire, situated between the Seine and the Loire.
The territory of the Ripuarian Franks, ca. 490, situated between the Meuse and the Rhine.
The Kingdom of the Alemans in 496 or 497. situated on both sides of the southern course of the Rhine.
The French part of the Kingdom of the Visigoths in 507, situated between the Loire and the Pyrenees, with Bordeaux and Toulouse.
At Clovis`s death in 511 his kingdom extended from the Pyrenees across the Rhine almost to the Neckar.
PARIS THE CAPITAL
It was of great historical significance that Clovis made
Paris his capital. Henceforeward this city would be the capital of France.
Situated on an island in the Seine it was easily defensible; it stood on
important strategic and commercial cross-routes.
CLOVIS’S CONVERSION
Clovis’ s conversion took place ca. 497 (exact date
unknown). Clovis ascribed his victory over the Alemans to the God of the
Christians, which made him change his allegiance. All other Germanic kings were
Arians, but Clovis, followed by three thousand of his warriors, went straight
from paganism to Roman Catholicism. This gave him a sort of precedence over all
other German kings and the support of the Pope. Since then France is called la
fille aînée de l’Église, the eldest daughter of the Church.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF REIMS
Clovis’ s baptism took place in Reims. This fact gave this
city a special place in the history of France, because all the French kings
(with the exception of Napoleon I and III and of Louis-Philippe, 1830-1848) were
anointed and crowned there, the last one being King Charles X in 1824.
CLOVIS NOT AN EASY CONVERT
(Vol. XVI, p. 9): “We shall never know how much conviction
there was in his conversion and how much political calculation. His wife
Clotilda (Chrodigild), a Roman Catholic Burgundian princess, whom he had married
in 493, may have had some influence. The omniscient Gregory of Tours reports
that their first child was baptized, obviously against the wishes of the father.
Clotilda is said to have sermonized her husband telling him that the gods he
revered were nothing, and many more words in this vein. Yet she was unable to
change his mind, still less so because the baby came to die very soon. “If he
had been dedicated to the gods, he would have lived”, he said angrily. A
second son was born and also baptized. However, the child fell ill, and the
father said that all this baptizing was good for nothing. Yet, the mother prayed
and the child recovered. It was finally the Battle of Zülpich (the victory over
the Alemans) that made Clovis change his allegiance.”
MEROVINGIAN KINGDOMS
Most of the Merovingian period there was not one kingdom but
several. Only during five periods there was one single kingdom, during the reign
of Clovis, during three years, 558-561, of the reign of Lothar I (511-610),
during the reign of Lothar II (584-629) from 613 to 629, during one year,
632-633, of Dagobert I (623-639), and during the reigns of Theodoric IV
(721-737) and Childeric III (743-751). This means that during the three
centuries of Merovingian rule there was a united kingdom only during
seventy-four years in all.
DIVIDING THE KINGDOM
Frankish kings made no difference between the private and
public domains. The kingdom was their private possession, which they could
divide between their sons, just as all their other possessions. The consequence
was that there could be one, two, three of four kingdoms at a time. The
principal parts were Neustria, the north-west of France, with Paris, Austrasia,
the north-east of France with Reims, and Germany along the Rhine, and Aquitaine,
the south-west of France, with Bordeaux and Toulouse.
THE DOMINANT IDEA OF UNITY
In spite of the wars the Merovingian kingdoms waged against
each other, the dominant idea remained that the kingdom should be one. Two
powerful tendencies were constantly in conflict, causing endless struggles and
strife, this desire of unity, and the custom of dividing a kingdom among the
ruler’s sons.
LATER CONQUESTS
Clovis’s successors made some new conquests.
Two of Clovis’s sons conquered Burgundy, the region along the northern course of the Rhône, in 534.
Provence, the region between the southern course of the Rhône and the Alps, was ceded to them by the Visiothic king in 536.
Other sons of Clovis conquered Thuringia in 531.
Dagobert II, King of Neustria and Aquitaine (676-679), pushed the Frankish frontier in the Netherlands still more to the north by occupying Frisian territory, with the commercial emporium Dorestad (Wijk-bij-Duurstede) and Utrecht.
DAGOBERT II
Dagobert II was the last Merovingian king worthy of that
name. He became the subject of many legends; there is even a hotel `Dagobert’
in Doué-la-Fontaine, near Saumur (F). More about him in Laurent Theiss, Dagobert.
Un roi pour un peuple (Paris, 1982).
THE ROIS-FAINÉANTS
The Merovingian kins who came after Sigebert III (634-656)
are called the rois-fainéants, the do-nothing kings. They were powerless
and insignificant as rulers. Many came to the throne as minors and died young.
From 715 to 721 there was not even a king.
THE MAYORS OF THE PALACE
The real men in power were the mayors of the palace. A major
domus or mayor of the palace combined the functions of prime minister and
commander-in-chief. Especially the mayors of Neustria and Austrasia were very
powerful men. The Neustrian mayor of the palace was defeated by the Austrasians
in the Battle of Tertry in 687. Since then there was only one mayor of the
palace.
THE CAROLINGIAN MAYORS
The Austrasian mayors belonged to the race of the
Carolingians; their place of origin was Metz. The one who defeated the
Neustrians was Pepin II of Heristal (680-714). His illegimate son Charles ousted
Pepin’s grandsons and became sole mayor (719-741). He became very prestigious
by defeating the invading Arabs near Poitiers in 732. Henceforward he is known
as `Charles the Hammer’, Charles Martel.
The mayors of the palace also made their office hereditary. Martel was succeeded by his two sons, but one of these resigned in 747 and became a monk. Pepin III the Short became sole mayor of the palace (741-751). He deposed the last Merovingian king in and became king himself in 751.