|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
Christian kingImage:Chlodwigs taufe.jpg Saint Remigius baptizes Clovis. 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.
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. Image:CLOVISRoydeFrance.JPG Medal with obverse legend "Clovis Roy de France." Death and successionClovis 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. LegacyImage:ClovisDomain.jpg Gaul at Clovis' death. 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
Sources
bg:Хлодвиг I ca:Clodoveu cs:Chlodvík I. da:Klodevig 1. de:Chlodwig I. et:Chlodowech I es:Clodoveo I eo:Kloviso la 1-a fa:کلوویس یکم fr:Clovis Ier fy:Klovis gl:Clodoveo I hr:Klovis I. it:Clodoveo I he:כלוביס הראשון ka:ხლოდვიგ I lb:Clovis I. vu Frankräich lt:Chlodvigas hu:I. Chlodvig nl:Clovis I ja:クロヴィス1世 no:Klodvig I pl:Chlodwig I pt:Clóvis I ro:Clovis I ru:Хлодвиг I scn:Cluduveu I sk:Chlodovik I. sr:Хлодовек fi:Klodvig sv:Klodvig I uk:Хлодвіг zh:克洛维一世
|
Sites |
Searched sites for "Clovis I" |
|
No sites found. |
Sorry, no matching site records were found. |
Want your site listed here?
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
