King+Childebert

King Childebert, a Frankish king, was the king of Paris, France from 511-558. He had three brothers and was the son of Clovis I who was the first king of the Franks. The Franks were the germanic tribal people formed into a group. The Franks were also Gallo-Romans who merged together with the Gauls in the 3rd century AD. King Clovis formed the Merovingian dynasty by gathering these groups of people together under one ruler. King Childebert was one of his successors and was to carry on his legacy and the legacy of the Merovingian dynasty. His mother was Clotilde and she was Clovis’s second wife. Clotilde was known as a saint by the Catholic church and loved by many. His brothers were Theuderic, Chlodomer, and Chlothar. He married a woman named Ultragotha and had two daughters, Chrodoberge and Chrodesinde.

Childebert and his brothers all shared the job of ruling the land that was passed down to them from their father after his death. The brothers fought a war against Godomar of Burgundy. Unfortunately, Chlodomer was killed in the Battle of Vézeronce and his land, the Kingdom of Orléans, was left without a ruler. Chlodomer had three sons and Childebert and Clothar did not want them to rule this land. The two brothers of Chlodomer had no love for their nephews -- they only had greed for the idea of being able to take on the role of ruling Orléans. The two conspired together to get rid of their nephews. They sent a messenger with a knife and a pair of scissors to their mother Clotilde. At this point in time Clotilde was the head of the throne and the two brothers gave her a choice, to kill the boys or cut their hair, which would humiliate and disgrace them. Hair was a sign of their royalty and cutting that would mean they are no longer in the royal family. Clotilde made the decision to kill the boys instead of disgracing them by letting them live a life that was not part of royal family. One son was able to escape alive, although the other two were not so lucky. After that, Childebert and Clothar distributed their dead brother’s land among themselves.

Following this interesting piece of history, Childebert went on to fight in more wars against Burgundy and also saved his sister, Chrotilda, from her abusive gothic husband, King Amalaric. Although, his sister passed away on her way back to safety after this event. Childebert then invaded the Visigoths but failed and had to retreat back to the safety of Paris. Soon after, he passed away on the 13th of December, 558. Childebert played a part in making France the country it is today. He was known as a devoute Catholic, and an understood and easy to work with man. Childebert lies in Basilica of St Denis, Saint-Denis, France.