HOME
*



picture info

Guntram
Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and second eldest surviving son of Chlothar I and Ingunda. On his father's death in 561, he became king of a fourth of the Kingdom of the Franks, and made his capital at Orléans. The name "Gontrand" denotes " War Raven". Personal life King Gontrand had something of that fraternal love which his brothers lacked; the preeminent chronicler of the period, St. Gregory of Tours, often called him "good king Gontrand", as noted in the quotation below from the former's ''Decem Libri Historiarum'', in which St. Gregory discussed the fate of Gontrand's three marriages: The good king Gontrand first took a concubine Veneranda, a slave belonging to one of his people, by whom he had a son Gundobad. Later he married Marcatrude, daughter of Magnar, and sent ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chlothar II
Chlothar II, sometime called "the Young" (French language, French: le Jeune), (May/June 584 – 18 October 629), was king of Neustria and king of the Franks, and the son of Chilperic I and his third wife, Fredegund. He started his reign as an infant under the regency of his mother, who was in an uneasy alliance with Chlothar's uncle King Guntram of Burgundy, who died in 592. Chlothar took power upon the death of his mother in 597; though rich, Neustria was one of the smallest portions of Francia. He continued his mother's feud with Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia, Brunhilda with equal viciousness and bloodshed, finally achieving her execution in an especially brutal manner in 613, after winning the battle that enabled Chlothar to unite Francia under his rule. Like his father, he built up his territories by seizing lands after the deaths of other kings. His reign was long by contemporary standards, but saw the continuing erosion of royal power to the French nobility and the church ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Childebert II
Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle Guntram. Childhood When his father was assassinated in 575 by two slaves of Queen-consort Fredegund of Soissons,Van Dam. Raymond. "Merovingian Gaul and the Frankish conquests", ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 1, c. 500–c. 700'', ed. Paul Fouracre, Rosamond Mac Kitterick, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 204. Childebert was taken from Paris by Gundobald (according to one story, after being lowered from a window in a bag by his mother), one of his faithful lords, to Metz (the Austrasian capital), where he was recognized as sovereign. He was then only five years old, and during his long minority the power was disputed between his mother Brunhilda and the nobles, with Brunhilda being domi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gregory Of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florentius and later added the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather. He is the primary contemporary source for Merovingian history. His most notable work was his ''Decem Libri Historiarum'' (''Ten Books of Histories''), better known as the ''Historia Francorum'' (''History of the Franks''), a title that later chroniclers gave to it. He is also known for his accounts of the miracles of saints, especially four books of the miracles of Martin of Tours. St. Martin's tomb was a major pilgrimage destination in the 6th century, and St. Gregory's writings had the practical effect of promoting highly organized devotion. Biography Gregory was born in Clermont, in the Auvergne region of central Gaul. He was born into the upper stratum ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chlothar I
Chlothar I, sometime called "the Old" ( French: le Vieux), (died December 561) also anglicised as Clotaire, was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I. Chlothar's father, Clovis I, divided the kingdom between his four sons. In 511, Clothar I inherited two large territories on the Western coast of Francia, separated by the lands of his brother Childebert I's Kingdom of Paris. Chlothar spent most of his life in a campaign to expand his territories at the expense of his relatives and neighbouring realms in all directions. His brothers avoided outright war by cooperating with Chlothar's attacks on neighbouring lands in concert or by invading lands when their rulers died. The spoils were shared between the participating brothers. By the end of his life, Chlothar had managed to reunite Francia by surviving his brothers and seizing their territories after they died. But upon his own death, the Kingdom of the Franks was once again divided ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Austregilde
Austregilde (548 580Bouyer, Christian; ''Dictionnaire des Reines de France''. Librairie Académique Perrin, 1992. p. 72. (ISBN 2-262-00789-6) (in French)), also called Austrechild, Austerchild, Austregildis, Bobilla, and Bobile, was a Frankish queen consort of the 6th century. She was not born into high social status, and was possibly a servant of Queen Marcatrude, the second wife of Guntram, King of Orléans, a servant of one of Guntram's courtiers, or even a slave in the household of Marcatrude's father. After Guntram's repudiation of his earlier queen in 565, she became his third wife. Objections to this marriage and to the legitimacy of Austregilde's children led to the deaths of Marcatrude's brothers and the banishment to a monastery of the Bishop of Gap, both on the orders of Guntram. Austregilde and Guntram had two sons, Clotaire and Clodomir, and two daughters, Clodoberge and Clotilde. Austregilde outlived her sons, who died in 576 of illness. The fates of her dau ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kingdom Of The Franks
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, West Francia became the predecessor of France, and East Francia became that of Germany. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era before its partition in 843. The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north. After a period where small kingdoms interacted with the remaining Gallo-Roman institutions to their south, a single kingdom uniting them was founded by Clovis I who was crowned King of the Franks in 496. His dynasty, the Merovingian dynasty, was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mummolus
Mummolus (also spelled Mommolus or Mummulus), was a Gallo-Roman patrician and prefect who served Guntram, King of Burgundy, as a general in the 6th century. He was born Eunius to Peonius, Count of Auxerre. Peonius sent his son to Guntram with gifts in order to guarantee his reappointment as count, but Mummolus used his gifts for his own request for the comital office, which he received. Mummolus attained prominence in Gaul during the first Lombard invasion. The patrician Amatus died in battle against them and was replaced in that office by Mummolus. It was in the wars with the Lombards that Mummolus proved himself a uniquely capable strategist. The Lombards were then in the midst of an interregnum known as the Rule of the Dukes and three of their dukes — Zaban of Pavia, Amo, and Rodanus — invaded Provence and were expelled by Mummolus and chased even into Italy. His first victory was a tactical one at Embrun. This was followed up by a defeat of some Saxon raiders ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Charibert I
Charibert I (french: Caribert; la, Charibertus; 517 – December 567) was the Merovingian King of Paris, the second-eldest son of Chlothar I and his first wife Ingund. His elder brother Gunthar died sometime before their father's death. He shared in the partition of the Frankish kingdom that followed his father's death in 561, receiving the old kingdom of Childebert I, with its capital at Paris. Personal life Charibert married Ingoberga and they had four children: * Blithide of Cologne (538-603), possibly married to Ansbertus, Gallo-Roman senator * Chrodobertus (d. 595) *Bertha, who married Æthelberht of Kent *Charibert of Hesbaye (555-636), who married Wulfgurd of Hesbaye Charibert also had several concubines. By Merofleda, a wool carder's daughter, and her sister Marcovefa, he had daughters: Berteflede (a nun in Tours) and Clothilde (a nun in St. Croix, Poitiers). By Theodogilda (or Theudechild), a cowherd's daughter; Charibert had a son who died in infancy. Charibe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chilperic I
Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund. Life Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he endeavoured to take possession of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of Berny and entered Paris. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Thérouanne, Tournai, and Boulogne fell to Chilperic's share. His eldest brother Charibert received Paris, the second eldest brother Guntram received Burgundy with its capital at Orléans, and Sigebert received Austrasia. On the death of Charibert in 567, Chilperic's estates were augmented when the brothers divided Charibert's kingdom among themselves and agreed to share Paris. Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of— ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Desiderius Of Aquitaine
Desiderius (died 587) was a Gallo-Roman ''dux'' in the Kingdom of the Franks during the reigns of Chilperic I and Guntram. He served Chilperic as Duke of Aquitaine and was his greatest general. When Sigebert I of Austrasia died in 575, Chilperic sent Desiderius to invade his kingdom, but Guntram of Burgundy sent the patrician Mummolus against him and Desiderius was defeated and forced to retreat, leaving Austrasia to Sigebert's son Childebert II. The following year, with the armies of Bladast and Berulf, surrounded the territory of Bourges. They subsequently devastated the Touraine, as recorded by the then bishop of Tours, Gregory, the historian. In 583, Chilperic gave the province of Aquitaine to him and Bladast and sent them into Vasconia with a large army. They were defeated and most of the army destroyed. When Chilperic died (584), Desiderius went to Toulouse to secure the treasure imparted to Chilperic's daughter Riguntha, betrothed to Reccared, son of Leovigild, King of Spa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Merovingian Dynasty
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaulish Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breaking up of the empire of Theodoric the Great. The dynastic name, medieval Latin or ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to the attested Old English , with the final -''ing'' being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from King Merovech, whom many legends surround. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a g ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chalon-sur-Saône
Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; however, the department capital is the smaller city of Mâcon. Geography Chalon-sur-Saône lies in the south of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and in the east of France, approximately north of Mâcon. It is located on the Saône river, and was once a busy port, acting as a distribution point for local wines which were sent up and down the Saône river and the Canal du Centre, opened in 1792. History Ancient times Though the site (ancient ''Cabillonum'') was a capital of the Aedui and objects of La Tène culture have been retrieved from the bed of the river here, the first mention of ''Cavillonum'' is found in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (VII, chs. 42 and 90). The Roman city already served as a river port and hub of road communications, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]