Chlodoric (or Chloderic) the Parricide (died c. 509) was a son of

Sigobert the Lame Sigobert the Lame (also ''Sigibert'' or ''Sigebert'') (died c. 508 or 509) was a king of the Ripuarian Franks in the area of Zülpich () and Cologne. History His father's name was "Childebert". He was presumably wounded in the knee at the Bat ...

, a

Frankish king The Franks, Germanic peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dux, dukes and monarch, reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Franks, Salian Mero ...

History

According to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

, Chlodoric murdered his own father in order to take his kingdom of

Ripuarian Franks The Rhineland or Ripuarian Franks, also often referred to using the Latin plurals ''Ribuarii'', or ''Ripuarii'', were the Franks who established themselves in and around the formerly Roman city of Cologne, on the Rhine river in what is now Germa ...

, acting upon the instigation of

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

, a rival king of the

Salian Franks The Salian Franks, or Salians, sometimes referred to using the Latin word or , were a Frankish people who lived in what was is now the Netherlands in the fourth century. They are only mentioned under this name in historical records relating to ...

. Sometime after Sigobert's aided Clovis's victory on the Visigoths in 507, Chlodoric sent assassins upon his father as he took a sojourn in a forest near Fulda.Perry, Walter Copland. ''The Franks, from Their First Appearance in History to the Death of King Pepin'', Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1857, p. 85ff.
/ref> Chlodoric then told Clovis of the murder and offered him the finest treasures of his newly inherited kingdom as a symbol of their new alliance. Clovis sent messengers to assess the treasure, who then asked Chlodoric to plunge his hand as deeply into his gold coins as possible. With his arm submerged, the envoys of Clovis then killed the new king in betrayal. Clovis then stood before the people of Chlodoric and told them that the son had sent assassins to murder his father, but that Chlodoric had subsequently met his own end as well. Clovis then offered his protection to the former subjects of Sigobert and Chlodoric, and thus became their king.Howorth, H.H., "The Ethnology of Germany", ''The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', Volume 13, Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1884, p. 235
/ref> Gregory suggests that Chlodoric was murdered in the same campaign that also killed the Frankish king Chararic. Before, Clovis had killed king

Ragnachar Ragnachar or Ragnarius (died 509) was a Frankish petty king (''regulus'') who ruled from Cambrai. According to Gregory of Tours, Ragnachar "was so unrestrained in his wantonness that he scarcely had mercy for his own near relatives".Gregory, II, 4 ...

and his brothers. After all these murders, Gregory tells us, Clovis lamented that he had no family left anymore, implying that amongst his own casualties were close relatives.

References

Sources

. ''The History of the Franks''. 2 vol. trans. O. M. Dalton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. 500s deaths Year of birth unknown Frankish warriors 6th-century Frankish kings Patricides {{Europe-royal-stub