Chilperic I
Chilperic I | |
---|---|
Merovingian | |
Father | Chlothar I |
Mother | Aregund |
Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of
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
Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. Sigebert defeated him and marched to Soissons, where he defeated and imprisoned Chilperic's eldest son, Theudebert. The war flared in 567, at the death of Charibert. Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's new lands, but Sigebert defeated him. Chilperic later allied with Guntram against Sigebert (573), but Guntram changed sides and Chilperic again lost the war.
When Sigebert married
This murder was the cause of more long and bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert. In 575, Sigebert was struck down by two assassins working for Fredegund at the very moment when he had Chilperic at his mercy. Chilperic then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram. Chilperic retrieved his position, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine, and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.[1]
In 578, Chilperic sent an army to fight the
Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him "the Nero and Herod of his time" (VI.46): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics. Gregory also objected to Chilperic's attempts to teach a new doctrine of the Trinity,[3] although some scholars dispute the extent to which Gregory disliked Chilperic.[4]
According to Gregory of Tours, Chilperic also engaged in forced conversion of Jews. [5]
Chilperic's reign in Neustria saw the introduction of the Byzantine punishment of eye-gouging. Yet, he was also a man of culture: he was a musician of some talent, and he wrote verse (modelled on that of Sedulius); he attempted to reform the Frankish alphabet; and he worked to reduce the worst effects of Salic law upon women.
In September 584, while returning from a hunting expedition at his royal villa of Chelles, Chilperic was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant.[1][6] He was buried in the Saint Vincent Basilica of Paris, later incorporated in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Family
Chilperic I's first marriage was to Audovera. They had five children:
- Theudebert (killed in battle, 573)
- Merovech (killed by a servant at his request in 577),p – married the widow Brunhilda (his aunt by marriage) and became his father's enemy
- Clovis (assassinated by Fredegund in 580)
- Basina (d. aft. 590) – a nun; led a revolt in the abbey of Poitiers
- Childesinda (died young from dysentery)
His short second marriage to Galswintha produced no children.
His concubinage and subsequent marriage to Fredegund in about 568 produced six more legitimate offspring:
- Rigunth (c. 569 – after 589), betrothed to Reccared but never married
- Chlodebert (c. 570/72 – 580), died young
- Samson (c. 573 – late 577), died young
- Dagobert (c. 579/80 – 580), died young
- Theuderic (c. 582 – 584), died young
- Chlothar II (before September 584 – 18 October 629), Chilperic's successor in Neustria, later sole king of the Franks
Etymology
Chilperic's name in Frankish meant "powerful supporter", akin to German hilfreich "auxiliary" (cf. German Hilfe "help, aid" and reich "rich, orig. powerful")
Cultural references
An operetta on the subject, Chilpéric, was created by Hervé, first performed in 1864.
References
- ^ a b c d Pfister 1911.
- ^ Howorth, 309.
- ^ "Gregory of Tours". Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2005-12-31.
- ^ Halsall, Guy (2002). Mitchell, Kathleen; Wood, Ian (eds.). 'Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours' writing of history' in The World of Gregory of Tours. Brill. pp. 337–350.
- ^ Gregory of Tours. A History of the Franks. Pantianos Classics, 1916
- ^ Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 476-918, Rivingtons, 1908, p. 169 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Sources
- Sérésia, L'Eglise el l'Etat sous les rois francs au VI siècle (Ghent, 1888).
- Dahmus, Joseph Henry. Seven Medieval Queens. 1972.
- Halsall, Guy. "Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours' writing of history," in The World of Gregory of Tours, ed. Kathleen Mitchell and Ian Wood (Leiden: Brill, 2002).
- public domain: Pfister, Christian (1911). "Chilperic". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 163. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- History of the Franks: Books I-X Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine At Medieval Sourcebook