Chlodomer

Chlodomer (* 495 ; † June 21, 524 near Vézeronce ) was the third eldest son of the Frankish king Clovis I , the second eldest from his father's marriage to Chrodechild . He ruled from 511 to 524 in the part of the empire that had fallen to him when the empire was partitioned in 511.

Family and life

In addition to an older half-brother, Theuderich I. , Chlodomer had three brothers and a sister, Chlodechild (Chlothilde), who married the Visigoth king Amalaric in 526 or 527 . The oldest of the brothers, Ingomer, died as a child. The other two were Childebert I. and Chlothar I. After the death of Clovis in 511, Theuderich, Chlodomer, Childebert and Chlothar divided the empire among themselves. In 523, Chlodomer, together with his brothers Childebert I and Chlothar I, attacked the Burgundians , which had been weakened by a military conflict with the Ostrogoths . In the course of this campaign, the Burgundy King Sigismund was taken prisoner and, together with his family, was killed by drowning in a well on the orders of Chlodomer, while his brother Godomar was able to escape. After these initial successes, Chlodomer was captured by a ruse in Burgundian captivity on June 21, 524 at the Battle of Vézeronce , in the course of which Sigismund's successor Godomar had him killed (see Burgundian War ).

Rich Chlodomers

Division of empire 511

The division of the empire after Clovis's death is controversial in research. For one thing, the actual border areas can hardly be reconstructed; on the other hand, it is not clear whether Clovis himself determined the division in this way or whether his heirs negotiated it. It seems certain, however, that Chlodomer received the areas around the Loire and parts of the ecclesiastical provinces of Sens and Tours , as well as the north of Aquitaine with Poitiers and Bourges; he himself resided in Orléans .

Division of empire after Chlodomer's death

After Chlodomer's death, his brothers broke off the Burgundian campaign. Probably to assert the inheritance claim, Chlothar, contrary to church law, took Chlodomer's widow Guntheuca as his wife, the three sons of Chlodomer came into the care of her grandmother Chrodechild , who also wanted to secure the inheritance claim. Chlothar I took the sons under the pretext of wanting to raise them to kings, and killed the two older ones, the ten-year-old Theudoald and the seven-year-old Gunthar, in order to eliminate their inheritance claims; the youngest, Chlodoald (Chlodowald), was bequeathed. Childebert I and Clothar I shared the inheritance among themselves, probably not until the spring of 532. Childebert I received Orléans, Chartres , Angers , Nantes and Bourges ; Clothar I. Tours, Poitiers and the royal treasure. Troyes , Sens and Auxerre went to Theuderich I, who was not involved in the child murder .

literature

• Eugen Ewig : The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire. 6th, updated edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 978-3-17-022160-4 .
• Eugen Ewig : The Franconian divisions and partial realms. (511-613). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1953, ( Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz - Treatises of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class 1952 , Vol. 9), ISSN  0002-2977 ).
• Martina Hartmann : Departure into the Middle Ages. The time of the Merovingians . 2nd edition with a preface supplemented, reviewed and bibliographically updated. Primus, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-24034-0 .
• Martina Hartmann : The Merovingians. Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-63307-2 .
• Reinhard Schneider : Election and elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages. Investigations into the succession of the Lombards and Merovingians ( monographs on the history of the Middle Ages 3). Anton Hirsemann, Stuttgart 1972 (also: Berlin, Freie Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1970/71), ISBN 3-7772-7203-5 .
• Sebastian Scholz : The Merovingians. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-17-022507-7 .
• Erich Zöllner : History of the Franks up to the middle of the sixth century. On the basis of the work of Ludwig Schmidt in collaboration with Joachim Werner revised . Beck, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-406-02211-1 .

Remarks

1. ↑ See Sebastian Scholz: Die Merowinger , p. 83; Martina Hartmann: The Merovingians , p. 25; Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire , p. 34.
2. ↑ See Martina Hartmann: Aufbruch ins Mittelalter , p. 47; Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire , p. 31 f.
3. ↑ On this regulation of the successor to Chlodomer cf. Reinhard Schneider: Election and elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages. Investigations into the succession of power among the Longobards and Merovingians . Stuttgart 1972, pp. 74-77; Heike Grahn-Hoek: The Franconian upper class in the 6th century. Sigmaringen 1976, pp. 158-165; Sebastian Scholz: The Merovingians , p. 87; Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire , p. 35.

predecessor	Office	successor
Clovis I.	King of the Franks / partial kingdom of Orléans 511–524	Chlothar I.