Chilperich I.

Chilperich hands over a certificate; Miniature from the Grandes chroniques de France , in the BNF

Chilperich I (* around 535 , † murdered between September 27 and October 9, 584 in Chelles ) was a Frankish king from the Merovingian family . He ruled in the partial kingdom of Neustria ( Soissons ) from 561 until his death. He was a son of King Chlothar I from his marriage to Arnegunde .

Life

In the last phase of his reign, Chilperich's father, Chlothar I , reunited the entire Frankish empire, which had been divided up in 511, under his rule. When Chlothar died in 561, four of his sons were still alive in addition to Gundowald , who was not recognized as the king's son , namely Charibert I , Guntram I (Guntchramn), Sigibert I and Chilperich I. The first three came from Chlothar's marriage to Queen Ingund (e) while Chilperich was the only son of Ingund's sister, Queen Arnegunde. In the past, Chilperic was generally regarded as the youngest son; According to the current state of research, however, he was the second youngest, Sigibert the youngest. After his marriage to Arnegunde (around 533/534), Chlothar had not given up his relationship with her sister Ingund.

After the death of Chlothar I, the four sons brought the body together for burial in Soissons. Immediately afterwards Chilperic seized the throne and the city of Paris. He persuaded powerful gentlemen through gifts to submit to him. However, his three half-brothers allied against him and expelled him from Paris. Then the four of them carried out - as the historian Gregor von Tours reports - "legitimate", that is, according to Merovingian custom, a division of the empire. Chilperich received the partial kingdom from Soissons. However, he was not satisfied with his share of the inheritance. When Sigibert, who had received the eastern empire Austrasia (Austrien) with the capital Reims , was bound by fighting against the Avars , Chilperic used this opportunity to invade the eastern empire and conquered Reims. Chilperich's dissatisfaction and aggressiveness was probably related to the fact that he had been preferred by Chlothar I as his favorite son and derived from this a claim to a priority position in the succession plan. Sigibert soon counterattacked; he conquered Soissons and took Chilperich's son Theudebert prisoner (562). 563 released Sigibert Theudebert, but he kept Soissons permanently.

In the year 567 Charibert I died, who had received the part of the empire whose capital was Paris. Since he had no sons, his territory was divided. In doing so, Chilperich received the coastal areas between the Somme and Loire . His share included Amiens and Beauvais in the north ( Francia ) and Bordeaux , Limoges and Cahors in the south . Most of the provinces of Rouen and Tours came into his possession, but not the city of Tours , which, like Poitiers , fell to Sigibert. The royal city of Paris, on which the brothers could not agree, was neutralized.

The enmity between Chilperich and Sigibert intensified by the marriage policy. Sigibert married Brunichild in 566 , a daughter of the Visigoth king Athanagild . This marriage caused Chilperich to ask Athanagild for the hand of Brunichild's older sister Gailswintha . The marriage was concluded, but as early as 570 Chilperich had Gailswintha murdered and married his concubine Fredegunde , who was of very low origin (she came from the servants). This led to permanent enmity between Chilperich and Brunichild.

Chilperic opened the war against Sigibert by having Tours and Poitiers occupied by an army under his son Clovis to create a connection between his northern core areas and his property in the south. This success was only temporary, because Clovis's armed force was driven out by Guntram I's troops under the leadership of the general Mummolus , who was allied with Sigibert. In 573, however, there was a break between Sigibert and Guntram. Chilperich used this opportunity for new attacks on Sigibert's territory, which he had his son Theudebert carry out. After changeable fighting, Sigibert undertook a very successful offensive in 575; he occupied Paris and large parts of Chilperich's empire. Theudebert fell in the fight against Sigibert's troops, Chilperich holed up in Tournai in the far north of his empire. Many previous loyal Chilperichs overran the winner, so that Chilperich got into a hopeless situation. But when Sigibert was murdered in 575 - the two murderers acted on behalf of Fredegundes - the turning point came. Chilperich was able to conquer the entire part of the former empire Charibert, which had fallen to Sigibert in 567. Brunichild was captured but managed to escape in 577.

In Austrasia, Childebert II , the underage son of Sigibert and Brunichild, succeeded his father. The great there allied with Guntram I. against Chilperich. 577 Guntram, who had no heir, adopted Childebert II and made him his heir. Austrasian politics was controlled by Chilperich's enemy Brunichild. In 581, however, there was a change in Austrasia; Brunichild was overthrown, and a party came to power which came to an understanding with Chilperich against Guntram. After the death of his sons, Chilperich no longer had any male descendants; therefore he set his nephew Childebert II as heir in this new alliance. Under these circumstances, Chilperich managed to get Guntram's share in the former Charibert's empire into his possession. In 583 he planned a major attack on Guntram, which was to be carried out together with the Australians. In Austrasia, however, there was another turnaround in favor of Brunichild's supporters. Chilperich then prepared for a war against his Austrasian opponents and against Guntram. He allied himself with the Visigoth king Leovigild and betrothed his daughter Rigunth to his son Rekkared . The war did not break out, however, because in the autumn of 584 Chilperich was murdered on his return from the hunt. The author of the attack is unknown; it is said to have been a conspiracy of dissatisfied courtiers in agreement with Austrasian greats. Chilperich's son Chlothar II was only a few months old at the time. Therefore the widow Fredegunde had to put herself under the protection of Guntram, who now moved into Paris.

Chilperich was buried in the Church of St. Vincent in Paris, as was Fredegunde 13 years later.

family

Chilperich married three times. His first marriage was around 549/550 with Audovera , who was then about fifteen years old. With her he had the three sons Theudebert (* around 548/551), Merowech (* around 551/552) and Chlodwig (Chlodowech, * around 553) as well as two daughters, Basina (* around 555-565) and Childesinth (* around 553) 565). Basina entered the Sainte-Croix monastery at Poitiers in 580/581 . Chilperich separated from Audovera and married Gailswintha , a daughter of the Visigoth king Athanagild, around 567 , who he murdered around 570. This marriage remained childless. He then married the maid Fredegunde, who had been his concubine since about 565, in his third marriage. He had five sons from her, four of whom died early: Chlodobert (* 565; † 580); Samson (575-577); Dagobert († 580) and Theuderich (* 582; † 584). Only the youngest son from this marriage, Chlothar II (* 584), survived and succeeded Chilperic. The only daughter from Chilperich's third marriage was Rigunth, whose marriage to the son of the Visigoth King did not materialize. After Chilperich's death in 589 there were serious, sometimes violent, arguments between Fredegunde and Rigunth.

None of the three sons from Chilperich's first marriage survived their father. Theudebert fell in 575 fighting against King Sigibert's military leader. Merowech married Brunichild, who was widowed after Sigibert's death; he rebelled against his father in 576 and was killed the following year. Clovis, who had been a military leader for Chilperich, came into conflict with his stepmother Fredegunde after the death of his brothers; he was arrested in 580 on the orders of Chilperich and handed over to Fredegunde, who had him imprisoned in Noisy-le-Grand and murdered that same year.

Cultural activity

Chilperich was relatively educated for a Merovingian and showed an unusually strong interest in cultural matters for the rulers of the time. He discussed the Trinity and wrote a pamphlet about it, in which he rejected the distinction between persons in the Trinity and emphasized the unity of God. This view ( Sabellianism ) had already been rejected by the Church in antiquity and, according to the Catholic view, was a heresy . He even wrote Latin poems that were no longer based on the regular sequence of short and long syllables according to ancient metrics , but - as was customary later in the Middle Ages - on the rhythm, which is based on natural accentuation. One of these poems, a hymn to St. Medardus , has survived. In addition, Chilperich added four new letters to the Latin alphabet to adapt it to the requirements of the Franconian phonetic system. He ordered the new characters to be used everywhere in school. The poet Venantius Fortunatus lived at Chilperich's court for a while and praised the ruler as court poet.

Chilperich tried very hard to restore Roman imperial glory for the Merovingians. He built a circus and an amphitheater in Soissons , but these did not survive due to the lack of sustainability in the culture of the Merovingians. He also instructed the Roman emperors to buy grain and distribute it in the country. So he took over Imperial Roman traditions, but without being able to revive them substantially.

Contemporary assessment

The bishop and historian Gregory of Tours , who knew Chilperic well, judged him extremely negatively. He called him Nero and Herod of our time . In particular, he wrote that the king had wrongly condemned people in order to confiscate their property and that he had failed to respect wills drawn up in favor of the churches. Chilperic hated the churches and mocked the bishops and often said: See, our treasure is poor and our wealth has fallen to the churches; no one rules now at all but the bishops alone; our power has come there and to the bishops of the cities. According to Gregory, Chilperic was very unpopular in his empire.

See also

• Merovingian fratricidal war

literature

• Wolfgang Jungandreas , Reinhard Wenskus :  Chilperich I. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 4, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-006513-4 , pp. 460–462.
• 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, 9, ISSN  0002-2977 ).
• Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire . 4th supplemented edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2001, ISBN 3-17-017044-9 ( Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher 392).
• Eugen Ewig: The naming of the oldest Franconian kings and the Merovingian royal family . In: Francia 18/1, 1991, ISSN  0937-7735 , pp. 21-69, (with family tree p. 59 and detailed information on the prosopography of the royal family), online .
• Heike Grahn-Hoek: The Franconian upper class in the 6th century. Studies on their legal and political position. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1976, ISBN 3-7995-6681-3 ( Lectures and Research Special Volume 21), (At the same time: Marburg, Univ., Diss., 1975).
• Reinhard Schneider : Election and elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages. Investigations into the succession of power among the Longobards and Merovingians . Anton Hirsemann, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-7772-7203-5 ( Monographs on the History of the Middle Ages 3), (At the same time: Berlin, Freie Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1970/71).
• Erich Zöllner : History of the Franks up to the middle of the sixth century . Revised on the basis of the work of Ludwig Schmidt with the assistance of Joachim Werner . Beck, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-406-02211-1 .

Web links

Commons : Chilperic I  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ Ewig (1991) pp. 55f.
2. ^ Brigitte Kasten : Königssöhne und Königsherrschaft , Hanover 1997, pp. 15-17. See also Schneider pp. 88–92 and Grahn-Hoek pp. 189–191.
3. ↑ Cf. Matthias Springer :  Sigibert I .. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 28, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018207-6 , p. 387 .; Box p. 44f.
4. ↑ Details in Grahn-Hoek pp. 195–198; see. Konrad Bund: overthrow and deposition of rulers in the early Middle Ages , Bonn 1979, pp. 261–264.
5. ↑ Bund p. 270, Ewig (2001) p. 47.
6. ↑ For the background, see Schneider p. 96f., Grahn-Hoek p. 203–211, box p. 45–49.
7. ↑ Bund p. 269f.
8. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 5.44.
9. ↑ Ymnus in solemnitate sancti episcopi Medardi critically edited and translated into German by Udo Kindermann : King Chilperic as a Latin poet . In: Sacris erudiri , Vol. 41, 2002, pp. 247-272. See Franz Brunhölzl : History of Latin Literature of the Middle Ages , Vol. 1, Munich 1975, pp. 117f.
10. ↑ On these efforts by Chilperich see Reinhard Wenskus :  Chilperich I .. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 4, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-006513-4 , pp. 461-462.
11. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 6.46. On the lack of loyalty of Chilperich's subjects see Grahn-Hoek pp. 221–223.

predecessor	Office	successor
Chlothar I.	King of the Franks (part of Soissons, later called Neustria ) 561–584	Chlothar II.