Theudebert I.

Gold Solidus Theudeberts based on the Eastern Roman model, around 545

Theudebert I (* probably between 495 and 500; † late 547 or early 548 ) was a Merovingian rex or king of the Franks . He ruled over the Franks from 533 until his death in the part of the empire that was later called Austrasia and resided in Reims .

Youth and taking office

Theudebert was the only son of Theuderich I. His mother was Theuderich's first wife Suavegotta , who was probably of Gothic origin.

Theudebert's first recorded acts were military actions that he carried out on behalf of his father. It was about the defense of a "Danish" naval attack, about participation in a campaign against the warrior association of the Thuringians , whereby Theudebert already commanded his own armed force, and then in 532 and 533 about the recapture of civitates - in late antiquity this was partly in Gaul simple settlement chambers with a central fortress and associated settlements as well as smaller fortifications, but partly also Roman cities - in the south of Aquitaine . These settlements and their surroundings were brought back into their possession by the Visigoths after the death of Theudebert's grandfather Clovis I (511). Gunthar, a son of Theuderich's half-brother Chlothar I , was temporarily involved in the successful battles against the Visigoths . Theudebert made important conquests and thus brought the Frankish expansion into south-west Gaul to a conclusion; henceforth the border to the Visigothic Empire remained largely stable.

When King Theuderic I was dying in 533, he called for Theudebert to come in a hurry, according to Gregory of Tours and warned him that if he could no longer find his father alive, his uncles would exclude him from the inheritance. The warning was justified because only nine years earlier Theuderich's half-brothers Childebert I and Chlothar I had brought under their control and killed his underage sons after the death of their brother Chlodomer in order to exclude the inheritance claims of the deceased's children. In order to prevent such an outcome this time, Theuderich wanted to designate his son as his successor. However, he died before Theudebert arrived. As expected, Childebert and Chlothar tried to exclude Theudebert from the succession. This time they failed, however, because Theudebert was already an adult and found support from his “people” (Franconian leodes ) ( a leodibus suis defensatus est ). These "people", who secured Theudeberts regnum and defended them against his uncles, were formerly regarded by scholars as nobles. However, this is not clear from the information given by Gregory von Tours. Rather, it can be assumed that the leodes , through whose intervention the crisis was mastered, were the free Frankish warriors.

government

The Frankish Empire at the end of Theudebert's reign, although he only ruled over the Austrasian part of the empire

Since King Childebert had not succeeded in eliminating Theudebert, he came to terms with him. He is said to have treated him like a son, which is perhaps to be understood in the sense of a formal adoption based on the Roman model. Childebert had no sons and wanted to arrange his successor. The alliance between the two was directed against Chlothar. Childebert involved Theudebert in the division of the territories conquered in the Burgundian War.

The Merovingian kings then went together against the Ostrogoths ; they had been at war with the east since 535 and therefore voluntarily left some southern Gaulish areas to the Merovingians in order not to have to fight on two fronts. By annexing what is now Provence, the Merovingians gained direct access to the Mediterranean for the first time . But Theudebert did not stick to the agreements: in an alliance with the association of the Lombards - he had married Wisigarda, the daughter of their leader - and the Gepids , Theudebert won the Noric provinces and Raetia . Large parts of Veneto were temporarily occupied and plundered in 545, taking advantage of the fierce fighting between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian , but the confrontation with the Eastern Romans was largely avoided; only one major battle is recorded. The Eastern Roman historian Prokopios of Caesarea reports that the Frankish troops lived barbarically in Italy as early as 539 and even sacrificed people to the river god of the Po. The Ostrogoths, with whom the Franks were actually allied, should not forget this Frankish invasion until it was over.

Up to this point in time, the Merovingians had accepted the suzerainty of the emperor and might even have been formally foederati . But now, when the imperial and Franconian spheres of power bordered one another, this changed. Theudebert underlined his imperial appearance by accepting imperial titles, minting gold coins with his own image ( gold coins from Biesenbrow ) - a privilege that had previously been reserved for the Eastern Roman emperor as the nominal overlord of the western Mediterranean as well - and by hosting circus games in the Arles he conquered . The Frankish king himself acted like an emperor. The designation dominus noster ("Our Lord"), which he claimed in the inscription on the coins, was actually reserved for the emperor. He also declared in a boastful letter to Justinian that he ruled an empire that stretched from the Visigoths and the North Sea to Pannonia . To what extent this corresponded to reality is debatable. Possibly this description was only intended to clarify Theudebert's ambitions for power, but it may be a further indication that the Saxons were already in a relationship of dependence on the Frankish Empire at this time. Theudebert avoided a direct military confrontation with Emperor Justinian until the end, but at the same time emphasized his insistence on a position of power independent of Ostrom.

When Theudebert died in late 547 or early 548, his son Theudebald succeeded him.

family

Theudebert was betrothed around 531 by his father to Wisigarde , a daughter of the Longobard Wacho . However, when he was on a campaign against the Visigoths in 532, he met Deoteria , a married Roman woman who came from a senatorial family; she was entrusted with the fortress of Cabrières, which she gave Theudebert after her husband had fled to Béziers . She became Theudebert's concubine and mother of his only son Theudebald (Theudowald). The connection with Deoteria, however, met with resistance from the Franks, who forced Theudebert around 537/538 to cast off Deoteria and to marry his fiancée Wisigard. The Franks who forced this decision on the king were apparently warriors who were causing a riot. The motive of the Franks is unclear; possibly it was an ethnic aversion to the Gallo-Roman. Deoteria had a grown daughter from her first marriage, who, as Gregor von Tours reports, drowned her allegedly because she feared that the daughter might take over her role as Theudebert's concubine. Wisigard died after a short marriage, and Theudebert entered into a new marriage with an unknown woman. Either from her or from Wisigard he had a daughter named Berthoara.

swell

The most important source for Theudebert is the historical work of Gregory of Tours , the Historiae . Gregory deals with Theudebert's reign in the third book (Chapters 20-37), where he probably wrote the first four books of the Historiae around 575. The Eastern Roman historians Prokop (a contemporary of Theudebert) and Agathias (around 580) provide further information .

literature

• Fritz Beisel: Theudebertus magnus rex Francorum. Personality and time. Schulz-Kirchner, Idstein 1993, ISBN 3-8248-0082-9 ( Scientific writings in the scientific publishing house Dr. Schulz-Kirchner series 9: Historical contributions 109).
• Roger Collins : Theodebert I, "Rex Magnus Francorum". In: Patrick Wormald (Ed.): Ideal and reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon society. Blackwell, Oxford 1983, pp. 7-33. (Basic contribution.)
• Eugen Ewig : The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire. 5th updated edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-17-019473-9 ( Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher 392).
• Andrew Gillett: Telling off Justinian. Theudebert I, the Epistolae Austrasicae, and communication strategies in sixth-century Merovingian-Byzantine relations. In: Early Medieval Europe 27, 2019, pp. 161–194.
• 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).
• Matthias Springer :  Theudebert. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 30, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018385-4 , pp. 455–459.
• 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 .

Remarks

1. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 3.23.
2. ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek: The Franconian upper class in the 6th century , Sigmaringen 1976, pp. 172–175.
3. ↑ Prokop, Bella 6.25.
4. ↑ On the context, see Henning Börm : Westrom. From Honorius to Justinian . Stuttgart 2013, p. 123 ff.
5. ↑ Epistolae Austrasiacae 20, in: Epistolae (in Quart) 3: Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini aevi (I). Edited by Wilhelm Gundlach, Ernst Dümmler a . a. Berlin 1892, p. 132 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
6. ↑ See Andrew Gillett: Telling Off Justinian: Theudebert I, the Epistolae Austrasicae, and Communication Strategies in Sixth-Century Merovingian – Byzantine Relations. In: Early Medieval Europe 27, 2019, pp. 161–194.
7. ↑ See Jörg Jarnut: Agilolfingerstudien . Stuttgart 1986, pp. 29-32 and 38-40, also suspects that her mother was an Agilolfinger .
8. ↑ Grahn-Hoek, p. 174 f.
9. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 3.26.

predecessor	Office	successor
Theuderich I.	King of the Franks / Empire of Reims 533–548	Theudebald