Treaty of Andelot

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The Treaty of Andelot of 587 was an agreement between the kings of two parts of the Merovingian Franconian Empire , Austrasia and Orléans ( Burgundy ). He regulated the division of previously disputed areas between the two kingdoms and the succession in the event that at the death of a king no adult son was available as an heir.

Since King Guntram I , who ruled the Merovingian kingdom of Orléans (Burgundy), had no heirs - his four sons had already died - he had to find a foreign arrangement for his successor. He had 577 his nephew Childebert II. , The then underage ruler of the kingdom part Austrasia , whose father had been murdered 575, adopted as a future heir. In 585, when Childebert came of age at the age of fifteen, he had reaffirmed the alliance with Austrasia and inheritance regulation in a new agreement.

Central Europe in the early Middle Ages.

587 there had been a widespread conspiracy of greats in Austrasia aimed at murdering Childebert and then formally appointing his two sons, who were still small children, to be kings; then the conspirators would have effectively taken power. The exposure of the conspiracy showed how threatened the position of the young king was.

In the sub-kingdom of Neustria , after the murder of the Merovingian king Chilperich I in 584, his son Chlothar II , who was also a small child, became his successor. These developments showed that the continued existence of the Merovingian rule in the Franconian Empire was threatened. In order to counteract this danger, Guntram concluded a treaty on November 28, 587 with Childebert and his mother, Queen Brunichild , in Andelot-Blancheville near Langres . It was agreed that in the event of Childebert's death, Guntram would take his sons under his protection and secure their right of inheritance; Guntram waived an inheritance claim in this case, which he could assert as Uncle Childeberts. In the event of Guntram's death, Childebert would inherit his kingdom. A claim to inheritance of Chlothar II, who was also Guntram's nephew, should therefore be excluded.

On the basis of the agreement, Childebert II inherited the kingdom of Burgundy after Guntram's death (March 28, 592); on March 29, 592 he came to power there.

The historian Gregory of Tours handed down the text of the agreement .

See also

literature

  • Eugen Ewig : The Franconian divisions and partial realms. Wiesbaden 1953
  • Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire. 5th edition, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-17-019473-9 .
  • Heike Grahn-Hoek : The Franconian upper class in the 6th century. Studies on their legal and political position (= lectures and research. 21). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1976. ISBN 3-7995-6681-3 (At the same time: Marburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1975).
  • Reinhard Schneider : Election and elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages . Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1972. ISBN 3-7772-7203-5

Remarks

  1. ↑ Grahn-Hoek pp. 260–263, Schneider (incorrectly dated) pp. 124–126; for correct dating see Margarete Weidemann: Zur Chronologie der Merowinger im 6. Jahrhundert , in: Francia 10 (1982), pp. 473-485.
  2. ↑ Schneider pp. 129–131 (incorrectly dated); for correct dating see Weidemann pp. 485–487.
  3. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 9.20.