Clovis IV | |
---|---|
![]() A written judgement issued by Clovis IV on 28 February 693 | |
King of the Franks | |
Reign | 691–694 |
Predecessor | Theuderic III |
Successor | Childebert III |
Mayor of the Palace | Pepin of Herstal |
Born | c. 677 |
Died | 694 (aged 16–17) |
Dynasty | Merovingian |
Father | Theuderic III |
Mother | Chrodochild |
Clovis IV (c. 677–694/695) was the king of the Franks from 690 or 691 until his death. If the brief reign of Clovis III (675) is ignored as a usurpation, then Clovis IV may be numbered Clovis III. [1]
A member of the Merovingian dynasty, Clovis was the son of King Theuderic III and Queen Chrodochild. [2] He was born around 677 [3] or possibly towards 682. [4] He succeeded his father as the sole ruler of the Franks upon the latter's death in 690 or 691. [5] He ruled an undivided kingdom including Austrasia, Burgundy and Neustria. [6] According to the Annals of Metz , a pro-Pippinid source, he was appointed by Pippin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and reigned four years. [7]
Clovis was a minor at his accession, and real power was in Pippin's hands. [3] [8] His minority, coming as it did on the heels of his father's efforts to strengthen royal power, was an important factor in the decline of the Merovingian dynasty. [9] Clovis resided primarily in Compiègne (the traditional site of the Marchfield) and Montmacq. [10]
Nine of Clovis's charters have been edited and published. Four of them are records of placita (public judicial hearings) held in the king's presence. Despite the rise of Pippin and his family, which is a major theme of the Annals of Metz, the royal court was still important in Clovis's reign. During a placitum in Valenciennes in 693, Clovis was attended by twelve bishops, twelve viri illustres (including Nordebert, the Neustrian mayor of the palace), nine counts and numerous other officials. [8] The future Neustrian mayor of the palace Ragamfred started out as a domesticus under Clovis. Warno, the Neustrian comes palatii of Chilperic II, also began his career at the court of Clovis. [11]
In 692, Clovis confirmed for the Abbey of Saint-Denis the right to collect certain tolls in Marseille, a right which it had been granted by Dagobert I. [12] [13] He also granted to the Abbey of Saint-Médard the nearby house that had been the primary residence of the former mayor of the palace, Ebroin, in Soissons. [14]
The anonymous continuator of the Chronicle of Fredegar devotes two sentences to Clovis IV: "King Theuderic died ... and his little son Clovis was chosen to succeed him as king. But it was not long before King Clovis fell ill and died, having reigned four years." [15] He died in either 694 [2] or 695. [5] He was succeeded by his brother, Childebert III. Clovis does not appear to have made much of an impression on his contemporaries; his brother was more highly regarded. [5]
Charles Martel, Martel being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of the Franks from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and a noblewoman named Alpaida. Charles successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. According to a near-contemporary source, the Liber Historiae Francorum, Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly ... effective in battle".
Austrasia was the northeastern kingdom within the core of the Frankish Empire during the Early Middle Ages, centring on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had been the northernmost part of Roman Gaul, and cities such as Cologne, Trier and Metz. It also stretched beyond the old Roman borders on the Rhine into Frankish areas which had never been formally under Roman rule. It came into being as a part of the Frankish Empire founded by Clovis I (481–511). At the same time, the initial powerbase of Clovis himself was the more Romanized part of northern Gaul, lying southwest of Austrasia, which came to be known as Neustria.
Dagobert I was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the Mayor of the palace rose as the political and war leader. Dagobert was the first Frankish king to be buried in the royal tombs at the Basilica of Saint-Denis.
Chlothar II, sometimes called "the Young", was king of the Franks, ruling Neustria (584–629), Burgundy (613–629) and Austrasia (613–623).
Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities.
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious until the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Chlothar III was King of the Franks, ruling in Neustria and Burgundy from 657 to his death. He also briefly ruled Austrasia.
Childeric II was King of the Franks in the 7th century. He ruled Austrasia from 662 and Neustria and Burgundy from 673 until his death, making him sole king for the final two years of his life.
Childeric III was King of the Franks from 743 until he was deposed in 751 by Pepin the Short. He was the last Frankish king from the Merovingian dynasty. Once Childeric was deposed, Pepin became king, initiating the Carolingian dynasty.
Clovis II was King of the Franks in Neustria and Burgundy, having succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanthild until her death in her early thirties in 642. Nanthild's death allowed Clovis to fall under the influence of the secular magnates, who reduced the royal power in their own favour; first Aega and then Erchinoald. The Burgundian mayor of the palace Flaochad used him to lure his rival, Willebad, to a battle in Autun, in which Willebad was killed.
The Kingdom of the Franks, also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era.
Dagobert II was a Merovingian king of the Franks, ruling in Austrasia from 675 or 676 until his death. He is one of the more obscure Merovingians. He has been considered a martyr since at least the ninth century.
Theuderic III was King of the Franks in the 7th century. He ruled Neustria and Burgundy on two occasions, as well as Austrasia from 679 until his death in 691.
Liber Historiae Francorum is a chronicle written anonymously during the 8th century. The first sections served as a secondary source for early Franks in the time of Marcomer, giving a short breviarum of events until the time of the late Merovingians. The subsequent sections of the chronicle are important primary sources for the contemporaneous history. They provide an account of the Pippinid family in Austrasia before they became the most famous Carolingians.
Clovis III was the Frankish king of Austrasia in 675 and possibly into 676. A member of the Merovingian dynasty, he was a child and his reign so brief and contested that he may be considered only a pretender. He is sometimes even left unnumbered and Clovis IV is instead called Clovis III. The only source for his reign is the contemporary Suffering of Leudegar.
Chlothar IV was the king of Austrasia from 717 until his death. He was a member of the Merovingian dynasty, and was installed by Charles Martel, a contender for the office of mayor of the palace, in opposition to Chilperic II, whose rule was thereby restricted to Neustria. This marked the first time since 679 that the kingdom of the Franks was divided. Following Chlothar's death, it was reunited under Chilperic.
Plectrude was the consort of Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, from about 670. She was the daughter of Hugobert, seneschal of Clovis IV, and Irmina of Oeren. She was the regent of Neustria during the minority of her grandson Theudoald from 714 until 718.
The Battle of Tertry was an important engagement in Merovingian Gaul between the forces of Austrasia under Pepin II on one side and those of Neustria and Burgundy on the other. It took place in 687 at Tertry, Somme, and the battle is presented as an heroic account in the Annales mettenses priores. After achieving victory on the battlefield at Tertry, the Austrasians dictated the political future of the Neustrians.
The Battle of Lucofao was the decisive engagement of the civil war that afflicted the Frankish kingdoms during and after the reign of Dagobert II (676–79). In the battle, the Neustrian forces of Theuderic III and his majordomo Ebroin defeated the forces of Austrasia under the dukes Pippin and Martin.