Year 687 (DCLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 687 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history." He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encompassing Gaul's historic region.
Theudebert I was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 533 to his death in 548. He was the son of Theuderic I and the father of Theudebald.
Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Kingdom of the Franks from the 6th to 8th centuries, ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine, and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the Franks, including both the so-called Salian Franks and Ripuarian Franks, which Clovis I, King of the Franks (481–511) conquered after first taking control of the bordering part of Roman Gaul, which is sometimes described in this period as Neustria.
Chlothar II, sometime called "the Young", was king of the Franks, ruling Neustria (584–629), Burgundy (613–629) and Austrasia (613–623).
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.
Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle Guntram.
Theudebald, son of Theudebert I and Deuteria, was the king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 547 or 548 to 555.
Germain was the bishop of Paris and is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early biography, he was known as Germain d'Autun, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus, known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus, was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerated since the Middle Ages.
Brunhilda was queen consort of Austrasia, part of Francia, by marriage to the Merovingian king Sigebert I of Austrasia, and regent for her son, grandson and great-grandson.
Radegund was a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers. She is the patron saint of several churches in France and England and of Jesus College, Cambridge.
Bertachar was a king of Thuringia from about 510 until about 525, co-ruling with his brothers Hermanfrid and Baderic.
Aredius, also Yrieix, Abbé d'Attanum and Arède d'Atane, was chancellor to Theudebert I, king of Austrasia, and later Abbot of Attane. He founded the monastery of Attane, which was renamed after his death Saint-Yrieix in his honour. The town at the site became known as Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche. Several other French communes are also called Saint-Yrieix after him.
The Council of Clermont of 535 was one of the early Frankish synods. Held at Arvernum,, it was attended by fifteen prelates of the kingdom of Austrasia under the presidency of Honoratus, bishop of Bourges.
Ruricius I was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and bishop of Limoges from c. 485 to 510. He is one of the writers whose letters survive from late Roman Gaul, depicting the influence of the Visigoths on the Roman lifestyle. He should not be confused with his son-in-law, Saint Rusticus.
The Austrasian Letters is a collection of 48 Latin letters sent from or to Austrasia between the 470s and 590s. The collection is transmitted in a single 9th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Lorsch.
Magneric of Tier was a Frankish bishop of Trier. He is a Catholic and Orthodox saint, with a feast day on July 25. Magneric was one of the first bishops with a Germanic name. He was a friend and admirer of Gregory of Tours, mentioned in his History of the Franks, and ordained St Géry, one of his disciples, who became bishop of Cambrai-Arras on the ascent of King Childebert II. Venantius Fortunatus described the Bishop as virtuous and charitable, and an "ornament of bishops".
The Council of Toul was a Frankish synod convoked by Theudebald, King of Austrasia, that convened in Toul on 1 June 550. It is not known how many bishops attended. It extended to the ecclesiastical provinces of Reims and Trier and perhaps beyond. The diocese of Toul was a suffragan of Trier. The metropolitan bishop, Nicetius of Trier, was certainly in attendance.
Ragnemod was a 6th-century bishop of the archdiocese of Paris.
