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Clovis I. Clovis (Latin: Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hlōdowig; c.466 – 27 November 511) [ 1 ] was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single king, and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. [ 2 ]
Sep 30, 2024 · Clovis I was the king of the Franks and ruler of much of Gaul from 481 to 511. He converted to Catholic Christianity in 496 and became a powerful ally of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I.
- Kathleen Mitchell
- Clovis I was king of the Franks and ruler of much of Gaul from 481 to 511, a key period during the transformation of the Roman Empire into Europe....
- Clovis was the son of the pagan Frankish king Childeric and the Thuringian queen Basina. Clovis married the Roman Catholic Burgundian princess Clot...
- Clovis was born a pagan but converted to Roman Catholicism. Before accepting Catholicism, he was interested in the Christian heresy Arianism, sympa...
- Clovis’s kingdom began in the region encompassing modern Belgium and northeastern France, expanded south and west, and became the most powerful in...
- Rise to Power
- Clovis Assumes The Throne
- Conquest of Gaul
- Conversion to Christianity
- Clovis & The Goths
- Death & Legacy
Towards the end of the 5th century CE, the Roman Empire in the west was dying. Aside from its economic decline, the empire was being bombarded on all sides by a series of attacks from the Huns, the Visigoths, and the Ostrogoths. In 410 CE Rome even succumbed to a three-day siege by the Gothic king Alaric. Finally, in 476 CE, with the overthrow of E...
In 481 CE, Clovis, the founding father of the Merovingian Dynasty, assumed the throne at the tender age of 15 when his father Childeric, king of a Germanic tribe known as the Salian Franks, died. The pagan king who had fought alongside the Romans against the Huns was honored in death as he had been in life: buried along with weapons, gold, jewelry,...
Along with a number of allies (including his cousins Ragnachar and Chararic), Clovis fought Syagrius at the Battle of Soissons in 486 CE and soundly defeated him. To avoid capture, Syagrius fled to Toulouse, a city located in southwestern Gaul, where he hoped to find refuge with the young Visigothic king Alaric II. Clovis and his army followed Syag...
Although raised a pagan (according to some historians, he would be the last of the pagan kings), Clovis realized that conversion to Christianity would be extremely beneficial to him if he ever hoped to secure the loyalty of all of the Frankish people. According to Gregory of Tours, his conversion came, in part, due to his marriage to the Burgundian...
After his conversion, and with the support of his people and the church, Clovis continued his war with the Visigoths (a struggle he faced throughout his reign), eventually meeting them at the Battle of Vouille in 507 CE at near Poitiers, a city in west-central Gaul, where he defeated and killed their king, Alaric II. The Ostrogothic king of Italy, ...
In November of 511 CE Clovis died (there is some disagreement over the exact year, and some historians cite 513 CE), leaving a kingdom that was a blend of both Roman and Germanic cultures: language, worship, and law. Clovis believed it important to preserve many of the old Roman traditions and, in fact, had modeled his early reign on that of Julius...
- Donald L. Wasson
Learn about Clovis I, the Merovingian king who founded the Frankish kingdom and converted to Catholic Christianity. Find out how he defeated the Romans, the Alamanni, and the Visigoths, and promulgated the Lex Salica.
May 23, 2018 · Learn about Clovis I, the founder of the kingdom of the Franks, who ruled from 481 to 511. Discover his military achievements, his conversion to Christianity, and his role in shaping Frankish rule in Gaul.
Learn about Clovis I, the first king of France and the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. Discover how he conquered Gaul, converted to Catholicism, and defeated the Visigoths.
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Clovis I (or Chlodovech, 466-511/513 CE), king of the Franks, is considered the founding father of the Merovingian Dynasty, which would continue for over 200 years. Clovis became king at the age of 15, and by the time of his death 30 years later, he had become the first king to rule over all the Frankish tribes, a firm ally of the Byzantine Empire, and a Christian king.
