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Merovingian Kingdom of Orleans
The great empire-builder of the
Franks,
Clovis, succeeded his father in AD 481 as the Frankish ruler or
Camaracum (Cambrai) and Tournai in north-eastern
Gaul (now in
Belgium). He went on
to consolidate a single Frankish kingdom which he was able to hand
on to his sons, converting the Franks to Christianity in 497 and
ruthlessly eliminating his rivals. All the time he was expanding his
influence southwards from the Tournai region. He took the
Western Roman province
of Belgica Secunda in 486 (better known by this time as the enlargened
domain of Soissons), the
territories of the Alemanni
in 496, the
Burgundians
in 500, and the
Visigoths
in 507. The Franks quickly became the dominant
Germanic tribe not
only in Gaul but throughout central and western Europe. The territory
that forms modern
France and
Germany, and
south to central Italy,
soon became known as Francia.
The Pactus Legis Salicae (Law of the Salian Franks) was a
written code which combined customary law, Roman written law, Christian
ideals, and royal edicts, and this most likely originated during the reign
of Clovis. It had a strong influence on what would happen to the Frankish
kingdom over the next few centuries. When Clovis died in 511, tradition
and his own codified Salic Law demanded that his holdings be divided
equally among his sons. One of them, Childebert I, inherited the kingdom
of Paris (otherwise known as
Neustria and now northern
France), while Orleans went to Chlodomer (upper central France),
Austrasia went to Theuderich
(the modern
Netherlands,
Austria, and northern
Germany), and Soissons to Chlothar, the youngest of the brothers. The
Frankish-dominated
Burgundy (by 534,
along with Provence) bordered Orleans to the east, while three other
Frankish regions, Bordeaux,
Aquitaine and Auvergne
lay to the south of Orleans. Bordeaux was held by the king of Paris.
The independent kingdom of
Brittany
bordered both Paris and Orleans in the west.
The town of Orleans was originally the oppidum of Cenabum of the
Carnutes tribe, which
had been renamed in AD 275. Its new name, Aureliani, was mangled by the
Franks to become Orleans, although the Roman name still seems to have
been in use - or was at least acknowledged - during the sixth century.
The kingdom also included the bishoprics of Tours, Poitiers, and Orleans.
(Additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Ethnology of
Germany Part 3: The Migration of the Saxons, Henry H Howorth (Journal
of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol 7, 1878),
from The History of the Franks, Volume II, Gregory of Tours (O M
Dalton, Trans, 1967), from Chronicon, Marius, from the Chronicle
of Fredegar / Latin Chronicle (author unknown but the work has
been attributed to Fredegar since the sixteenth century thanks to his name
being written in the margin), from the 'Passio' of St Killian, from Atlas
historique mondial, Georges Duby (Larousse, 1978), and from Genealogy
of the Kings of France, Claude Wenzler (Editions Ouest-France, Rennes,
2008).) |
524 - 558 |
Chlodomer's three sons, Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald, are entrusted
to the care of his mother until his widow marries his brother, Chlothar I of
Frankish Soissons.
However, Chlothar has two of Chlodomer's children killed, while Clodoald
escapes, later becoming abbot of Nogent (later known as St Cloud).
Chlodomer's kingdom is divided between his brothers. Childebert I
of Paris annexes the heart
of the territory, Carnutum (Chartres, former tribal capital of the
Celtic
Carnutes tribe) and
Aureliani (Orleans, the Cenabum of the Carnutes tribe), while Chlothar
takes Turonensis (Tours, former capital of the
Turones tribe) and
Pictavia (Poitiers, former capital of the
Pictavii). |
