General Notes

In his ability to generate spouses, Chilperic was no more elegant than his debauched brother Gontran.  Audovere was Chilperic's first wife and bore him Merovee, [though some argue that he was Galwinthe's (Chilperic's second wife) son] Theodebert and Clovis, as well as a daughter, Hildeswinthe.  Her servant, Fredegonde [whom Chilperic I immediately took as his concubine], may have been instrumental in her demise in her own drive to come to the throne. Note - between 561 and 584: Upon the death of his father Clotaire I, Chilperic I's share of the estate makes him King of Soissons and he reigns from 561 to 584. After the death of his brother, Caribert I in 567, Chilperic I gets Toulouse, as well as the largest part of the ecclesiastical provinces of Rouen and Tours, which gives him a wide access to the sea. Desiring to take revenge on his brother Sigebert I -- Chilperic could not swallow the loss of Galswinthe's dowry in 569 through the Andelot Accord -- Chilperic charges his son Clovis [born of his first union with Audovere] with the occupation of Tours and of Poitiers. Chilperic's other son, [also by Audovere] Theodebert defeats the Austrasian general Gondevald. The war between the brothers extends into 574 and 575 at which time the kingdom is invaded, and Chilperic is forced to take refuge in Tournai, and the Great Nobles [viri in lustres] abandon him. After Siegbert is murdered in 575, Chilperic and Fredegonde come out of Tournai. Chilperic piously burries his brother [whom he just had murdered] at Lambres, Chilperic I's reign was marked by many wars he waged against his brothers for the territories of the kingdom. He was assassinated. He was the King of Neustrie.

Married between 562 and 584: Galswinthe=Galswitha, daughter of Athanagild, King of Spain, Chilperic's second wife, and she may have been the mother of Merovee, herein ascribed to the first wife. She was to die by strangling in a plot originated by Fredegonde (Chilperic's third wife). This murder began a bloody feud between Fredegonde and Brunehaut (Galswinthe's sister).  Married before 584: Fredegonde; First the servant of Audovere, then first wife of Chilperic, Fredegonde was beautiful and ambitious. She first had Chilperic I repudiate Audovere and lock her up in a monastery, where the unfortunate was murdered on the orders of Fredegonde after 15 years of solitary confinement. However, all did not go immediately well, for when Chilperic learned of the brilliant marriage of his younger brother, Sigebert to Brunehaut, he arranged to have Fredegonde relegated to her role as concubine and asked Athanagild for the hand of another of his daughter, the older sister of Brunehaut, named Galswinthe. He promised in turn that he would repudiate all his other spouses so as to be worthy of a wife of such royal blood. When Galswinthe arrived, she was greeted with honor and respect as she brought an extensively rich treasure as dowry with her. Fredegonde had Galswitha, second wife of Chilperic strangled and replaced her on the throne. This murder began the feud with Brunehaut, Galswinthe's sister.

She had her husband assassinated and had the Archbishop of Rouen (Pretexta) killed. She governed Neustrie in the name of her young son Clothaire II. Died: in 584 in Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, Champagne, France, Chilperic was assassinated, reportedly by a hired hand of Fredegonde as he was returning from a hunt in Chelles [Seine-et-Marne] . His body was shipped up the Marne and was buried in the Basilica de Saint-Vincent, near Paris [Saint-Germain-des-Pres].