General Notes

Reigned 481-511. Clovis adopted the Christian faith and was baptized
September 22 (some reports say Christmas day), 496.

Clovis became king of Tournai at the death of his father, Childeric I, in
481. By unifying the Franks and bringing most of Gaul and the Germanic
lands under his control, Clovis became the founder of the Frankish
Kingdom.

In 486 Clovis decisively defeated General Syagrius, son of Aegidius, the
last Roman governor of northern Gaul, and set up his capital at Soissons.
In 490 and 491 he took possession of the Salian Kingdoms of Cambrai and
Tongres. In 496 he repelled an invasion of the Alamanni, by, so legend
says, invoking the God of his Christian wife. He then became a Christian,
himself. After completely defeating the Alamanni in 506 Clovis marched
against the Visigoths in southwestern Gaul. He defeated Alaric II, king of
the Visigoths, near Poitiers in 507. Clovis made Paris his captial in 508.
At his death, according to Salian custom, his kingdom was divided between
his four sons.

5. Clovis I (Chlodwig), also known by some historians as Louis and
Lodowig, born 467, died 511, the first king of all the Franks, the founder
of the empire of Franks, ruling from 482 to 511, son of Childeric I.,
chief of the Salian Franks, whom he succeeded in 481 at the age of 15. His
capital was at Rheims and later at Paris. He had the Salic law drawn up
about the year 500. At the death of Clovis I. the empire was divided into
four parts, which were held by his sons.

Clovis at the age of twenty-five, fathered a bastard son by an unknown
concubine who was not of royal blood. Their son, the first born, was
Theodoric (Thierry) I. He died in 534. Theodoric had a son, Theodobert.


In 493 Clovis married Clothilde (Clotilda) of Burgundy (afterwards St.
Clothilde), born 475, died at Tours in 545, "the girl of the French
Vineyards". She was the daughter of Gondebaud (Chilperic II.?), King of
Burgundy. She was Arian by religion, but with strong Roman Catholic
tendencies. This marriage was of primary importance, as the real shape of
France dated from it. It was she who led her husband to abandon his old
beliefs and embrace Christianity. He was baptized in the 15th year of his
reign at Rheims on Christmas Day in 496, with 3,000 of his followers. When
Clovis first heard the story of Christ's crucifixion, he was so moved that
he cried, "If I had been there with my valiant Franks, I would have
avenged Him." Henceforth the Church played a decisive role in the history
of the kings of France. By his wife, they had the following sons: