General Notes

King of Austrasia, King of France, Greatest of Merovingian Kings

Dagobert I, King des Francs. Born: in 603, son of Clotaire=Chlothar II, King de Soissons and Bertrude, Some sources assert that Dagobert I was born in the year 606. Note - between 623 and 629: Dagobert I became King of Austrasie in 623 and King of the Franks in 629. At the age of about 25 years, Dagobert, son of Clotaire II and of Bertrade, takes over the succession without difficulty.  He must first determine the fate of his half-brother Charibert (son of Queen Sichilde), for whom his uncle Brodulf wanted to yield at least Neustria. Dagobert does not cimply and purely eliminate his half-brother, but he sends him to Aquitaine by yielding to him the cities of Saintes, Perigeux, Toulouse, Cahors, Agen and the countryside between Garonne and the Pyrenees whose residents had taken advantage of the troubles in the kingdom to ally themselves with the Basques. Dagobert wins Dijon and also Saint-Jean-de-Losne where he lives for a few days and meets out justice. The day of his departure from Losne to Chalon, as he bathes before sunrise, he has Brodulf, Uncles of his half-brother Charibert, assassinated, the murder being executed by two of Dagobert's sons and the patrician Guillebaud. In 630, he negotiates a Treaty with the Emperor of Byzantium, Heraclius, a perpetual peace through the intermediary of his envoys, Servais and Paterne. Upon his return to Paris, Dagobert repudiates his wife Gomatrude, sister of Queen Sichilde, herself married to the deceased Clotaire II, Dagobert's father. He immediately, in 631, marries Nanthilde, a simple housekeeper. The reign of Nantilde lasts only a few years. Dagobert surrounds himself with other women, Vulfegonde, then Berthilde, finally Raintrude, an Austrasian, whom he took as concubine in the eighth year of his reign. He was skillfully taught and supported by his Ministers Saint Eloi [who was Dagobert's treasurer and then became Bishop after Dagobert died] and Dadon [alias Saint Ouen, who became Bishop of Rouen in 641 and who was instrumental in the founding of several monasteries including those of Saint-Wandrille, Rebais, and of Jumieges]. He fought the Austrasians and gave them his son, Sigebert, as next king at age 3 [in fact the Bishop of Cologne and a Duke will govern in his name] . With the Austrasian armies and the support of the Saxons and the Lombards, Dagobert overwhelms the Wendes [Slavic resident of the area between the Oder, the Elbe and the superior branch of the Danube] at Wogalisbourg (in Styria, near Gratz) in 632]. He fought the Gascons, the Slavs and the Saxons. He was the last direct Merovingien King, he was able to delay the dissolution of the Frankish Empire. In December of 638, Dagobert is stricken with an intestinal disease in his domaine of Epinay-sur-Seine, and trusts his Mayor of Neustria, Aega, the fate of his wife Nanthilde as well as that of his son Clovis II. On 19 January 639, Dagobert has himself transported to Saint-Denis, where he dies in one of the buildings adjoining the Basilica. He is the first Monarch of France to have chosen Saint-Denis as the final restiing place. It is there that Saint Denis was martyred in the third century, along with his companions Saint Rustique and Saint Eleuthere. In the fifth century, the Gallo-Roman cemetery was levelled and the basilica built. Married before 626: Gomatrude; Gomatrude was the first of five wives. Married before 629: Ragnetrud d'Austrasie; Ragnetrud was the third of Dagobert I's five wives. Married before 634: Nantechild. Died: in 639.