General Notes

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[FAVthomas.FTW]

     Merovingian king of Soissons whom Gregory of Tours, a contemporary,called the Nero and the Herod of his age.
     Son of Chlotar I by Aregund, Chilperic shared with his three halfbrothers (sons of Ingund, Aregund's sister) in the partition thatfollowed their father's death in 561, receiving the poorest region, thekingdom of Soissons. To this was added, however, the best part ofCharibert's lands on the latter's death in 567 or 568, so thatChilperic's kingdom corresponded in large part to that later known asNeustria. In 568 he repudiated his wives in order to marry Galswintha,sister of the Visigothic princess,
Brunhild, who had herself recently married his half brother, Sigebert I;but he soon had Galswintha murdered and immediately married Fredegund, anearlier mistress. The consequences of this crime constitute virtually theonly clearly discernible thread in the tangled skein of Frankish historyover the next four decades, as first Sigebert, whose relations withChilperic had in fact been bad from the start, and then his descendants,incited by Brunhild, sought revenge for Galswintha's murder upon thepersons of Chilperic, Fredegund, and their family.
     Saved from apparent disaster by the assassination of Sigebert I in575, Chilperic was
prevented from seizing the lands of the dead king's young heir,Childebert II, by the action of Guntram, his third half brother and theking of Burgundy. Although Chilperic succeeded in forming an alliancewith Childebert against Guntram by recognizing the young king as his heir(581), this was short-lived; in 583 Childebert and Guntram again came toterms. A year later Chilperic fell victim to an unknown assassin, leavinga four-month-old son, Chlotar II.
     Ambitious, brutal, and debauched, Chilperic nevertheless hadpretensions to being a man of learning; he wrote poor poetry, becameinvolved in theological matters, and ordered four letters to be added tothe alphabet. Regarding the church as a major rival to his wealth, hetreated the bishops with hostility and contempt; at the same time, he hada reputation for injustice toward his subjects at large and imposed heavytaxes.

To cite this page: "Chilperic I" Encyclopædia Britannica
<http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=24471&tocid=0&query=chilperic>


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