General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> Konge over /Franken/
REFN: 9836
[2344647.ged]
[Sergent.ged]
[Direct Linage1.FTW]
BET. 561 - 584 Roi De Soissons & Nuestria
BET. 561 - 584 Roi De La Franks
BET. 568 - 584 Roi De Paris
Birth ABT. 537
[lanastl.ged]
1.  Chilperic I acceded 561.  King of Soissons (Neustria).
Chilperic I
b. c. 539
d. , September or October 584, Chelles, France
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 half
brothers (sons of Ingund, Aregund's sister) in the partition that
followed their father's death in 561, receiving the poorest region, the
kingdom of Soissons. To this was added, however, the best part of
Charibert's lands on the latter's death in 567 or 568, so that
Chilperic's kingdom corresponded in large part to that later known as
Neustria. 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, an earlier mistress. The consequences
of this crime constitute virtually the only clearly discernible thread in
the tangled skein of Frankish history over the next four decades, as
first Sigebert, whose relations with Chilperic had in fact been bad from
the start, and then his descendants, incited by Brunhild, sought revenge
for Galswintha's murder upon the persons of Chilperic, Fredegund, and
their family.
Saved from apparent disaster by the assassination of Sigebert I in 575,
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
the king of Burgundy. Although Chilperic succeeded in forming an alliance
with Childebert against Guntram by recognizing the young king as his heir
(581), this was short-lived; in 583 Childebert and Guntram again came to
terms. A year later Chilperic fell victim to an unknown assassin, leaving
a four-month-old son, Chlotar II.
Ambitious, brutal, and debauched, Chilperic nevertheless had pretensions
to being a man of learning; he wrote poor poetry, became involved in
theological matters, and ordered four letters to be added to the
alphabet. Regarding the church as a major rival to his wealth, he treated
the bishops with hostility and contempt; at the same time, he had a
reputation for injustice toward his subjects at large and imposed heavy
taxes.