Chlothar II
Chlothar II was a Merovingian king of the Franks, who reigned from 584 to 629. He inherited the throne of Neustria as an infant, upon the assassination of his father, Chilperic I (r. 561-584). Following a long and bitter power struggle with Brunhilda of Austrasia and her descendants, Chlothar united all Francia beneath his rule in 613.
The reigns of Chlothar II and his son Dagobert I (r. 623-639) are often considered to be the peak of Merovingian power and were a time of peace and prosperity for the Frankish realms. However, Chlothar paid a steep price for this success, as he was forced to concede more power to the aristocracy and to the mayors of the palace, an office that was essentially the king's right-hand man. As a result, Chlothar II and Dagobert I would be the last Merovingian rulers with any real authority before the mayors of the palace became the true powers behind the throne.
Blood Feud
Much of the reign of Chlothar II was dominated by a feud that had begun a decade and a half before his birth. In 567, there were three Merovingian kingdoms in Gaul, each ruled by a son of the powerful King Chlothar I (r. 511-561):
Guntram I of Orléans (r. 561-592) ruled over the territory of Burgundy
Sigebert I (r. 561-575) ruled the eastern kingdom of Austrasia
Chilperic I (r. 561-584) ruled in Soissons over the territory that would soon be known as Neustria
Each brother was insatiably ambitious and dreamed of reigning over a united Frankish kingdom in the manner of both their father, Chlothar I, and grandfather, Clovis I (r. 481-511).
As part of their efforts to outdo one another, Sigebert and Chilperic each married a daughter of the Visigothic king Athanagild; Sigebert married Brunhilda, and Chilperic took Galswinth as his bride. But Chilperic was unhappy with his new wife and had her strangled in her sleep before marrying his mistress, a lowborn woman named Fredegund. The murder of Galswinth created friction between the brothers, resulting in a devastating civil war from 572-575. At the end of the war, King Sigebert, on the cusp of achieving victory, was assassinated by servants hired by Queen Fredegund. The kingdom of Austrasia passed to Sigebert's 5-year-old son, Childebert II (r. 575-596) who now ruled with the protection of his uncle Guntram and mother Brunhilda. Fredegund's involvement in the murders of both Brunhilda's sister and husband sparked a bitter rivalry between the two queens that would dominate the reigns of their sons.
Prior to 584, Chilperic had had seven sons, all of whom had died, either by disease, battle, or murder. His eighth son, the future Chlothar II, was born in May or June 584. The tendency of their boys to die premature deaths caused Chilperic and Fredegund to send their newborn son off to the royal estate of Vitry-en-Artois, to be raised in relative secrecy. But the prince had only been there a few months when, in September or October 584, King Chilperic was assassinated by an unknown assailant. His sudden death thrust all Francia into a period of chaos; Austrasian soldiers raided lands along the Neustrian border, a pretender named Gundovald claimed the kingship of Aquitaine, and certain rival cities began warring against one another.
Meanwhile, Queen Fredegund knew she had to act fast if she was to ensure her son's ascension to the throne. First, she secured the loyalties of key Neustrian magnates, who traversed the kingdom extracting oaths of loyalty from cities and villages. Then, in 585, she wrote to King Guntram, the boy's uncle, and asked him to provide to Chlothar II the same offer of protection he had bestowed upon Childebert II. Guntram, who had just finished crushing Gundovald's revolt, was initially hesitant; he distrusted the devious and power-hungry Fredegund and openly questioned whether Chlothar was truly his nephew.
To put Guntram's mind at ease, Queen Fredegund, three bishops, and 300 Neustrian nobles all swore solemn oaths affirming that Chlothar II was indeed the natural son of the late King Chilperic. This seemed to satisfy Guntram's concerns; he adopted the boy and hosted his baptism in Paris. This made Guntram the most powerful man in Francia, holding all three kingdoms in trust for his young nephews. For Fredegund, this was an unpleasant but necessary compromise; by submitting herself to Guntram, she kept herself and Chlothar out of the clutches of Brunhilda.
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