#king clovis

[mayor-of-losertown]

“Forgive them Father, they know not what they- WHAT’S THIS? IT’S KING CLOVIS AND HIS BRAVE FRANKS WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!”

[illustratus]

Miniature of the legend of the fleur-de-lis and its presentation to King Clovis; from (the "Bedford Hours"). Held and digitised by the British Library.

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) "The Education of the Children of Clovis" (1861) Oil on canvas Academicism Currently in a private collection Queen Clotilde, wife of King Clovis, is shown training her three young children the art of hurling the axe in order to avenge the death of her father.

[oilandrealism]

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema - The Education of the Children of Clovis - (1861)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema

[illustratus]

The Battle of Tolbiac by Ary Scheffer

[illustratus]

Baptism of Clovis by Jean Alaux

Portrays a momentous event from the life of King Clovis (r. 481-511). Clovis was a formidable warlord who consolidated the Merovingian Dynasty’s power over the Franks and spread Frankish influence to encompass most of France. In particular, the artwork shows the important moment when King Clovis decided to be baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, as opposed to the Arian sect of Christianity that was popular with other Germanic peoples of that time. Traditionally, Clovis’ baptism is dated to the year 496, soon after a military campaign against the Alemanni. Nevertheless, as historians are wont to do, this traditional date has been contested, and proposals have been made to push the date of the baptism to a later period in King Clovis’ reign. The ceremony was carried out by Saint Remigius, bishop of Rheims. Decades after the event, Bishop Gregory of Tours (c. 539-594) wrote an account of Clovis’ baptism in his Ten Books of Histories, also commonly known as the History of the Franks, in which Bishop Gregory commented:

“The public squares were draped with coloured cloths, the churches were adorned with white hangings, the baptistry was prepared, sticks of incense gave off clouds of perfume, sweet-smelling candles gleamed bright and the holy place of baptism was filled with divine fragrance. God filled the hearts of all present with such grace that they imagined themselves to have been transported to some perfumed paradise. King Clovis asked that he might be baptized first by the Bishop. Like some new Constantine he stepped forward to the baptismal pool…As he advanced for his baptism, the holy man of God addressed him in these pregnant words: ‘Bow your head in meekness, Sicamber. Worship what you have burnt, burn what you have been wont to worship” (Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, II.31).

It is this scene that Jean Alaux re-creates in his painting. King Clovis can be seen undergoing his baptism at the hands of Bishop Remigius of Rheims, surrounded by a crowd of spectators. The onlookers, however, were more than just an audience. As the story goes, 3,000 of King Clovis’ followers were also baptized on that day.

[illustratus]

Baptism of Clovis at Reims, 25 December 496

by François-Louis Dejuinne

[augustus-rus]

The baptism of King Clovis of France, ivory panel.

“here is a charming legend about the baptism of Clovis, which tells us that, in the haste to accommodate the king and the thousands seeking baptism, St. Remigius had forgotten to bring the holy chrism needed for the baptism rite. But at the moment when the holy chrism was required, a dove flew into the church, carrying a glass vial of oil in its talons. This sacred vessel and its contents were known as the Sainte Ampoule (“Holy Vial”); this sacred relic was used in the coronation of every French monarch from at least 1131 (it’s first attestation) to the coronation of the ill-fated Louis XVI in 1775.”

Catholicexchange.com