Charibert II (607/617–8 April 632), a son of Clotaire II and his junior wife Sichilde , was briefly King of Aquitaine from 629 to his death, with his capital at Toulouse . There are no direct statements about when Charibert was born exactly, the only known fact being that he was "a few years younger" than his half-brother Dagobert. ^[1] His father Clotaire evidently had a bigamous marriage (not then uncommon) and he was the offspring of the junior wife.

When his father, Clotaire II, King of the Franks , died in 629, Charibert made a bid for the kingdom of Neustria against his elder half-brother Dagobert I , who had already been king of Austrasia since 623. In the ensuing negotiations, Charibert, a minor, was represented by his uncle Brodulf , the brother of Queen Sichilde. Dagobert had Brodulf killed, but did not intercede when his half-brother took over the near-independent realm of Aquitaine . Apparently this caused no disagreement, as in 631 Charibert stood godfather to Dagobert's son Sigebert .

Charibert's realm included Toulouse, Cahors , Agen , Perigueux , and Saintes , to which he added his possessions in Gascony . Charibert was married to Gisela, the daughter of Amand, Ruler of the Gascons . His fighting force subdued the resistance of the Basques , until the whole Novempopulania (became Duchy of Vasconia ) was under his control.

In 632, Charibert died at Blaye , Gironde and soon after that his infant son Chilperic was killed. Aquitaine passed again to Dagobert. ^[2] Both Charibert and his son are buried in the early Romanesque Basilica of Saint-Romain at Blaye. ^[3]

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Citations [ edit ]

Sources [ edit ]

Primary [ edit ]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charibert II .

• Fredegar . 1960. The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations . Translated by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill . Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Secondary [ edit ]

• Geary, Patrick J. (1994). Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World . Oxford University Press.
• James, Edward (1988). The Franks . Basil Blackwell.
• Wood, Ian N. (1994). The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450?751 . Longman.