King of Austrasia from 575 to 596 AD
Childebert II
(c.570?596) was the Merovingian king of
Austrasia
(which included
Provence
at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, and the
king of Burgundy
from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle
Guntram
.
Childhood
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Born c. 570,
Childebert was the son of
Sigebert I
and
Brunhilda of Austrasia
.
When his father was assassinated in 575 by two slaves of Queen-consort
Fredegund
of
Soissons
,
Childebert was taken from
Paris
by Gundobald (according to one story, after being lowered from a window in a bag by his mother
), one of his faithful lords, to
Metz
(the Austrasian capital), where he was recognized as sovereign. He was then only five years old, and during his long minority the power was disputed between his mother
Brunhilda
and the nobles, with Brunhilda being dominant until Childebert came of age in 585.
Chilperic I
, king at
Paris
, and the Burgundian king Guntram, sought an alliance with Childebert, who was adopted by both in turn.
Because Guntram was lord of half of
Marseille
, the district of Provence became a centre of a brief dispute between the two.
Guntram allied with
Dynamius of Provence
, who instigated the canons of the
Diocese of Uzes
to elect their deacon Marcellus, as bishop in opposition to their already-elected bishop
Jovinus
, a former governor of Provence. While Jovinus and
Theodore, Bishop of Marseille
, were travelling to the court of Childebert, Guntram had them arrested. Dynamius, meanwhile, blocked Gundulf, a duke of an important senatorial family and Childebert's former
domesticus
, from entering Marseille on behalf of Childebert. Eventually he was forced to yield, though he later arrested Theodore again and had him sent to Guntram. Childebert replaced him in Provence by
Nicetius
(585). Despite his revolt, Childebert formally restored Dynamius to favour on 28 November 587.
Heir, king and war leader
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]
With the assassination of Chilperic in 584 and the dangers occasioned to the French monarchy by the expedition of
Gundoald
in 585, Childebert threw himself unreservedly to the side of Guntram. By the
Treaty of Andelot
of 587, Childebert was recognised as Guntram's heir,
and with his uncle's help in 587 he quelled the revolt of Dukes Rauching, Ursio, and Berthefried, and succeeded in seizing the castle of
Woevre
. Many attempts were made on his life by
Fredegund
, wife of Chilperic, who was anxious to secure Guntram's inheritance for her son
Clotaire II
. Childebert II had relations with the
Byzantine Empire
, and fought on several occasions in the name of the
Emperor
Maurice
against the
Lombards
in
Italy
, with limited success.
With Guntram, he authorized the Irish monk
Saint Colomban
to found the abbey of
Luxeuil
and two other monasteries in the heart of the
Vosges
and to work with his monks in the various missions and foundations in all the Frankish kingdoms.
On the death of Guntram in 592, Childebert annexed the kingdom of Burgundy,
and even contemplated seizing Clotaire's estates and becoming sole king of the Franks. However, he and his young wife
Faileuba
died after being poisoned in 596.
He and Faileuba had: the older,
Theudebert II
,
inherited Austrasia with its capital at Metz, and the younger,
Theuderic II
,
received Guntram's former kingdom of Burgundy, with its capital at Orleans.
References
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Sources
[
edit
]
- Craft, Brandon Taylor (2013).
Queenship, intrigue and blood-feud: deciphering the causes of the Merovingian civil wars, 561?613
. Louisiana State University
. Retrieved
2020-12-27
.
- Earenfight, Theresa (2013).
Queenship in Medieval Europe
. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Murray, A. C. (2018). "Childebert". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.).
The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity
. Vol. I. Oxford University Press.
- Prieur, Jean; Vulliez, Hyacinthe (1999).
Saints et saintes de Savoie
(in French). La Fontaine de Siloe.
ISBN
978-2842064655
.
- Van Dam, Raymond (2005). "Merovingian Gaul and the Frankish conquests". In Fouracre, Paul; Kitterick, Rosamond Mac (eds.).
The New Cambridge Medieval History
. Vol. 1:c. 500 ? c. 700. Cambridge University Press.
- Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. (1958).
Fredegar and the History of France
(PDF)
.
- Wood, Ian (1994).
The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751
. Longman.
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