Clovis II (633 – 657) was

King of Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. It later ...

and

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, having succeeded his father

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

in 639. His brother

Sigebert III Sigebert III ( 630–656) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 633 to his death around 656. He was described as the first Merovingian '' roi fainéant'' —do-nothing king—, in effect the mayor of the palace ruling the kingdom throug ...

had been

King of Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the Fr ...

since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother

Nanthild Nanthild (c. 610 – 642), also known as ''Nantéchilde'', ''Nanthechilde'', ''Nanthildis'', ''Nanthilde'', or ''Nantechildis'', was a Frankish queen consort and regent, the third of many consorts of Dagobert I, king of the Franks (629–639). She ...

until her death in her early thirties in 642. Nanthild's death allowed Clovis to fall under the influence of the secular magnates, who reduced the royal power in their own favour; first Aega and then

Erchinoald Erchinoald (also ''Erkinoald'' and, in French language, French, ''Erchenout'') succeeded Aega (Mayor of the Palace), Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Kingdom of Burgundy, Burgundy in 642 and remained such ...

. The Burgundian mayor of the palace

Flaochad Flaochad (or Flaochat) was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 639 to 642. He was appointed by Nanthild, the queen mother, who gave him her niece, Ragnobert, in marriage. She called together the chief magnates and bishops of the kingdom at Or ...

used him to lure his rival,

Willebad Willibad, also spelled Willebad or Willihad (died 642), was the Patrician of Burgundian Provence) in the first half of the seventh century. Willibad may have been a Frank or perhaps a Burgundian, one of the last representatives of the native nobil ...

, to a battle in Autun, where Willebad was killed.

Background

Clovis' wife,

Balthild Balthild (; ang, Bealdhild, 'bold sword' or 'bold spear; around 626 – 30 January 680), also spelled Bathilda, Bauthieult or Baudour, was queen consort of Neustria and Burgundy by marriage to Clovis II, the King of Neustria and Burgundy (639 ...

, whose

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

origins are now considered doubtful, was sold into slavery in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

. She had been owned by the Neustrian mayor of the palace, Erchinoald, who gave her to him to garner royal favour. She bore him three sons who all became kings after his death. The eldest,

Chlothar Chlothar (Latin ''Chlotharius''; Greek ''Khlōthários'' Χλωθάριος; French ''Clotaire'') is a Germanic given name, attested in Old English as ''Hloþhere'', in Old High German as ''Lothari'' ( Lothair), and reconstructed in Frankish as *' ...

, succeeded him and his second eldest, Childeric, was placed on the Austrasian throne by Ebroin while Clovis was still alive. The youngest,

Theuderic Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Overview The name ...

, succeeded Childeric in Neustria and eventually became the sole king of the Franks. Clovis was a minor for almost the whole of his reign. He is sometimes regarded as king of Austrasia during the interval 656–57 when

Childebert the Adopted Childebert III the Adopted (''Childebertus Adoptivus'') was a Frankish king. Childebert was a son of the Mayor of the Palace Grimoald the Elder. He was thus a grandson of Pepin of Landen. He was adopted by King Sigebert III and Queen Chimnechi ...

usurped the throne. Grimoald, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, and his son Childebert the Adopted were captured and later executed in Paris by Clovis II, the king of Neustria, in 657. He is often regarded as an early ''

roi fainéant ''Roi fainéant'' (), literally "do-nothing king", is a French term primarily used to refer to the later kings of the Merovingian dynasty after they seemed to have lost their initial powers of dominion. It is usually applied to those Frankish rulers ...

''. Noted

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

historian

Henri Pirenne Henri Pirenne (; 23 December 1862 – 24 October 1935) was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a prominent public intellectual. Pirenne made a lasting contributi ...

stated that Clovis "died insane." Clovis II is buried in

Saint Denis Basilica The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

References

Works cited

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clovis 02 Merovingian kings 633 births 657 deaths Medieval child rulers Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis 7th-century Frankish kings