Dagobert I King of Austrasia, King of the Franks ^{1 2 3}

  Research Notes:

King of Austrasia (623-634), King of the Franks (629-634), King of Neustria and Burgundy (629-639)

From http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3174654&id=I593873572 :

King of Austrasia 622-628. The greatest of the Merovingian Kings. In 626 Dagobert founded a Benedictine abbey near the tomb of St. Denis. By the 12th century, the abbey had become the richest and most famous in France. Its church was a burial place for many of the French royal house and from the 12th to 15th centuries the oriflamme, the standard of St. Denis, was the banner of the kings of France.

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From Wikipedia - List of Frankish kings :

Chlothar II defeated Brunhilda and her grandson, reunifying the kingdom. However, in 623, in order to appease particularistic forces and also to secure the borders, he gave the Austrasians his young son as their own king. His son and successor, Dagobert I , emulated this move by appointing a sub-king for Aquitaine, with a seat at Toulouse , in 629 and Austrasia in 634.

Neustria and Burgundy - Dagobert I, 629-639 then Clovis II, 639-658 then Chlothar III, 658-673 then Theuderic III, 673 then Childeric II, 673-675 then Theuderic III, 675-691

Aquitaine - Charibert II, 629-632 then Chilperic, 632 then Dagobert I, 632-639

Austrasia - Dagobert I, 623-634 then Sigebert III, 634-656 then Childebert the Adopted, 656-661 then Chlothar III, 661-662 then Childeric II, 662-675 then Clovis III, 675-676 then Dagobert II, 676-679 then Theuderic III, 679-691

Theuderic III was recognized as king of all the Franks in 679. From then on, the kingdom of the Franks can be treated as a unity again for all but a very brief period of civil war.

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From Wikipedia - Dagobert I :

Dagobert I (c. 603 - 19 January 639 ) was the king of Austrasia (623 -634 ), king of all the Franks (629 -634 ), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629 -639 ). He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power. Dagobert was the first of the French kings to be buried in the royal tombs at Saint Denis Basilica .

Rule in Austrasia
Dagobert was the eldest son of Chlothar II and Haldetrude (575-604). Chlothar II had reigned alone over all the Franks since 613 . In 623, Chlothar was forced to make Dagobert king of Austrasia by the nobility of that region, who wanted a king of their own.

When Chlothar II granted Austrasia to Dagobert, he initially excluded Alsace , the Vosges , and the Ardennes , but shortly thereafter the Austrasian nobility forced him to concede these regions to Dagobert. The rule of a Frank from the Austrasian heartland tied Alsace more closely to the Austrasian court. Dagobert created a new duchy (the later Duchy of Alsace ) in southwest Austrasia to guard the region from Burgundian or Alemannic encroachments and ambitions. The duchy comprised the Vosges, the Burgundian Gate , and the Transjura . Dagobert made his courtier Gundoin the first duke of this new polity that was to last until the end of the Merovingian dynasty.

United rule
On the death of his father in 629 , Dagobert inherited the Neustrian and Burgundian kingdoms. His half-brother Charibert , son of Sichilde , claimed Neustria but Dagobert opposed him. Brodulf , the brother of Sichilde, petitioned Dagobert on behalf of his young nephew, but Dagobert assassinated him and gave his younger sibling Aquitaine.

Charibert died in 632 and his son Chilperic was assassinated on Dagobert's orders. By 632 , Dagobert had Burgundy and Aquitaine firmly under his rule, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in many years and the most respected ruler in the West.
In 631 , Dagobert led three armies against Samo , the rulers of the Slavs , but his Austrasian forces were defeated at Wogastisburg .

Rule in Neustria, from Paris

Also in 632, the nobles of Austrasia revolted under the mayor of the palace , Pepin of Landen . In 634 , Dagobert appeased the rebellious nobles by putting his three-year-old son, Sigebert III , on the throne, thereby ceding royal power in the easternmost of his realms, just as his father had done for him eleven years earlier.

As king, Dagobert made Paris his capital. During his reign, he built the Altes Schloss in Meersburg (in modern Germany ), which today is the oldest inhabited castle in that country. Devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the construction of the Saint Denis Basilica , at the site of a Benedictine monastery in Paris.

Dagobert died in the abbey of Saint-Denis and was the first French king to be buried in the Saint Denis Basilica , Paris .

Marriage and issue
Dagobert was a serial monogamist.
He married Nanthild and they had the following:
Clovis II , who inherited the rest of his kingdom at a young age when his father died.
Regintrud who married into the Bavarian Agilolfings , either Theodo, Duke of Bavaria or his son Duke in Salzburg .
He also had a mistress named Ragintrudis (Ragnetrude) and they had the following:
Sigebert III
His other wives were:
Wulfefundis (Wulfegunde)
Bertechildis (Berthilde)
Gomentrude

Dagobert had a relationship with Ragintrudis.

Dagobert next married Nanthilde. (Nanthilde was born in 610 and died in 642.)