Clovis I King of the Franks ^{1 2 3}

   Other names for Clovis were Chlodovech King of the Franks, Chlodovechus King of the Franks and Clovis I, King of the Franks.

  Research Notes:

United most of the Franks and Roman Gaul, becoming King of all the Franks in 509.

Not to be confused with Clovis of the Riparian Franks Buried in Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Paris, France.
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From Wikipedia - List of Frankish kings :

Clovis I united all the Frankish petty kingdoms as well as most of Roman Gaul under his rule, conquering the Domain of Soissons of the Roman general Syagrius as well as the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse . He took his seat at Paris, which along with Soissons , Reims , Metz , and Orléans became the chief residences. Upon his death, the kingdom was split among his four sons:
Soissons - Chlothar I, 511-561
Paris - Childebert I, 511-558 then Chlothar I, 558-561
Orléans - Chlodomer, 511-524 then Childebert I, 524-558 then Chlothar I, 558-561
Reims - Theuderic I, 511-534 then Theudebert I, 534-548 then Theudebald, 548-555 then Chlothar I, 555-561.
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From Wikipedia - Clovis I :

Clovis I (c. 466 - 27 November 511 ) was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler. He succeeded his father Childeric I in 481[1] as King of the Salian Franks , one of the Frankish tribes who were then occupying the area west of the lower Rhine , with their centre around Tournai and Cambrai along the modern frontier between France and Belgium , in an area known as Toxandria . Clovis conquered the neighbouring Frankish tribes and established himself as sole king before his death.

He converted to Roman Catholicism , as opposed to the Arianism common among Germanic peoples at the time, at the instigation of his wife, the Burgundian Clotilda , a Catholic. He was baptized in the Cathedral of Rheims , as most future French kings would be. This act was of immense importance in the subsequent history of France and Western Europe in general, for Clovis expanded his dominion over almost all of the old Roman province of Gaul (roughly modern France). He is considered the founder both of France (which his state closely resembled geographically at his death) and the Merovingian dynasty which ruled the Franks for the next two centuries.

In primary sources Clovis' name is spelled in a number of variants: The Frankish form Chlodovech was Latinised as Chlodovechus, from which came the Latin name Ludovicus, which evolved into the French name Louis.

The name features prominently in subsequent history: Three other Merovingian Kings have been called Clovis, while nine Carolingian rulers and thirteen other French kings and one Holy Roman Emperor have been called Louis.

Nearly every European language has developed its own spelling of his name. Louis (French), "Chlodwig" and Ludwig (German), Lodewijk (Dutch), and Lewis (English) are just four of the over 100 possible variations.
Scholars differ about the meaning of his name. Chlodovech is composed out of the Germanic roots Chlod- and -vech, which are usually associated with "glow" and "soldier". His name thus might have meant "illustrious in combat" or "glorious warrior".

In 486, with the help of Ragnachar , Clovis defeated Syagrius , the last Roman official in northern Gaul , who ruled the area around Soissons in present-day Picardie .[2] This victory at Soissons extended Frankish rule to most of the area north of the Loire . After this, Clovis secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths , through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great . He followed this victory with another in 491 over a small group of Thuringians east of his territories. Later, with the help of the other Frankish sub-kings, he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac . He had previously married the Burgundian princess Clotilde (493), and, following his victory at Tolbiac , he converted (traditionally in 496) to her Trinitarian Catholic faith. This was a significant change from the other Germanic kings, like the Visigoths and Vandals , who had embraced the rival Arian beliefs.


Clovis I died in 511 and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica , Paris , whereas his father had been buried with the older Merovingian kings in Tournai. Upon his death his realm was divided among his four sons: Theuderic , Chlodomer , Childebert , and Clotaire . This partitioning created the new political units of the Kingdoms of Rheims , Orléans , Paris and Soissons and inaugurated a period of disunity which was to last, with brief interruptions, until the end (751 ) of his Merovingian dynasty.

  Christening Notes:

Baptized by Saint Remi, Bishop of Rheims.

  Noted events in his life were:

• King of the Salian Franks: at Tournai, 481-511.

• Unified: the Kingdom of the Franks, 486.

• King of the Franks, 509-511.

Clovis married Clotilde Queen of the Franks, daughter of Chilperic II King of the Burgundians and Caretena, in 493. (Clotilde Queen of the Franks was born in 475 in Lyons, (Rhône), Burgundy (France) and died in 545 in Tours, Touraine (Indre-et-Loire), France.)