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Clovis (466-511)
Clovis (466-511)

Clovis I, son of the Frankish king Childeric I and Basina, Queen of Thuringia, came to the throne in 481 AD and founded the Merovingian dynasty. He extended the realm he inherited between the Scheldt and the Somme towards the south and west, seizing the kingdom of Syagrius between the Loire and the Somme in 486, and then defeating the Alamanni at the Battle of Tolbiac in 496 before conquering the Burgundians in 500. With his victory over the Visigoths in 507, Clovis became master of the lands between the Loire and the Pyrenees and ruled almost all of Gaul from then on until his death on 27 November 511, in Paris. In approximately 493 AD, Clovis married the catholic, Burgundian princess, Clotilde.
"The History of the Franks" written by Gregory of Tour after 575 AD, is the principal source of information on the life of Clovis. It describes how Clotilde tried to persuade her husband to abandon paganism. Following the example of Constantine, who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity at the beginning of the 4th century AD, Clovis decided that he would submit to baptism if the god of the Christians allowed him to win an unlikely victory; as was the case against the Alamanni. The Clovis portrayed in the book is more literary fiction than historical fact. Gregory described the Merovingian king as a tireless warrior and religious figure. The conversion to Catholicism may have been that of the man and not of the realm, but nevertheless, it represented an important turning point in the history of the Franks. 
The political and religious unity of the kingdom began with Clovis.
94-052339
Dejuinne François-Louis (1786-1844)
Versailles, châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon
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