Editing Chilperic I (section)

==Life==
Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he endeavoured to take possession of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of [[Berny-Rivière|Berny]] and entered [[Paris]]. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with [[Amiens]], [[Arras, France|Arras]], [[Cambrai]], [[Thérouanne]], [[Tournai]] and [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] fell to Chilperic's share.{{sfn|Pfister|1911}} His eldest brother [[Charibert I|Charibert]] received [[Paris]], the second-eldest brother [[Guntram]] received [[Burgundians|Burgundy]] with its capital at [[Orléans]], and [[Sigebert I|Sigebert]] received [[Austrasia]]. On the death of Charibert in 567, Chilperic's estates were augmented when the brothers divided Charibert's kingdom among themselves and agreed to share Paris and the territory around it.
[[File:Jean-Paul Laurens - Le jugement de Chilpéric.jpg|thumb|''Le jugement de Chilpéric'', a tyrannical portrayal of Chilperic by [[Jean-Paul Laurens]]]]

[[File:FrankishRealm561.jpg|thumb|right|The Frankish Realm in 561, after the death of Clothar I]]

[[File:FrankishRealm5671 rma.jpg|thumb|right|The Frankish Kingdom after the death of Charibert I of Paris]]

Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. This started when Sigebert marched against the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and defeated them possibly in Thuringia and possibly pushed them out of the [[Elbe]]. Chilperic, seeing that his brother was far from his lands, attacked [[Reims]] and took it. Soon Sigebert returned however and took Reims and marched to Soissons, where he defeated, seized the city, and imprisoned Chilperic's eldest son, [[Theudebert of Soissons|Theudebert]]. The war flared in 567, at the death of Charibert. Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's new lands, but Sigebert defeated him. Chilperic later allied with Guntram against Sigebert (573), but Guntram changed sides due to fear of a large army Sigebert gathered past the [[Rhine]] and he crossed through Burgundy to bypass Chilperic's strong defenses. Chilperic again lost the war.

[[File:Chilperic I and Sigebert 572.jpg|thumb|right|Chilperic and Sigebert's war in 572, shows possible movements]]
[[File:The Frankish Realm in 574.jpg|thumb|right|Chilperic's invasion into Reims]]
[[File:Frankish Realm at the end of 574.jpg|thumb|right|The Frankish Split before Sigebert attacks Chilperic.]]
[[File:Frankish Realm 575.jpg|thumb|right|Frankish Realm 575]]
[[File:The Frankish Realm in 576.jpg|thumb|right|The Frankish Realm after Sigebert's death.]]
[[File:The Frankish Realm in 577.jpg|thumb|right|The Frankish Realm after Chilperic secures the south.]]
[[File:Chilperic and the Bretons 578-80..jpg|thumb|right|Vannias’ raids into France.]]
When Sigebert married [[Brunhilda of Austrasia|Brunhilda]], daughter of the [[Visigothic]] sovereign in [[Spain]] ([[Athanagild]]), Chilperic also wished to make a brilliant marriage. He had already repudiated his first wife, [[Audovera]], and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called [[Fredegund]]. He accordingly dismissed Fredegund, and married Brunhilda's sister, [[Galswintha]]. But he soon tired of his new partner, and one morning Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. A few days afterwards Chilperic married Fredegund.{{sfn|Pfister|1911}}

This murder was the cause of more long and bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert, usually ending in a status quo in Tours and Poitiers. In early December 575, Sigebert was struck down by two assassins working for Fredegund, who were clerks who promised that their parents would be very wealthy, as she knew this move was very risky. At the very moment when he had Chilperic at his mercy, as he was besieged in Tournai and Rouen and Thibert, a son of Chilperic was killed near Paris while Sigebert illegally entered and seized the city. Chilperic then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram. Chilperic got the loyalty from the nobles who've sided with Sigebert, took from Austrasia [[Tours]] and [[Poitiers]] and some places in [[Aquitaine]] like Saintes and the territory in Auvergene which a large battle was done against Mummol, who was serving under Guntram.,<ref>Armand, Frédéric. Chilpéric Ier: le roi assassiné deux fois. France, Louve, 2008. pg. 141</ref> and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of [[Childebert II]].{{sfn|Pfister|1911}}

[[File:Jean-Paul Laurens - Récits des temps mérovingiens - Hilpérik et Grégoire de Tours.jpg|thumb|left|St. Gregory of Tours is forced to listen to Chilperic's poetry, ''Hilpérik et Grégoire de Tours'' by [[Jean-Paul Laurens]]]]
In 578, Chilperic sent an army to fight the [[Armorica|Breton]] ruler [[Waroch II]] of the [[Bro-Wened]] along the [[Vilaine]]. The Frankish army consisted of units from the [[Poitou]], [[Touraine]], [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], [[Maine (province)|Maine]] and [[Bayeux]]. The ''Baiocassenses'' (men from Bayeux) were [[Saxons]] and they in particular were routed by the Bretons.<ref>Howorth, 309.</ref> The armies fought for three days before Waroch submitted, did homage for [[Vannes]], sent his son as a hostage, and agreed to pay an annual tribute. He subsequently broke his oath but Chilperic's dominion over the Bretons was relatively secure, as evidenced by [[Venantius Fortunatus]]'s celebration of it in a poem.

Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from ''The History of the Franks'' by [[Gregory of Tours]]. Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him "the [[Nero]] and [[Herod the Great|Herod]] of his time" (VI.46): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics. Gregory also objected to Chilperic's attempts to teach a new doctrine of the [[Trinity]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html |title=Gregory of Tours |access-date=2005-12-31 |archive-date=2014-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814182657/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> although some scholars dispute the extent to which Gregory disliked Chilperic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Halsall|first=Guy|title='Nero and Herod? The death of Chilperic and Gregory of Tours' writing of history' in The World of Gregory of Tours|publisher=Brill|year=2002|editor-last=Mitchell|editor-first=Kathleen|pages=337–350|editor-last2=Wood|editor-first2=Ian}}</ref>

According to Gregory of Tours, Chilperic also engaged in [[forced conversion]] of Jews.<ref>Gregory of Tours. A History of the Franks. Pantianos Classics, 1916</ref>

Chilperic's reign in Neustria saw the introduction of the Byzantine punishment of eye-gouging. Yet, he was also a man of culture: he was a musician of some talent, and he wrote verse (modelled on that of [[Coelius Sedulius|Sedulius]]); he attempted to reform the Frankish alphabet; and he worked to reduce the worst effects of [[Salic law]] upon women. 
[[File:Stamaty - Chilperic I.jpg|thumb|A modern portrait of Chilperic I]]
In September 584, while returning from a hunting expedition at his royal [[villa]] of [[Chelles, Seine-et-Marne|Chelles]], Chilperic was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant.{{sfn|Pfister|1911}}<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PDkNAAAAIAAJ&dq=chlothar+ii+king+of+the+franks&pg=PA522 Oman, Charles. ''The Dark Ages, 476-918'', Rivingtons, 1908, p. 169]{{PD-notice}}</ref> He was buried in the Saint Vincent Basilica of Paris, later incorporated in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés.