Editing Chlothar II (section)

==King of All Franks (613–629)==
Upon his unification of all Franks, Clothar took up residence in Paris and in the villas of Alentours.<ref>Lebecq, p. 126.</ref>

===Mayors of the Palace===
An important key aspect that was maintained in all three administrations of the kingdoms even after unification was the presence of the Mayors of the Palace. The mayor of the palace was originally the king's servant in charge of administrative events of the palace. During the royal feud, however, the role grew in importance as more of a steward of lands to care more directly than the king could and was placed in the hands of aristocracy. One of the most notable figures in this role was Warnachaire, mayor of the palace of Burgundy in 613, who was one of the leaders responsible for capturing Brunhild, and held the position until his death in 626. Warnachaire's wife, Berthe, was likely a daughter of Clothar.<ref>For the mayors of the palace, cf. Lebecq, pp. 125–126.</ref>

===Edict of 614===
In 614, Chlothar II convoked the [[Council of Paris (614)|Council of Paris]] and promulgated the [[Edict of Paris]], which reserved many rights to the Frankish nobles while it [[antisemitism|excluded Jews]] from all civil employment for the Crown.<ref>Alan Harding, ''Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State'', (Oxford University Press, 2001), 14.</ref><ref>S. Wise Bauer, ''The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade'', (W.W. Norton & Company, 2010), 251.</ref> The ban effectively placed all literacy in the [[Merovingian]] monarchy squarely under ecclesiastical control and also greatly pleased the nobles, from whose ranks the bishops were ordinarily exclusively drawn. Article 11 of the Edict states that it is to restore "peace and discipline in [the] kingdom" and "suppress rebellion and insolence". The edict was ratified for all three kingdoms. Owing to several abuses of powers by officials, many of whom had been appointed by Chilperic, several mandates were made, among them the requirement that officials must have come from the region they officiate over.<ref>The word used is ''judex'', "judge", that is to say the earl or one of his subordinates. Cf. Lebecq, p. 125.</ref>

Chlothar was induced by Warnachar and Rado to make the mayoralty of the palace a lifetime appointment at [[Bonneuil-sur-Marne]], near [[Paris]], in 617.

===Dagobert King of Austrasia (623)===
[[File:Clotaire II Dagobert Ier et saint Arnoul.jpg|thumb|Clothar and a young Dagobert]]
In 623, he gave the kingdom of [[Austrasia]] to his young son [[Dagobert I]]. This was a political move as repayment for the support of Bishop [[Arnulf of Metz]] and [[Pepin of Landen|Pepin I]], mayor of the palace of Austrasia, the two leading Austrasian nobles, who were effectively granted semi-autonomy.<ref>Lebecq, p. 127.</ref>

At the same time, Clothar made territorial changes by assigning the region of Reims to Neustria. But Dagobert, now the semi-autonomous king of Austrasia, negotiated its return in 626.

===Barbarian and Christian relations===
Clothar was no exception in the line of Merovingians of its history of family feuding. This was considered to be a very 'barbarian' custom. However, he was one of the few Merovingians that did not practice polygamy, instead remaining faithful to a single wife until her death. He remained respectful of the Church and its doctrines, keeping it as an ally. He likely tried to maintain himself as a pious king, inspired by the holiness of his uncle Guntram who had protected him and allowed him the throne.<ref>Histoire de France de l'Abbé Velly, Tome I (1752), pp. 244–247</ref>

In 617, he renewed the treaty of friendship that bound the Frankish kings with the kings of the Lombards. He likely had the policy of maintaining good relations with Christianized-barbarian peoples so long as they kept good relations themselves with the Church.<ref>Histoire de France de l'Abbé Velly, Tome I (1752), p. 247</ref>