Editing Clovis I (section)

==Late reign (507–511)==

===Visiting the Visigoths===
{{Main article|Franco–Gothic War (507–511)}}
[[File:Division of Gaul - 511.jpg|thumb|Frankish territories at the time of Clovis's death in 511]]

In 507 Clovis was allowed by the magnates of his realm to invade the remaining threat of the Kingdom of the Visigoths. King Alaric had previously tried to establish a cordial relationship with Clovis by serving him the head of exiled Syagrius on a silver plate in 486 or 487. However, Clovis was no longer able to resist the temptation to move against the Visigoths, for many Catholics under Visigoth yoke were unhappy and implored Clovis to make a move. But just to be absolutely certain about retaining the loyalties of the Christians under Visigoths, Clovis ordered his troops to omit raiding and plunder, for this was not a foreign invasion, but a liberation.{{sfn|Bachrach|1972|p=3–11}}

Armorici assisted him in defeating the [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] kingdom of [[Toulouse]] in the [[Battle of Vouillé]] in 507, eliminating Visigothic power in Gaul. The battle added most of [[Aquitaine]] to Clovis's kingdom<ref name=BeerAdvocate>{{cite web|title=Iron Age Braumeisters of the Teutonic Forests|work=BeerAdvocate| url=http://beeradvocate.com/articles/668}}</ref> and resulted in the death of the Visigothic king [[Alaric II]].

According to Gregory of Tours, following the battle the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius I]] made Clovis a [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] and honorary [[Roman consul|consul]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mathisen|first=Ralph W.|title=The Battle of Vouillé, 507 CE: Where France Began|date=2012|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-1-61451-099-4|editor-last=Mathisen|editor-first=Ralph W.|chapter=Clovis, Anastasius, and Political Status in 508 C.E.: The Frankish Aftermath of the Battle of Vouillé|pages=79–110|doi=10.1515/9781614510994.79|editor-last2=Shanzer|editor-first2=Danuta|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/29750646}}</ref>

===Unifying the Franks===
Following the Battle of Vouillé, Clovis eliminated all his possible rivals, including the other Frankish kings who ruled alongside him.

Sometime after 507, Clovis heard about [[Chararic (Frankish king)|Chararic]]'s plan to escape from his monastic prison and had him murdered.<ref name="Chararic"/> Around the same time, Clovis convinced Prince [[Chlodoric the Parricide|Chlodoric]] to murder his father [[Sigobert the Lame|Sigobert]], earning him his nickname as "Chlodoric the Parricide". Following the murder, Clovis betrayed Chlodoric and had his envoys strike him down.<ref name=Howorth>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ye92FXOHQfUC&dq=Sigobert+the+Lame&pg=PA235 Howorth, H.H., "The Ethnology of Germany", ''The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', Volume 13, Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1884, p. 235]</ref> Sometime later, Clovis visited his old ally [[Ragnachar]] in Cambrai. Following his conversion to Christianity in 508, many of Clovis' pagan retainers had defected to Ragnachar's side, making him a political threat.{{sfn|Bachrach|1972|p=9}} Ragnachar denied Clovis's entry, prompting Clovis to make a move against him. He bribed Ragnachar's retainers and executed him alongside his brother Ricchar.{{sfn|Bachrach|1972|p=31}}

===Death===
[[File:Clotilde partageant le royaume entre ses fils.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The partition of the Frankish kingdom among the four sons of Clovis with [[Clotilde]] presiding, ''[[Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis]]'' (Bibliothèque municipale de Toulouse)]]

Shortly before his death, Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet in [[Orléans]] to reform the Church and create a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate. This was the [[First Council of Orléans]]. Thirty-three bishops assisted and passed 31 decrees on the duties and obligations of individuals, the right of sanctuary, and ecclesiastical discipline. These decrees, equally applicable to Franks and Romans, first established equality between conquerors and conquered. After his death, Clovis was laid to rest in the [[Abbey of St Genevieve]] in Paris.

His remains were relocated to [[Saint Denis Basilica]] in the mid- to late 18th century. When Clovis died, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, [[Theuderic I of Austrasia|Theuderic]], [[Chlodomer]], [[Childebert I|Childebert]] and [[Clotaire I|Clotaire]]. This partition created the new political units of the Kingdoms of [[Rheims]], [[Orléans]], Paris and [[Soissons]], and inaugurated a tradition that would lead to disunity lasting until the end of the [[Merovingians|Merovingian]] dynasty in 751. Clovis had been a king with no fixed capital and no central administration beyond his entourage. By deciding to be interred at Paris, Clovis gave the city symbolic weight. When his grandchildren divided royal power 50 years after his death in 511, Paris was kept as a joint property and a fixed symbol of the dynasty.<ref>Patrick Boucheron, et al., eds. ''France in the World: A New Global History'' (2019) pp 85–86.</ref>

The disunity continued under the [[Carolingians]] until, after a brief unity under [[Charlemagne]], the Franks splintered into distinct spheres of cultural influence that coalesced around Eastern and Western centers of royal power. These later political, linguistic, and cultural entities became the Kingdom of France, the myriad German States, and the semi-autonomous kingdoms of [[Burgundy]] and [[Lotharingia]].