Editing Childebert I

{{Short description|King of Paris and Orleáns (died 558)}}
{{Expand French|topic=bio|Childebert Ier|date=July 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Childebert I
| title        = 
| image        = Tiers de sou d'or de Childebert Ier.png
| caption      = Coin of Childebert I with his profile
| succession   = [[King of Paris]]
| reign        = 511–558
| predecessor  = [[Clovis I]]
| successor    = [[Chlothar I]]
| succession1  = King of [[Orléans]]
| reign1       = 524–558
| predecessor1 = [[Chlodomer]]
| successor1   = [[Chlothar I]]
| spouse       = [[Ultragotha]]
| issue        = Chrodoberge<br/>Chrodesinde
| house        = [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [[Clovis I]]
| mother       = [[Clotilde]]
| birth_date   = {{c.}} 496
| birth_place  = [[Reims]]
| death_date   = 13 December {{death year and age|558|496}}
| death_place  = 
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = 
| religion     = [[Chalcedonian Christianity]]
}}

'''Childebert I''' ({{circa}} &nbsp;496 &ndash; 13 December 558) was a [[Frankish King]] of the [[Merovingian dynasty]], as third of the four sons of [[Clovis I]] who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of [[Saint Clotilda]], born at [[Reims]]. He reigned as [[King of the Franks|King of Paris]] from 511 to 558 and [[Orléans]] from 524 to 558.

==Biography==
[[File:Division of Gaul - 511.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The division of the lands of Gaul to the sons of [[Clovis I]] upon his death in 511.]]
In the partition of the realm, Childebert received as his share the town of [[Paris]], the country to the north as far as the river [[Somme (river)|Somme]], to the west as far as the [[English Channel]], and the [[Armorica]]n peninsula (modern [[Brittany]]).{{sfn|Pfister|1911}} His brothers ruled in different lands: [[Theuderic I]] in [[Metz]], [[Chlodomer]] in [[Orléans]], and [[Chlothar I]] in [[Soissons]].

In 523, Childebert participated with his brothers in a war against [[Godomar|Godomar of Burgundy]]. Chlodomer died in the [[Battle of Vézeronce]] (524). Thereafter, concerned that the three sons of Chlodomer would inherit the kingdom of Orléans, Chlothar conspired with Childebert to oust them. They sent a representative to their mother, [[Clotilde]]. The representative presented a pair of scissors and a sword, offering her the choice to shear the three young boys, thereby depriving them of the long hair considered a symbol of royal power, or to have them killed. She famously replied, "It is better for me to see them dead rather than shorn, if they are not raised to the kingship".<ref name="Tours_III_18">Grégoire de Tours, ''Histoire'', livre III, 18.{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.asp|title=online at Fordham University}}</ref> After the murder of Chlodomer's two elder children—the third, [[Clodoald]], escaping to a monastic life—Childebert annexed the cities of [[Chartres]] and [[Orléans]].

He took part in later various expeditions against the kingdom of [[Burgundians|Burgundy]]. He [[Battle of Autun (532)|besieged Autun]] in 532 and, in 534, having conquered the kingdom along with his brother Chlothar and Theuderic's son [[Theudebert I]], received as his share of the spoils of that kingdom the towns of [[Mâcon]], [[Geneva]] and [[Lyon]]s. When [[Witiges]], the king of the [[Ostrogoths]], ceded [[Provence]] to the Franks in 535, the possession of [[Arles]] and [[Marseille]] was guaranteed to Childebert by his brothers.{{sfn|Pfister|1911}} The annexation of that province was completed, with Clotaire's help, in the winter of 536&ndash;537.

In 531, he received pleas from his sister [[Clotilde (died 531)|Chrotilda]], wife of King [[Amalaric]] of the [[Visigoths]]. The [[Arianism|Arian]] king of [[Hispania]], Chrotilda claimed, was grossly mistreating her, a [[Catholic]]. Childebert went down with an army and defeated the Gothic king. Amalaric retreated to Barcelona, where he was assassinated. Chrotilda died on her return journey to Paris of unknown causes.

Childebert made other expeditions against the Visigoths. In 542, he took possession of [[Pamplona]] with the help of his brother Clotaire and besieged [[Zaragoza]], but was forced to retreat. From this expedition he brought back to Paris a precious relic, the tunic of [[Vincent of Saragossa|Saint Vincent]], in honour of which he built at the gates of Paris the famous monastery of Sainte-Croix-et-Saint-Vincent, known later as [[Saint-Germain-des-Prés (abbey)|St-Germain-des-Prés]].{{sfn|Pfister|1911}}

He died on 13 December 558, and was buried in the abbey he had founded, where his tomb has been discovered.<ref>See "Nouveaux documents sur le tombeau de Childebert a Saint-Germain-des-Prés" in the ''Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires'', 1887.</ref> St-Germain-des-Prés became the royal [[necropolis]] for the [[Neustria]]n kings until 675.<ref name="Médiévales">Patrick Périn, in ''Médiévales'', 31, 1996, pp. 29–36</ref> He left two daughters, Chrodoberge and Chrodesinde, by his wife Ultragotha. Childebert was an acquisitive monarch. He expanded his domains in more foreign wars than any of his brothers, fighting in Burgundy (more than once), Spain (more than once), Provence and elsewhere in Gaul. [[Gregory of Tours]], a contemporary Neustrian, cites Childebert as saying: "{{lang|la|Velim unquam Arvernam Lemanem quae tantae jocunditatis gratia refulgere dicitur, oculis cernere}}" ("Would that I could set eyes on the Auvergne Limagne, which is spoken of so highly"). Childbert was also one of the more religious of the sons of Clovis, cooperating with his brothers, rescuing his sister, and constructing the famous monastery of Saint Vincent to house his [[relic]]s.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Childebert|volume=6|page=137|first=Christian|last=Pfister|author-link=Christian Pfister}}
*[[Gregory of Tours]]. ''The History of the Franks''. 2 vol. trans. [[Ormonde Maddock Dalton|O. M. Dalton]]. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.
*[[Patrick J. Geary|Geary, Patrick J.]] ''Before France and Germany''. Oxford University Press: 1988.

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Merovingian dynasty]]||496||558}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Clovis I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Frankish kings|King of Paris]]|years=511–558}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Clotaire I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Merovingians}}
{{Monarchs of France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Merovingian kings]]
[[Category:Frankish warriors]]
[[Category:490s births]]
[[Category:558 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis]]
[[Category:6th-century Frankish kings]]
[[Category:Burials at Saint-Germain-des-Prés (abbey)]]
[[Category:Royal reburials]]