Editing Childebert II

{{Short description|King of Austrasia from 575 to 596 AD}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Childebert II
| image = Tiers_de_sou_de_Childebert_II.png
| caption = [[Tremissis]] of Childebert II

| succession = [[King of Austrasia]]
| reign = 575–596
| predecessor = [[Sigebert I]]
| successor = [[Theudebert II]]

| succession1 = [[King of Burgundy]]
| reign1 = 592–596
| predecessor1 = [[Guntram]]
| successor1 = [[Theuderic II]]

| house = [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]]

| birth_date = 570
| birth_place = 
| death_date = {{death year and age|596|570}}
| death_place =

| father = [[Sigebert I]]
| mother = [[Brunhilda of Austrasia|Brunhilda]]

| spouses = [[Faileuba]]
| spouse-type = 
| issue = [[Theudebert II]]<br>[[Theuderic II]]
}}

'''Childebert II''' ({{Circa|570}}&nbsp;– 596) was the Merovingian king of [[Austrasia]] (which included [[Provence]] at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, and the [[king of Burgundy]] from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle [[Guntram]].

==Childhood==
Born c. 570,{{sfn|Murray|2018|p=320}} Childebert was the son of [[Sigebert I]] and [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]].{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=347}} When his father was assassinated in 575 by two slaves of Queen-consort [[Fredegund]] of [[Soissons]],{{sfn|Van Dam|2005|p=204}} Childebert was taken from [[Paris]] by Gundobald (according to one story, after being lowered from a window in a bag by his mother{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|1958|p=543}}), one of his faithful lords, to [[Metz]] (the Austrasian capital), where he was recognized as sovereign.  He was then only five years old, and during his long minority the power was disputed between his mother [[Brunhilda of Austrasia|Brunhilda]] and the nobles, with Brunhilda being dominant until Childebert came of age in 585.{{sfn|Earenfight|2013|p=57}}

[[Chilperic I]], king at [[Paris, France|Paris]], and the Burgundian king Guntram sought an alliance with Childebert, who was adopted by both in turn.{{sfn|Van Dam|2005|p=204}} Because Guntram was lord of half of [[Marseille]] the district of Provence became a centre of a brief dispute between the two.

Guntram allied with [[Dynamius of Provence]], who instigated the canons of the [[Diocese of Uzès]] to elect their deacon Marcellus, as bishop in opposition to their already-elected bishop [[Jovinus of Provence|Jovinus]], a former governor of Provence. While Jovinus and [[Theodore, Bishop of Marseille]], were travelling to the court of Childebert, Guntram had them arrested. Dynamius, meanwhile, blocked Gundulf, a duke of an important senatorial family and Childebert's former ''[[Domesticus (Roman Empire)|domesticus]]'', from entering Marseille on behalf of Childebert. Eventually he was forced to yield, though he later arrested Theodore again and had him sent to Guntram. Childebert replaced him in Provence by [[Nicetius of Provence|Nicetius]] (585). Despite his revolt, Childebert formally restored Dynamius to favour on 28 November 587.

==Heir, king and war leader==
With the assassination of Chilperic in 584 and the dangers occasioned to the French monarchy by the expedition of [[Gundoald]] in 585, Childebert threw himself unreservedly to the side of Guntram.  By the [[Treaty of Andelot]] of 587, Childebert was recognised as Guntram's heir,{{sfn|Craft|2013|p=6}} and with his uncle's help in 587 he quelled the revolt of Dukes Rauching, Ursio, and Berthefried, and succeeded in seizing the castle of [[Woëvre]]. Many attempts were made on his life by [[Fredegund]], wife of Chilperic, who was anxious to secure Guntram's inheritance for her son [[Clotaire II]]. Childebert II had relations with the [[Byzantine Empire]], and fought on several occasions in the name of the [[Byzantine emperor|Emperor]] [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]] against the [[Lombards]] in [[Italy]], with limited success.{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=167-168}}

With Guntram, he authorized the Irish monk [[Columbanus|Saint Colomban]] to found the abbey of [[Luxeuil Abbey|Luxeuil]] and two other monasteries in the heart of the [[Vosges]] and to work with his monks in the various missions and foundations in all the Frankish kingdoms.{{sfn|Prieur|Vulliez|1999|p=19-23, 25-28}}

On the death of Guntram in 592, Childebert annexed the kingdom of Burgundy,{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=130}} and even contemplated seizing Clotaire's estates and becoming sole king of the Franks. However, he and his young wife [[Faileuba]] died after being poisoned in 596.{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=103}} He and Faileuba had: the older, [[Theudebert II]],{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=347}} inherited Austrasia with its capital at Metz, and the younger, [[Theuderic II]],{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=347}} received Guntram's former kingdom of Burgundy, with its capital at Orléans.

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book | url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4930&context=gradschool_theses | access-date=2020-12-27 | title=Queenship, intrigue and blood-feud: deciphering the causes of the Merovingian civil wars, 561–613 |first=Brandon Taylor |last=Craft |year=2013 | publisher=Louisiana State University}}
*{{cite book |title=Queenship in Medieval Europe |first=Theresa |last=Earenfight |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2013 }}
*{{cite dictionary |title=Childebert |first=A. C. |last=Murray |dictionary=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity |editor-first=Oliver |editor-last=Nicholson |volume=I |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 }}
*{{cite book | language=fr |first1=Jean |last1=Prieur |first2=Hyacinthe |last2=Vulliez | title=Saints et saintes de Savoie |publisher=La Fontaine de Siloé |year=1999 |isbn=978-2842064655 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0nJjCgPKeYC&pg=PA19}}
*{{cite book |last=Van Dam |first=Raymond |chapter=Merovingian Gaul and the Frankish conquests |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=1:c. 500 – c. 700 |editor-first1=Paul |editor-last1=Fouracre |editor-first2=Rosamond Mac |editor-last2=Kitterick |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 }}
*{{cite book | title=Fredegar and the History of France |first=J. M. |last=Wallace-Hadrill  | url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m1955&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF |year=1958}}
*{{cite book |title=The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751 |first=Ian |last=Wood |publisher=Longman |year=1994 }} 

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[Merovingian|Merovingian dynasty]]||570||595}}
{{Succession box | before=[[Sigebert I]]| title=[[List of Frankish Kings|King of Austrasia]] | years=575&ndash;595 | after=[[Theudebert II]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Guntram]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Frankish Kings|King of Burgundy]]|years=592&ndash;595}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Theuderic II]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{merovingians}}
{{Monarchs of France}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Childebert Ii}}
[[Category:Merovingian kings]]
[[Category:Frankish warriors]]
[[Category:570s births]]
[[Category:595 deaths]]
[[Category:Medieval child monarchs]]
[[Category:6th-century Frankish kings]]