Editing Dagobert I

{{Short description|King of the Franks in Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Dagobert I
| title        = King of the Franks 
| image        = Tr%C3%A9missis_de_Dagobert_Ier.jpg
| caption      = Contemporary effigy of Dagobert from a gold ''[[triens]]''
| succession  = [[List_of_Frankish_kings#Kings_in_Austrasia_(623–679)|King in Austrasia]]
| reign       = 623–634
| predecessor = [[Chlothar II]]
| successor   = [[Sigebert III]]
| succession2   = [[List of Frankish kings#Kings in Neustria and Burgundy (613–679)|King in Neustria and Burgundy]]
| reign2       = October 629 – 19 January 639
| predecessor2  = [[Chlothar II]]
| successor2    = [[Clovis II]]
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
*[[Gormatrude]]
*[[Nanthild]]
*Wulfegundis
*Berchildis
*Ragnetrude (concubine)}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Sigebert III]]
*[[Clovis II]]}}
| house        = [[Merovingian]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [[Chlothar II]]
| mother       = Haldetrude
| birth_date   = {{circa}} 605/603
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 19 January 639 (aged 35-36)
| death_place  = [[Épinay-sur-Seine]]
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = [[Saint Denis Basilica]], [[Paris]]
| signature    = Souscription_de_Dagobert_Ier.jpg
}}

'''Dagobert I''' ({{langx|la|Dagobertus}}; {{Circa}} 603/605 – 19 January 639){{sfn|Oldfield|2014|p=218}} was [[List of Frankish kings|King of the Franks]]. He ruled [[Austrasia]] (623–634) and [[List of Frankish kings#Kings in Neustria and Burgundy (613–679)|Neustria and Burgundy]] (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the [[Merovingian]] dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the [[Mayor of the palace]] rose as the political and war leader.{{sfn|Williams|2005|p=52}} Dagobert was the first [[Frankish king]] to be buried in the royal tombs at the [[Basilica of Saint-Denis]].{{sfn|Duby|1991|p=134}}

==Rule in Austrasia==
Dagobert was the eldest son of [[Chlothar II]] and Haldetrude (575–604) and the grandson of [[Fredegund]].{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=139}} Chlothar had reigned alone over all the Franks since 613. In 622, Chlothar made Dagobert king of [[Austrasia]],{{sfn|Geary|1988|p=154}} almost certainly to bind the Austrasian nobility to the ruling Franks.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=139}}{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=16}} As a child, Dagobert lived under the care of the Carolingian dynasty forebears and Austrasian magnates, [[Arnulf of Metz]] and [[Pepin of Landen]].{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=77}}

Chlothar attempted to manage the unstable alliances he had with other noble families throughout much of Dagobert's reign.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=121}} When Chlothar granted Austrasia to Dagobert, he initially excluded [[Alsace]], the [[Vosges Mountains|Vosges]], and the [[Ardennes]], but shortly thereafter the Austrasian nobility forced him to concede these regions to Dagobert. The rule of a Frank from the Austrasian heartland tied Alsace more closely to the Austrasian court. Dagobert created a new duchy (the later [[Duchy of Alsace]]) in southwest Austrasia to guard the region from Burgundian or Alemannic encroachments and ambitions. The duchy comprised the Vosges, the [[Burgundian Gate]], and the [[Transjurane Burgundy|Transjura]]. Dagobert made his courtier [[Gundoin]]—who incidentally established monasteries in Alsace and Burgundy{{sfn|Geary|1988|p=177}}—the first duke of this new polity that was to last until the end of the Merovingian dynasty. While Austrasian rulers such as Chlothar and Dagobert controlled these regions through part of the seventh-century, they eventually became autonomous kingdoms as powerful aristocratic families sought separate paths across their respective realms.{{sfn|Geary|1988|pp=154–155}}

==United rule==
[[File:Paris Musée Cluny Trône de Dagobert 135.jpg|thumb|left|"[[Throne of Dagobert]]", [[bronze]]. The base, formed by a [[curule]] chair, is traditionally attributed to Dagobert, while the arms and the back of the chair were added under [[Charles the Bald]]. This throne was last used by [[Napoleon I]] in 1804 when he created the [[Légion d'Honneur]].|300x300px]]

Upon the death of his father in 629, Dagobert inherited the Neustrian and Burgundian kingdoms. His half-brother [[Charibert II|Charibert]], son of [[Sichilde]], claimed Neustria but Dagobert opposed him. Brodulf, brother of Sichilde, petitioned Dagobert on behalf of his young nephew, but Dagobert assassinated him and became sole king of the Franks. He later gave the Aquitaine to Charibert as a "consolation prize."{{sfn|Deutsch|2013|p=96}} In 629, Dagobert concluded a treaty with the Byzantine emperor [[Heraclius]], which entailed enforcing the compulsory baptism of Jews throughout his kingdom.{{sfn|Meriaux|2019|p=144}} Besides signing this treaty, Dagobert also took steps to secure trade across his empire by protecting important markets along the mouth of the [[Rhine]] at Duurstede and [[Utrecht]], which in part explains his later determination to defend the Austrasian Franks from the Avar menace.{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=79}}

Under the rule of Dagobert's father and like-minded Merovingians, Frankish society during the seventh-century experienced greater integration—the Catholic faith became predominant for instance—and a generally improved economic situation, but there was no initial impetus for the political unification of Gaul. Clothar II did not seek to force his Neustrian neighbors into submission, choosing instead a policy of cooperation.{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|pp=76–77}} This did not prohibit plunder-raids to replenish the dynastic coffers, which Dagobert undertook in Spain for example—one raid there earned him 200,000 gold ''solidi''.{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=78}} Historian Ian Wood claims that Dagobert "was probably richer than most Merovingian monarchs" and cites for example his assistance to the Visigoth [[Sisenand]]—whom he aided in his rise to the Visigothic throne in Spain—and for which, Sisenand awarded Dagobert a golden dish weighing some {{convert|500|lb|kg}}.{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=65}}

When Charibert and his son [[Chilperic of Aquitaine|Chilperic]] were assassinated in 632, Dagobert had Burgundy and Aquitaine firmly under his rule, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in many years and the most respected ruler in the West. In 631, Dagobert led a large army against [[Samo]], the ruler of the [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] Wends, partly at the request of the Germanic peoples living in the eastern territories and also due to Dagobert's quarrel with him about the Wends having robbed and killed a number of Frankish merchants.{{sfn|James|1988|p=105}} While Dagobert's Austrasian forces were defeated at the [[Battle of Wogastisburg|Wogastisburg]],{{sfn|Jaques|2011|p=1109}} his Alemannic and Lombard allies were successful in repelling the Wends.{{sfn|James|1988|p=106}} Taking advantage of the situation at the time, the Saxons offered to help Dagobert if he agreed to rescind the 500 cow yearly tribute to the Austrasians. Despite accepting this agreement, Fredegar reports that it was to little avail  since the Wends attacked again the following year.{{sfn|James|1988|p=106}}

==Rule in Neustria, from Paris==
Also in 632, the nobles of Austrasia revolted under the [[mayor of the palace]], [[Pepin of Landen]]. In 634, Dagobert appeased the rebellious nobles by putting his three-year-old son, [[Sigebert III]], on the throne, thereby ceding [[Realm|royal power]] in the easternmost of his realms, just as his father had done for him eleven years earlier. In historian Ian Wood's view, Dagobert's creation of a sub-kingdom for his son Sigibert had "important long-term implications for the general structure of Merovingian Francia."{{sfn|Wood|1994|p=145}}

[[File:Dagobert.jpg|thumb|left|Detail of Dagobert's tomb, thirteenth century]]
As king, Dagobert made [[Paris]] his capital. During his reign, he built the [[Burg Meersburg|Altes Schloss]] in [[Meersburg]] (in modern [[Germany]]), which today is the oldest inhabited castle in that country. Devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the construction of the Saint Denis Basilica at the site of a [[Benedictine]] monastery in Paris. He also appointed St. Arbogast bishop of [[Strasbourg]].{{sfn|Farmer|2011|p=26}} Dagobert was beloved in many ways according to Fredegar, who wrote that "He rendered justice to rich and poor alike," adding that, "he took little sleep or food, and cared only so to act that all men should leave his presence full of joy and admiration."{{sfn|Durant|1950|p=460}} Such images do not fully convey the power and domination wielded by Frankish kings like Dagobert, who along with his father Chlothar, reigned to such a degree that historian Patrick Geary described the period of their combined rule as the "apogee of Merovingian royal power."{{sfn|Geary|2002|p=153}}

Dagobert went down in history as one of the greatest Frankish kings, in spite of his mediocre military record (cf. his defeats by the Saxons and the Wends), having held his lands against the eastern hordes and with noblemen as far away as [[Bavaria]], who sought his overlordship.{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=80}}  Only thirty six when he died, Dagobert is considered the last of the great Merovingian kings by most historians, but this does not mean there was a major waning in Frankish power, especially in light of the writings of [[Paul the Deacon]] and [[John of Toledo]].{{sfn|Fouracre|2005|p=380}} J.M. Wallace-Hadrill stated that Dagobert "had the ruthless energy of a Clovis and the cunning of a [[Charlemagne]]."{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=80}} Despite having more or less united the Frankish realms, he likely was not expecting unitary rule to continue given the diverging interests of the Austrasian and Neustrian Franks, atop those of the Aquitanians and Burgundians.{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2004|p=80}} Upon Dagobert's death in 639, Pepin of Landen was able to recoup his position at Metz.{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=18}} Meanwhile, Dagobert was buried in the abbey of Saint Denis Basilica, [[Paris]], the first Frankish king to be buried there.{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=140}} Dagobert's interment at Saint-Denis established a precedent for the burial of future French rulers there.{{sfn|Horne|2004|p=6}}

==Legacy==
The pattern of division and assassination, which characterized king Dagobert's reign, continued for the next century until [[Pepin the Short]] finally deposed the last Merovingian king in 751, establishing the [[Carolingian]] dynasty.  The Merovingian boy-kings remained ineffective rulers who inherited the throne as young children and lived only long enough to produce a male heir or two, while real power lay in the hands of the noble families who exercised [[feudal]] control over most of the land.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In the 830s, a biography of Dagobert, the ''[[Gesta Dagoberti]]'', was written, probably by [[Hincmar]]. It is mostly unreliable, but does contain some information based on authentic archival documents.{{sfn|Wood|1994|pp=148, 155, 169}} Dagobert was immortalized in the song ''[[Le bon roi Dagobert (song)|Le bon roi Dagobert]]'' (''The Good King Dagobert''), a nursery rhyme featuring exchanges between the king and his chief adviser, [[Saint Eligius]] (''Eloi'' in French). The satirical rhymes place Dagobert in various ridiculous positions from which Eligius' good advice manages to extract him. The text, which probably originated in the 18th century, became extremely popular as an expression of the anti-monarchist sentiment of the [[French Revolution]]. Other than placing Dagobert and Eligius in their respective roles, it has no historical accuracy.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In 1984, a 112 minute long French-Italian comedy, ''[[Le bon roi Dagobert (1984 film)|Le bon roi Dagobert]]'' (''Good King Dagobert'') was made, based on Dagobert I. The soundtrack was composed by [[Guido & Maurizio De Angelis]], Starring	Ugo Tognazzi, Coluche and Michel Serrault.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

==Marriage and children==
According to the ''[[Chronicle of Fredegar]]'' Dagobert I had "three queens almost simultaneously, as well as several concubines".{{efn|Fredegar IV, 60.}}{{sfn|Durant|1950|p=94, 460}} The ''rex Brittanorum'' [[Saint Judicael|Judicael]] came to Clichy to visit Dagobert I, but opted not to dine with him due to his misgivings about Dagobert's moral choices, instead dining with the king's referendary [[Audoin (bishop)|St. Audoen]].{{sfn|James|1988|p=101}}

The ''Chronicle of Fredegar'' names three queens. [[Nanthild]], Wulfegundis, and Berchildis, but none of the concubines.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} In 625/6 Dagobert married Gormatrude, a sister of his father's wife [[Sichilde]]. The marriage was childless. After divorcing Gormatrude in 629/30 he made [[Nanthild]], a Saxon servant (''puella'') from his personal entourage, his new queen.{{efn|Fredegar IV, 58: ''Nantechildem unam ex puellis de menisterio matrimonium accipiens reginam sublimavit''.}} She gave birth to [[Clovis II]] (b. 634/5) later king of Neustria and Burgundy.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Shortly after his marriage to Nanthild, a woman called Ragnetrude bore Dagobert I a son, [[Sigebert III]] (b. 630/1) later king of Austrasia.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} It has been speculated that [[Regintrud]], abbess of [[Nonnberg Abbey]], was also a child of Dagobert I, although this theory does not fit Regintrud's supposed date of birth between 660 and 665. She married into the [[Bavaria]]n [[Agilolfing]] family, either [[Theodo of Bavaria]] or his son [[Theodbert of Bavaria]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

==Coinage and treasures under Dagobert==
[[File:Basilique Saint-Denis Dagobert tombeau.jpg|thumb|Dagobert's tomb at
[[Abbey of Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]], remade in the thirteenth century]]

=== Treasures of Dagobert ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200" class="left">
File:France historique et monumentale - Planche XXIII - Monuments de Dagobert.png|Treasures of Dagobert - [[Abel Hugo]] - ''France historique et monumentale'' (1837).
File:Sceptre de Dagobert.jpg|[[Scepter of Dagobert]]
File:Trône de Dagobert C des M.jpg|[[Throne of Dagobert]]
File:Trône de Dagobert détail C des M.jpg|Throne of Dagobert (detail)
</gallery>

=== Coinage ===
<gallery class="center">
File:Dagobert I Triens UZES 629 639 gold 1240mg.jpg|''[[Triens]]'' of Dagobert I, [[Uzès]], 629–639, gold 1.24g. [[Monnaie de Paris]].
File:Dagobert I solidus Marseille 623 629.jpg|''[[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]]'' of Dagobert I, [[Marseille]], 623–629. [[Cabinet des Médailles]].
File:Dagobert I and Romanos monetaire triens Augaune 629 639 1320mg.jpg|[[Triens]] of Dagobert I and moneyer Romanos, Augaune, 629-639, gold 1.32g. [[Monnaie de Paris]].
</gallery>

==References==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
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*{{cite book | last=Durant | first=Will | year=1950 | title= The Age of Faith | volume=IV | series=The Story of Civilization | location=New York | publisher=Simon and Schuster | oclc=225699907 }}
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* {{cite book| last=Frassetto | first=Michael | year=2003 | title=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation | place=Santa Barbara, CA | publisher=ABC-CLIO | isbn=978-1-57607-263-9 }}
* {{cite book | last=Geary | first=Patrick J. | year=1988 | title=Before France and Germany: The Creation & Transformation of the Merovingian World | url=https://archive.org/details/beforefrancegerm0000gear | url-access=registration | location=Oxford and New York | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19504-458-4}}
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{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{EB1911 poster|Dagobert I}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100502044114/http://www.fairytalechannel.org/2010_04_12_archive.html A translation of Brother's Grimm Saga, King Dagobert's Soul in the Ship]

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Merovingian|Merovingian Dynasty]]||605|19 January|639}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Chlothar II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List_of_Frankish_kings#Kings_in_Austrasia_(623–679)|King of the Franks in Austrasia]]|years=623&ndash;629}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sigebert III]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Chlothar II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Frankish kings#Kings in Neustria and Burgundy (613–679)|King of the Franks in Neustria and Burgundy]]|years=629&ndash;639}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Clovis II]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Merovingians}}
{{Monarchs of France}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

[[Category:Merovingian kings]]
[[Category:600s births]]
[[Category:639 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis]]
[[Category:7th-century Frankish kings]]