Figure 1.--This deperction of the baptism of Clovis was painted by the Master of Saint Giles about 1500. There is some dispute as to just when Clovis converted, but ot was a matter of some improtance to French history. Notice the tonsure of the altar boy. As was common at the time, the clothing is the styles worn at the time the portrait was painted rather than in the period depicted.

Clovis is important to history as the first king of the geographic area that would become France. The emergence of the Franks as a major force in European history after the fall of Rome was largely due to a youthful tribal leader--Clovis (466?-511). Covis was only aged 15 years was only 15 years old. He succeeded his father, Childeric I, as king of the Salian Franks (481). He very qwuickly suceeded in uniting the fractious Franks, something hich hus father had begun. Clovis was noted for his physical bravery and duplicity. Clovis conveted to Christianity and made the Merovingoan dynasty. He set up an independent state centered at at Tournai (431 AD). Clovis I defeated the Roman remanant and gained control of Gaul. He built a powerful kingdom by assimilating the largely Romanized Celtic population of Gaul with his Frankish peoples. Relatively little is known about Gaul during this period, in part because that learming declined and we have few written acounts. There appears to have been a general Roman societal decline. One grave study shows a general decline in the quality of grave goods during the Merovingian era. 【Lobell, pp. 49-50.】 Clovis converted to Christianity bringing the Franks into developing Christian Europe. He resisted conversion for some time, but gradualy givem the widespread Christinity of Gaul began to understand the politicasl dynamics and the influence of the clergy. While resisting conversion, he did take a Catholic wife. Clovis came to the realisation that he wouldn't be able to rule Gaul without the help of the clergy and derided to please the clergy by taking a Catholic wife. 【Bachrach, p. 8.】 His eventual conversion to Catholicism is sugniicsant (496). (There is consuderabke debate as to the actual date of conversion.) This appears to have been largely the doings of his wife, Clotilde. This was a common pattern in Europe with wives leading conversion. The Church would venerate Clovis as a saint. And today this is rognized by both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. He was formally baptized on Christmas Day (508). 【Danuta】 Importantly, Clovis adopted Catholicism and not thre Arianism prerfereed by most other Germanic tribes, especially the Vandals and Visigoths. This meant that Frsnce would become Catholic. And not only France, but the Low Countries abd eventually Germany as well. Three centuries later, Charlemagne would ally himself with the Pope (800). A campaign against the Visigoths added most of Aquitaine to Clovis's kingdom

Sources

Bachrach, Bernard S. (1972). Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751 (University of Minnesota Press, 1972).

Danuta, Shanzer. "Dating the baptism of Clovis: The bishop of Vienne vs the bishop of Tours". Early Medieval Europe Vol. 7, No. 1 (March 1998), pp. 29–57.

Lobell, Jarrett A. "Auul after the Romans: A cemeter in northwetern France is beginning to expand our knowledge of the emergence of the Merovingian dynasty," Archaeology (January-February 2015), pp. 48-50.

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Last updated: 2:50 AM 3/4/2023