Clovis I

Clovis I, in German, Chlodwig (circa 466-511), king of the Franks (481-511) and first important ruler of the Merovingian dynasty. He succeeded his father, Childeric I, as king of the Salian Franks. His career focused largely on forging the Salian Franks on the northern Rhine River and the Ripuarian Franks on the lower Rhine into a single dominion. He began with a victory in 486 over Syagrius, the last Roman governor in northern Gaul. By 493, when he married the Burgundian princess Clotilda (later canonized as St. Clotilda), Clovis had defeated many petty princes whose territories had surrounded his capital at Soissons. He next came into conflict in 496 with the confederation of Germanic tribes known as the Alamanni, who inhabited land east of his domains. According to legend, it was only by invoking the God of his Christian wife, Clotilda, that he defeated his enemy. Clotilda was almost certainly instrumental in Clovis's conversion to Christianity, and he was baptized in 496. He became the champion of orthodox Christians in every part of Gaul and was supported effectively by the church in all his campaigns. He continued to fight the Alamanni, who were completely conquered by 506; the next year the Visigoths were decisively defeated when their king, Alaric II, was killed by Clovis in a battle near Poitiers. Clovis made Paris the capital of the Frankish kingdom, which at that time included most of present-day France and southwestern Germany. According to Salian custom, he divided his kingdom among his four sons.