Clovis

Clovis (old Ger. Chlodwig, modern Ger. Ludwig, Fr. Louis), king of the Franks, was of the Merovingian race, and was born 465 A.D. By the death of his father, Childerie (481), he became king of the Salian Franks, whose capital was Tournai. His first achievement was the overthrow of the Gallo-Romans under Syagrius, near Soissons. He then took possession of the whole country between the Somme and the Loire, and established himself in Soissons. In 493 he married Clotilda, daughter of a Burgundian prince. His wife was a Christian, and earnestly desired the conversion of her husband. In a great battle with the Alemanni near Cologne, Clovis was hard pressed, and as a last resource invoked the god of Clotilda, offering to become a Christian on condition of obtaining the victory. The Alemanni were routed, and on Christmas Day of the same year Clovis and several thousands of his soldiers were baptised by Remigius, Bishop of Rheims. Most of the Western Christian princes were Arians, but Clovis was strictly orthodox, and, in consequence, was saluted by Pope Anastasius as the 'Most Christian King.' In 507, love of conquest concurring with zeal for the orthodox faith, Clovis marched to the south-west of Gaul against the heretic Visigoth, Alaric II., whom he defeated and slew at Vouglé, near Poitiers, taking possession of the whole country as far as Bordeaux and Toulouse; but he was checked at Arles in 507, by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths. Clovis now took up his residence in Paris, where he died in 511. His great aim was the subjugation of all the Frankish princes, and the union of the whole Frankish people into a single powerful kingdom.—Clovis II., son of Dagobert, reigned over the Franks from 638 to 656.