The 'Merovingians' were a
Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the
Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient
Gaul from the mid
fifth to the mid
eighth century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare between branches of the family. During the final century of the Merovingian rule, the dynasty was increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. The Merovingian rule was ended by a
palace coup in
751 when
Pippin the Short formally deposed Childeric III, beginning the
Carolingian monarchy.
They were sometimes referred to as the "long-haired kings" (Latin ''reges criniti'') by contemporaries, for their symbolically unshorn hair (traditionally the tribal leader of the Franks wore his
hair long, as distinct from the
Romans and the
tonsured clergy). The term Merovingian is drawn directly from
Low Franconian, akin to their dynasty's Old English name ''Merewīowing''.
Origins
The Merovingian dynasty owes its name to the semi-legendary
Merovech, (
Latinised as ''Meroveus'' or ''Merovius''), leader of the
Salian Franks, and emerges into wider history with the victories of his son
Childeric I (reigned c.457 –
481) against the
Visigoths,
Saxons, and
Alemanni. Childeric's son
Clovis I went on to unite most of
Gaul north of the
Loire under his control around
486, when he defeated
Syagrius, the
Roman ruler in those parts. He won the
Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in
496, on which occasion he adopted his wife's
Nicene Christian faith, and decisively defeated the Visigothic kingdom of
Toulouse in the
Battle of Vouillé in
507. After Clovis' death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, according to Frankish custom. Over the next century, this tradition of partition would continue. Even when multiple Merovingian kings ruled, the kingdom — not unlike the late
Roman Empire — was conceived of as a single entity ruled collectively by several kings (in their own realms) and the turn of events could result in the reunification of the whole kingdom under a single king. Leadership among the early Merovingians was probably based on mythical descent and alleged divine patronage, expressed in terms of continued military success.
History
Upon
Clovis' death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all the Franks and all of
Gaul but
Burgundy. To the outside, the kingdom, even when divided under different kings, maintained unity and conquered Burgundy in 534. After the fall of the
Ostrogoths, the Franks also conquered
Provence. After this their borders with Italy (ruled by the
Lombards since 568) and Visigothic
Septimania remained fairly stable.
[1]
Internally, the kingdom was divided among Clovis' sons and later among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who quickly allied among themselves and against one another. The death of one king would create conflict between the surviving brothers and the deceased's sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by the personal feud around
Brunhilda. However, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established 'rules' and norms.
[2]
Eventually,
Clotaire II in
613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler. Later divisions produced the stable units of
Austrasia,
Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitania.
The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and procured enormous concessions from the kings in return for their support. These concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading ''comites'' and ''duces'' (counts and dukes). Very little is in fact known about the course of the
seventh century due to a scarcity of sources, but Merovingians remained in power until the
eighth century.
Clotaire's son
Dagobert I (died
639), who had sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in the east, is commonly seen the last powerful Merovingian King. Later kings are known as ''rois fainéants'' ("do-nothing kings"), despite the fact only the last two kings did nothing. The kings, even strong-willed men like
Dagobert II and
Chilperic II, were not the main agents of political conflicts, leaving this role to their mayors of the palace, who increasingly substituted their own interest for their king's. Many kings came to the throne at a young age and died in the prime of life, weakening royal power further.
The conflict between mayors was ended when the Austrasians under the
Pepin the Middle triumphed in
687 in the
Battle of Tertry. After this, Pepin, though not a king, was the political ruler of the Frankish kingdom and left this position as a heritage to his sons. It was now the sons of the mayor that divided the realm among each other under the rule of a single king.
After Pepin's long rule, his son
Charles Martel assumed power, fighting against nobles and his own step-mother. His reputation for ruthlessness further undermined the king's position. During the last years of his life he even ruled without a king, though he did not assume royal dignity. His sons
Carloman and
Pepin again appointed a
Merovingian figure-head to stem rebellion on the kingdom's periphery, but in
751, Pepin finally displaced the last Merovingian and, with the support of the nobility and the blessing of
Pope Zachary, himself assumed the title of a King of the Franks. The deposed Merovingian was sent into a monastery, bereft of his symbolic long hair. With Pepin, the
Carolingians ruled the Franks as Kings.
Government and law
The Merovingian king was the master of the booty of war, both movable and in lands and their folk, and he was in charge of the redistribution of conquered wealth among his followers, though these powers were not absolute. "When he died his property was divided equally among his heirs as though it were private property: the kingdom was a form of patrimony" (Rouche 1987 p 420). Some scholars have attributed this to the Merovingians lacking a sense of ''
res publica'', but other historians have criticized this view as an oversimplification.
The kings appointed magnates to be ''
comites'' (counts), charging them with
defense,
administration, and the judgement of disputes. This happened against the backdrop of a newly isolated Europe without its Roman systems of
taxation and
bureaucracy, the Franks having taken over administration as they gradually penetrated into the thoroughly Romanised west and south of Gaul. The counts had to provide armies, enlisting their ''milites'' and endowing them with land in return. These armies were subject to the king's call for military support. There were annual national assemblies of the nobles of the realm and their armed retainers which decided major policies of warmaking. The army also acclaimed new kings by raising them on its shields in a continuance of ancient practice which made the king the leader of the warrior-band. Furthermore, the king was expected to support himself with the products of his private domain (
royal demesne), which was called the ''
fisc''. This system developed in time into
feudalism, and expectations of royal self-sufficiency lasted until the
Hundred Years' War. Trade declined with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and agricultural estates were mostly self-sufficient. The remaining international trade was dominated by Middle Eastern merchants.
Merovingian law was not universal law equally applicable to all; it was applied to each man according to his origin: Ripuarian Franks were subject to their own ''
Lex Ripuaria'', codified at a late date (Beyerle and Buchner 1954), while the so-called ''Lex Salica'' (
Salic Law) of the Salian clans, first tentatively codified in
511 (Rouche 1987 p 423) was invoked under medieval exigencies as late as the
Valois era. In this the Franks lagged behind the Burgundians and the Visigoths, that they had no universal Roman-based law. In Merovingian times, law remained in the rote memorisation of ''rachimburgs'', who memorised all the precedents on which it was based, for Merovingian law did not admit of the concept of creating ''new'' law, only of maintaining tradition. Nor did its Germanic traditions offer any code of
civil law required of urbanised society, such as
Justinian caused to be assembled and promulgated in the
Byzantine Empire. The few surviving Merovingian edicts are almost entirely concerned with settling divisions of estates among heirs.
Religion and culture
Main articles: Merovingian art and architecture,
Merovingian script
Merovingian culture was so thoroughly imbued with religion that Yitzhak Hen found that a presentation of Merovingian popular culture was essentially synonymous with Merovingian religion, which he presented through written texts.
[3] Merovingian culture certainly witnessed an extensive proliferation of saints.
Christianity was brought to the Franks by monks. The most famous of these missionaries is St.
Columbanus, an Irish monk who enjoyed great influence with Queen
Balthild. Merovingian kings and queens used the newly forming ecclesiastical power structure to their advantage. Monasteries and episcopal seats were shrewdly awarded to elites who supported the dynasty. Extensive parcels of land were donated to monasteries to exempt those lands from royal taxation and to preserve them within the family. The family would maintain its dominance over the monastery by appointing family members as abbots. Extra sons and daughters who could not be married off were sent to monasteries so that they would not threaten the inheritance of older children. This pragmatic use of monasteries ensured close ties between elites and monastic properties.
Numerous Merovingians who served as bishops and abbots, or who generously funded
abbeys and monasteries, were rewarded with sainthood. The outstanding handful of Frankish saints who were not of the Merovingian kinship nor the family alliances that provided Merovingian counts and dukes, deserve a closer inspection for that fact alone: like
Gregory of Tours, they were almost without exception from the
Gallo-Roman aristocracy in regions south and west of Merovingian control. The most characteristic form of Merovingian literature is represented by the ''
Lives'' of the saints. Merovingian
hagiography did not set out to reconstruct a biography in the Roman or the modern sense, but to attract and hold popular devotion by the formulas of elaborate literary exercises, through which the Frankish Church channeled popular piety within orthodox channels, defined the nature of sanctity and retained some control over the posthumous cults that developed spontaneously at burial sites, where the life-force of the saint lingered, to do good for the votary.
[4] The ''vitae et miracula'', for impressive
miracles were an essential element of Merovingian hagiography, were read aloud on saints’ feast days. Many Merovingian saints, and the majority of female saints, were local ones, venerated only within strictly circumscribed regions; their cults were revived in the High Middle Ages, when the population of women in religious orders increased enormously. Judith Oliver noted five Merovingian female saints in the
diocese of Liège who appeared in a long list of saints in a late thirteenth-century psalter-hours.
[5] The characteristics they shared with many Merovingian female saints may be mentioned: Regenulfa of Incourt, a seventh-century virgin in French-speaking Brabant of the ancestral line of the
dukes of Brabant fled from a proposal of marriage to live isolated in the forest, where a curative spring sprang forth at her touch; Ermelindis of Meldert, a sixth-century virgin descended from
Pepin I, inhabited several isolated
villas;
Begga of Andenne,the mother of
Pepin II, founded seven churches in Andenne during her widowhood; the purely legendary "Oda of Amay" was drawn into the Carolingian line by spurious genealogy in her thirteenth-century ''vita'', which made her the mother of
Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, but she has been identified with the historical Saint Chrodoara;
[6] finally, the widely-venerated
Gertrude of Nivelles, sister of Begga in the Carolingian ancestry, was abbess of a nunnery established by her mother. The ''vitae'' of six late Merovingian saints that illustrate the political history of the era have been translated and edited by Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, and presented with ''
Liber Historiae Francorum,'' to provide some historical context.
[7]
Merovingian saints of more than local cult
Queens and abbesses
★ Genovefa (
Genevieve), virgin of Paris (died 502);
★
Clothilde, queen of the Franks (died 544/45);
★
Monegund, widow and recluse of Tours (died 544);
★
Radegund, Thuringian princess who founded a monastery at Poitiers (died 587);
★
Rusticula, abbess of Arles (died 632);
★
Cesaria II, abbess of St Jean of Arles (died ca 550);
★
Glodesind, abbess in Metz (died ca 600);
★
Burgundofara, abbess of Moutiers (died 645);
★
Sadalberga, abbess of Laon (died 670);
★
Rictrude, founding abbess of Marchiennes (died 688);
★
Itta, founding abbess of Nivelles (died 652);
★
Begga, abbess of Andenne (died 693);
★
Gertrude of Nivelles, abbess of Nivelles (died 658) presented in ''The Life of St. Geretrude'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Aldegund, abbess of Mauberges (died ca 684);
★
Waltrude, abbess of Mons (died ca 688);
★
Balthild, queen of the Franks (died ca 680), presented in ''The Life of Lady Bathild, Queen of the Franks'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Eustadiola, widow of Bourges (died 684);
★
Bertilla, abbess of Chelles (died ca. 700);
★
Anstrude, abbess of Laon (died before 709);
★
Austreberta, abbess of Pavilly (died 703);
Bishops and abbots
★
Audouin of Rouen, presented in ''The Life of Audoin, Bishop of Rouen'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Aunemond, presented in ''The Deeds of Aunemond'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Leodegar, bishop of
Autun; presented in ''The Suffering of Ludegar'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Praejectus ''The Suffering of Praejectus'' (in Fouracre and Gerberding 1996);
★
Eligius/Eloi;
★
Prætextatus, Bishop of Rouen and friend of Gregory;
★
Gregory of Tours, Bishop of Tours and historian;
★
Hubertus, Apostle of the
Ardennes and first
Bishop of Liège.
Historiography and sources
There exists a limited number of contemporary sources for the history of the Merovingian Franks, but those which have survived cover the entire period from Clovis' succession to Childeric's deposition. First and foremost among chroniclers of the age is the
canonised bishop of Tours,
Gregory of Tours. His ''Decem Libri Historiarum'' is a primary source for the reigns of the sons of Clotaire II and their descendants until Gregory's own death.
The next major source, far less organised than Gregory's work, is the ''
Chronicle of Fredegar'', begun by
Fredegar but continued by unknown authors. It covers the period from
584 to
641, though its continuators, under
Carolingian patronage, extended it to
768, after the close of the Merovingian era. It is the only primary narrative source for much of its period. The only other major contemporary source is the
Liber Historiae Francorum, an anonymous adaptation of Gregory's work apparently ignorant of Fredegar's chronicle: its author(s) ends with a reference to
Theuderic IV's sixth year, which would be
727. It was widely read; though it was undoubtedly a piece of
Arnulfing work, and its biases cause it to mislead (for instance, concerning the two decades ''between'' the controversies surrounding mayors
Grimoald the Elder and
Ebroin: 652-673).
Aside from these chronicles, the only surviving reservoires of historiography are letters, capitularies, and the like. Clerical men such as Gregory and
Sulpitius the Pious were letter-writers, though relatively few letters survive. Edicts, grants, and judicial decisions survive, as well as the famous ''Lex Salica'', mentioned above. From the reign of Clotaire II and Dagobert I survive many examples of the royal position as the supreme justice and final arbiter. There also survive biographical Lives of saints of the period, for instance
Saint Eligius and
Leodegar, written soon after their subjects' deaths.
Finally, archaeological evidence cannot be ignored as a source for information, at the very least, on the ''modus vivendi'' of the Franks of the time. Among the greatest discoveries of lost objects was the
1653 accidental uncovering of Childeric I's tomb in the church of Saint Brice in
Tournai. The grave objects included a golden bull's head and the famous golden insects (perhaps bees, cicadas, aphids, or flies) on which
Napoleon modelled his coronation cloak. In
1957, the sepulchre of Clotaire I's second wife,
Aregund, was discovered in
Saint Denis Basilica in
Paris. The funerary clothing and jewellery were reasonably well-preserved, giving us a look into the costume of the time.
Numismatics
Byzantine coinage was in use in Francia before
Theudebert I began minting his own money at the start of his reign. He was the first to issue distinctly Merovingian coinage. The
solidus and
triens were minted in Francia between 534 and 679. The
denarius (or
denier) appeared later, in the name of
Childeric II and various non-royals around 673–675. A Carolingian denarius replaced the Merovingian one, and the Frisian
penning, in Gaul from 755 to the eleventh century.
Merovingian coins are on display at the ''
Monnaie de Paris'' in Paris.
Merovingians in popular culture
★
Michael Baigent,
Richard Leigh, and
Henry Lincoln use the Merovingians in their book, ''
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' (1982, reprinted 2004; Delacorte Press, ISBN 0-385-33859-7, as ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail''), which later influenced the novel ''
The Da Vinci Code.'' The claim was that the Merovingians were the descendants of
Jesus Christ; it is seen as popular
pseudohistory by academic historians.
★
The Merovingian is a powerful anthropomorphic
computer program, portrayed by
Lambert Wilson, in the 2003 science-fiction movies ''
The Matrix Reloaded'' and ''
The Matrix Revolutions''. His character has chosen a French accent, clothing style, and attitude. He is a broker of power and knowledge.
References
★ Beyerle, F and R. Buchner: ''Lex Ribuaria'' in ''MGH'', Hannover 1954.
★
Eugen Ewig: ''Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich''. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2001.
★ Patrick J. Geary: ''Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World'', Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
★ Kaiser, Reinhold: ''Das römische Erbe und das Merowingerreich'', (Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte 26) (München, 2004)
★ Rouche, Michael: "Private life conquers State and Society" in Paul Veyne (ed.), ''A History of Private Life: 1. From Pagan Rome to Byzantium'', Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1987.
★ Werner, Karl Ferdinand: ''Die Ursprünge Frankreichs bis zum Jahr 1000'', Stuttgart 1989.
★
Oman, Charles: ''The Dark Ages 476-918'', London, 1914.
★ Wood, Ian: "The Merovingian Kingdoms: 450-751", New York: Longman Press, 1994.
★ Effros, Bonnie. ''
Caring for Body and Soul: Burial and the Afterlife in the Merovingian World''. Penn State Press, 2002. ISBN 0-271-02196-9
Notes
1. Archibald R. Lewis, "The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751." ''Speculum'' '51'.3 (July 1976, pp. 381-410) p 384.
2. Guy Halsall, Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900 (Routledge, London, 2003)
3. Yitzhak Hen , ''Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A.D. 481-751'' (New York: Brill) 1995.
4. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, ''The Frankish Church,'', V:"The Merovingian Saints" (1983), pp. 75-94.
5. Judith Oliver, "'Gothic' Women and Merovingian Desert Mothers" ''Gesta'' '32'.2 (1993), pp. 124-134.
6. Oliver 1993:127.
7. Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, ''Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720'' (Manchester University) 1996.
External links
★
The Oxford Merovingian Page.
★
''From Merovingians to Carolingians: Dynastic Change in Frankia''.
★
Dr Deborah Vess: Merovingian and Carolingian bibliography, souces and web links.
★
Genealogy of the Merovingian dynasty from Genealogy.eu
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