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Childebert I
  CATEGORIES ABOUT CHILDEBERT I
   
merovingian dynasty
   
frankish kings
   
kings of burgundy
   
496 births
   
558 deaths
   
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Childebert I ( Rheims , c. 496 – 558 ). He was the Frankish king of Paris , a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death ( 511 ).

- ''Childebert I''


In the partition of the realm, he received as his share the town of Paris, the country to the north as far as the river in Metz , Chlodomer in Orléans , and Clotaire I in Soissons .

In 524 , after the murder of Chlodomer 's children, Childebert annexed the cities of Chartres and Orléans . He took part in the various expeditions against the kingdom of Burgundy , and in 534 , received as his share of the spoils of that kingdom the towns of Mâcon , Geneva , and Lyons .

When Witiges , the king of the Ostrogoths , ceded Provence to the Franks in 535 , the possession of Arles and Marseille was guaranteed to Childebert by his brothers.

In 531 , he received pleas from his sister Chrotilda , wife of King Amalaric of the Visigoths . The Arian king of Hispania , Chrotilda claimed, was grossly mistreating her, a Catholic . Childebert went down with an army and defeated the Gothic king, killing him in battle. Chrotilda died on her return journey to Paris of unknown causes.

Childebert made other expeditions against the Visigoths. In 542 , he took possession of Pamplona with the help of his brother Clotaire I, and besieged Zaragoza , but was forced to retreat. From this expedition he brought back to Paris a precious relic, the tunic of St Vincent , in honour of which he built at the gates of Paris the famous Monastery of St Vincent, known later as St-Germain-des-Prés .

He died without issue in 558 , and was buried in the Abbey he had founded, where his Tomb has been discovered (see "Nouveaux documents sur le tombeau de Childebert a Saint-Germain-des-Prés" in the ''Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires'', 1887 ).


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