Charlemagne Backstories - Overview of the Merovingians (Historic)

THE MEROVINGIANS – An Historical Overview
By Scott Pavelle a/k/a Brion Enkazi

Rome and the Franks

The first contact between the people known as the Franks and the Roman Empire occurred circa 240 A.D., when the Roman emperor Aurelian defeated the Germanic tribesmen at a battle near Mainz. The Franks were willing to be a “subject” people after that, at least in name, so long as the Emperor in Rome kept a very loose hand. They lived in Gaul more or less contentedly and after 150 years had adopted a nominal Christianity comparable to their nominal status as Roman subjects. At that point the failing Imperial hand began to grasp its nominal holdings much tighter, like an aging miser with an old man’s claw-like grip.

In 431 a Frank named Clodio led a partial uprising. The Roman general Aetius put it down, and then allowed a wholesale rapine on the theory that it would awe the savages into quiescence. The reprisals kindled more outrage than fear, however.

Clodio’s cousin Merovius (for whom the Merovingian dynasty was later named) took over in 448, uniting all the tribes. Merovius might have led a new rebellion, but was forestalled by the invasion of Attila’s Huns. In 450 the Franks made alliance with Rome, and in 451 they marched together against Attila under the same general Aetius who’d defeated Clodio almost 20 years before.

The war began when the Huns attempted to take Lutetia [Gallo-Roman Paris]. (The Huns had been extorting tribute for several years and invaded when the Emperor refused to pay any more). St. Genevieve repulsed them, so the enemy went on to besiege Orléans. That siege ended when word came that the Roman-Frankish coalition was advancing. Attila withdrew to a position between Troyes and Châons [the plains of Catalaunian] where he prepared for battle. The coalition beat him decisively. The next year (452) the Huns invaded again, bypassing the Franks and making their way into Northern Italy. They did not make it all the way to Rome, however, probably due to lack of supplies.

Merovius died in 456 and was succeeded by his son Childeric. The Romans took advantage of the confusion to tighten their grip again. They sent in a new general, Aegidius, who chased Childeric into exile. Rome could not sustain the effort, however, and Childeric returned a few years later, in 465. With relations now completely soured, Childeric proceeded to unify his people and built the beginning of the Frankish state.

People sometimes think that Rome was conquered by people from “outside,” but that’s less true than it seems. The Romans of the Western Empire had long-since taken to hiring German mercenaries to fill their armies, and the Emperors had arguably been little more than figureheads for decades. In 476 a chieftain among those mercenaries, Odoacer, led a revolt of several tribes (the Heruli, the Sciri, and the Rugii). The big difference was that Odoacer managed to defeat the Roman general sent to put him down, while everyone before him (like Clodio) had lost. That left the way open all the way to Rome, and Odoacer took it. He deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustus and took his place. The event is a significant landmark because Odoacer was the first non-Italian to claim the Imperial throne.

Odoacer reigned in a chaotic “peace” for a little more than a decade, when the Byzantine emperor Zeno sent his most troublesome mercenary, the Ostrogoth King Theodoric, to “negotiate” a settlement in 488. Theodoric won a series of battles in 489-493, and then agreed to a treaty in which he and Odoacer would be co-Emperors. When Odoacer and his son arrived for the celebratory feast, however, Theodoric had them poisoned and took the throne alone.

The Franks held themselves aloof when Odoacer made his coup, first under Childeric and then under his son Clovis (from 481 to 511). After Clovis defeated the last ‘Roman’ troops in 486, Gaul was split among the various long-settled tribes in de facto independent states. The Franks were the largest and strongest, followed closely by the Visigoths, Vandals and Burgundians. Clovis had ambitions to unify all the tribes under his banner, but never succeeded.[1] He did defeat and absorb a mid-sized tribe called the Alemmani, however, which made the Franks considerably stronger than their competitors.

When Theodoric took control of Italy in 493, he made a far-reaching policy choice to keep the tribes under control by giving up his nominal right to command and playing them off against each other. Among other things, Theodoric married one of Clovis’ daughters, but he also intervened militarily a few times when it seemed that the Franks might be getting too strong.[2]

The Merovingian Dynasty and the Mayors of the Palace

When Clovis died in 511, his kingdom was split among his four sons (a date which many scholars mark as the beginning of the Middle Ages). The various Merovingian kings that followed managed to reunite and refragment the kingdom several times, but gradually grew into ascendancy over the other tribes. The political chaos continued unchecked for 240 years until the last Merovingian King was deposed by Pepin the Short (Charlemagne’s father) in 751.

Pepin began as the fourth and final “Mayor of the Palace”. The first was his great- grandfather (also a Pepin) who was appointed in 613 after a particularly nasty set of civil wars that involved competing Queens and their various offspring. Over the 140 years in which the institution existed, the Mayor of the Palace became the de facto prime minister and ruler while the Kings continued to hold titular power.

What made the situation unworkable was the rising power of Islam. The Arabs had spread across Northern Africa like a wildfire, entering Europe through Spain. (Italy repulsed a number of tentative attacks). In 732 the Saracens invaded France wholesale. Charles Martel defeated them at the Battle of Tours, but that only relieved the pressure; it didn’t eliminate it. Pepin took over the throne (751 A.D.) from the last Merovingian King (Childeric III) in order to consolidate the civil and military states in a way that could meet the threat.

Note that the King was such an informal institution that there had actually been a gap. When King Theoderic IV died in 737 A.D., he was not replaced. Charles Martel ruled directly as Mayor of the Palace. When Charles Martel took over in 741 A.D., however, a moderate vacuum occurred. Pepin the Short and his brother Carloman took over as joint Mayors. They got on well but felt the need for a figurehead king. Childeric III was raised in 743.

Carloman retired to the monastery of Monte Casino in 747 A.D. leaving Pepin the Short as the sole mayor.

Pepin then ruled without challenge until 768, when he was succeeded by his sons Carloman and Charles. Carloman was soon ousted, however, and Charles (Charlemagne) took over as sole King in 771.

[1] Clovis is remembered as a good King because he was the first to make Paris his capital, married a Christian (the Burgundian Princess Clotilda), and ultimately converted (in 496).

[2] Theodoric is remembered as a top-notch Emperor for the times, despite his means of coming to power and his savage manner of dealing with potential challengers. He consolidated what was left of Italy, rebuilt roads and harbors, and basically ran the civil infrastructure with efficiency and success. He was not a Christian, however, and toward the end of his reign had some serious political disputes with the Pope and the Byzantine Emperor over their efforts to reduce the Christian ascendancy into law.

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