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105-805: Francia Charlemagne The Avar Wars were fought between Francia and the Avar Khaganate in Central Europe from 788 to 803, and ended with the Frankish conquest of the khaganate's western regions. The first conflicts between the Avars and the Franks occurred in the 560s, shortly before the Avar conquest of the Pannonian Basin . Armed conflicts between the two powers were not unusual during

210-453: A scara —a highly mobile military unit—against the khaganate. This strike force reached Avar territory (probably the region between the rivers Drava and Sava ) in August. They routed the Avars, pillaged an Avar fortress and seized much booty and 150 captives before returning to Italy. Charlemagne divided the main army into two parts. He appointed one of his relatives, Count Theoderic, and

315-470: A Frankish expeditianory force in 631 or 632. Around the same time, an Avar succession crisis ended with the flight of 9,000 Bulgar warriors and their families to Bavaria where many of them were massacred on the orders of Dagobert I of Francia ( r.  623–639 ). Samo's realm fell apart after his death and archaeological evidence indicates the Avars' westward expansion along the Danube in the second half of

420-679: A campaign of conquest in Western Frisia ( Frisia Citerior ) and defeated the Frisian king Radbod near Dorestad , an important trading centre. All the land between the Scheldt and the Vlie was incorporated into Francia. Then, circa 690, Pepin attacked central Frisia and took Utrecht . In 695 Pepin could even sponsor the foundation of the Archdiocese of Utrecht and the beginning of

525-551: A fixed palace settlement, laid out in a circle, with tents or wooden structures". Woynimir sacked the "ring" and seized much of his impressive treasure as booty. After Woynimir's return to Friuli, Duke Eric sent the booty to Charlemagne who gave part of the treasury to the pope. Pippin of Italy and Eric of Friuli gathered troops for a new invasion of the Avar Khaganate in 796. Charlemagne sent Bavarian and Alamannian reinforcements to join his son's campaign. Bowlus proposes that

630-470: A highly mobile military unit to the khaganate under the command of the Slav Woynimir in 795 or 796. Woynimir captured the khagan's residence, or "ring", and seized much of the khagan's treasury. In 796 Pippin launched a new invasion of the khaganate and forced the khagan to submit himself to the Franks without resistance. The Avars who refused to live under Frankish suzerainty withdrew to the lands to

735-483: A later version of the Royal Frankish Annals indicates that at least part of the northern army marched through southern Bohemia . The historian Charles Bowlus proposes that the destruction of the Avar fortifications in the borderlands was Charlemagne's principal strategic purpose because as long as they existed the Franks were unable to make raids into Avar territory. Before invading the Avar territory,

840-638: A leader of an unsuccessful Lombard rebellion against Charlemagne fled to the khaganate in 776. By the 780s, Bavaria remained the last autonomous duchy in Francia, and Charlemagne decided to subjugate it. He forced Duke Tassilo III ( r.  748–788 ) to repeat his oath of allegiance to him at Worms in 781. Next summer Avar troops were assembling on the Enns, but they did not cross the river. Instead, an Avar delegation went to Lippspringe to start peace negotiations with Charlemagne but he only "heard and dismissed"

945-619: A new uprising in Saxony and the rebellion of his illegitimate son Pepin the Hunchback (d. 811). Charlemagne's enemies noticed his preoccupation with Avar affairs. The Saxons sent envoys to the Avars to forge an alliance, and the Moors of Al-Andalus , or Muslim Spain, expected that the Avars would tie down Charlemagne's military forces in Central Europe. He did not launch new military campaigns in 792. Gillmore attributes Charlemagne's inactivity to

1050-592: A proselytising mission to the khaganate, Duke Theodo of Bavaria ( r.  670/680–715 ) dissuaded him because of an armed conflict along the frontier. When the Avars attacked the Slavic Carantanians in 741 or 742, the Carantanian prince Boruth (d. c. 750) sought assistance from the Bavarians. Duke Odilo ( r.  737–748 ) marched to Carantania and defeated the Avars. He secured

1155-611: A synod on the Danube to make arrangement for the Christianization of the Avars. Under the direction of Patriarch Paulinus II of Aquileia (d. 802/804), the assembled clerics decided that the Christians who had lived under Avar rule were to be rebaptized only if untrained clerics had baptized them. Francia The Kingdom of the Franks ( Latin : Regnum Francorum ), also known as the Frankish Kingdom ,

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1260-470: Is founding making royal judgements against the interests of his supposed masters, the Arnulfings. When Pepin died in 714, however, the Frankish realm plunged into civil war and the dukes of the outlying provinces became de facto independent. Pepin's appointed successor, Theudoald , under his widow, Plectrude , initially opposed an attempt by the king, Dagobert III , to appoint Ragenfrid as mayor of

1365-566: Is possible that a Bavarian–Lombard coalition of the defeated sought, with Avar help and Byzantine backing, to check Charlemagne's triumphal advance". Charlemagne's biographer Einhard (d. 840) says that aside from "the war against the Saxons , the greatest of all the wars waged by [Charlemagne] was the one against the Avars" in 791. According to Einhard's account, the war started in 788. Bavaria's full integration in Charlemagne's realm alarmed

1470-465: Is securely dated to 507. One year after this battle, Clovis made Paris his capital, and in the Christmas Day of the same year he converted to Catholicism , and some time later he orchestrated the murders of Frankish kings Sigobert and Ragnachar , uniting all Franks under his rule. The sole source for this early period is Gregory of Tours , who wrote around the year 590. His chronology for

1575-639: The Alemanni ( Battle of Tolbiac in 496) and established Frankish hegemony over them. Clovis defeated the Visigoths ( Battle of Vouillé in 507) and conquered all of their territory north of the Pyrenees save Septimania , and conquered the Bretons (according to Gregory of Tours ) and made them vassals of the Franks. He also incorporated the various Roman military settlements ( laeti ) scattered over Gaul:

1680-478: The Auvergne , and eastern Aquitaine were assigned to the third son, Sigebert I , who also inherited Austrasia with its chief cities of Reims and Metz . The smallest kingdom was that of Soissons, which went to the youngest son, Chilperic I . The kingdom Chilperic ruled at his death (584) became the nucleus of later Neustria . This second fourfold division was quickly ruined by fratricidal wars, waged largely over

1785-576: The Battle of Wogastisburg in 631, made all the far eastern peoples subject to the court of Neustria and not of Austrasia. This, first and foremost, incited the Austrasians to request a king of their own from the royal household. The subkingdom of Aquitaine corresponded to the southern half of the old Roman province of Aquitania and its capital was at Toulouse . The other cities of his kingdom were Cahors , Agen , Périgueux , Bordeaux , and Saintes ;

1890-617: The Capetian dynasty , becoming the Kingdom of France , while East Francia and Lotharingia came under the control of the non-Frankish Ottonian dynasty , becoming the Kingdom of Germany , which would conquer Burgundy and Italy to then form the medieval Holy Roman Empire . Competing French and German nationalisms in later centuries would claim succession from Charlemagne and the original kingdom, but nowadays both have become seen by many as Pan-European symbols. The term "Franks" emerged in

1995-564: The Carolingian Empire . During the reign of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, the Frankish realm was one large polity , generally subdivided into several smaller kingdoms ruled by different members of the ruling dynasties. Whilst these kingdoms coordinated, they also regularly came into conflict with one another. The old Frankish lands, for example, were initially contained within the kingdom of Austrasia , centred on

2100-468: The Dentelin , but they then fell foul of each other and the remainder of their time on the thrones was spent in infighting, often incited by their grandmother Brunhilda, who, angered over her expulsion from Theudebert's court, convinced Theuderic to unseat him and kill him. In 612 he did and the whole realm of his father Childebert was once again ruled by one man. This was short-lived, however, as he died on

2205-770: The Frankish Empire (Latin: Imperium Francorum ) or Francia , was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe . It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages . Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era. Originally, the core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were located close to

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2310-602: The Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths , receiving the provinces of Raetia , Noricum , and part of Veneto . His son and successor, Theudebald , was unable to retain them and on his death all of his vast kingdom passed to Chlothar, under whom, with the death of Childebert in 558, the entire Frankish realm was reunited under the rule of one king. In 561 Chlothar died and his realm

2415-618: The North Caucasus of southern Russia , and into the Lower Volga region where it straddles the border of southern Russia and western Kazakhstan . Biogeographically, it is a part of the Palearctic realm , and of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome . The area corresponds to Cimmeria , Scythia , and Sarmatia of classical antiquity . Across several millennia, numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen used

2520-720: The Northern Caucasus of southern Russia , and into the Lower Volga region of western Kazakhstan , to the east of the Ural Mountains . The steppe is bounded by the East European forest steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests . To the south, the steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the Crimean and western Caucasus mountains' border with

2625-600: The Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north, but Frankish chiefs such as Chlodio would eventually expand their influence within Roman territory as far as the Somme river in the 5th century. Childeric I , a Salian Frankish king, was one of several military leaders commanding Roman forces of various ethnic affiliations in the northern part of what is now France. His son, Clovis I , succeeded in unifying most of Gaul under his rule in

2730-478: The Rhine and Meuse , roughly corresponding to later Lower Lotharingia . The bulk of the Gallo-Roman territory to its south and west was called Neustria . The exact borders and number of these subkingdoms varied over time, until a basic split between eastern and western domains became persistent. After various treaties and conflicts in the late-9th and early-10th centuries, West Francia came under control of

2835-593: The Sasanian Empire in 626, but they could not capture the city. The fiasco caused bitter internal conflicts in the khaganate. The Wends , described as Avar warriors' sons by Slavic women in the Chronicle of Fredegar , rose up in open rebellion against their Avar masters. A Frankish merchant Samo (d. c. 658) played a preeminent role in their first victory for which they elected him king. Samo consolidated his position through political marriages and defeated

2940-563: The Somme river . Though Sidonius Apollinaris relates that Flavius Aetius defeated a wedding party of his people (c. 431), this period marks the beginning of a situation that would endure for many centuries: the Germanic Franks ruled over an increasing number of Gallo-Roman subjects . The Merovingians , believed by some in the latter half of the 6th century to be relatives of Chlodio as reported by Gregory of Tours (although, he himself did not share this belief), arose from within

3045-463: The Thuringii (532), Burgundes (534), and Saxons and Frisians (c. 560) were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom. The outlying trans-Rhenish tribes were loosely attached to Frankish sovereignty, and though they could be forced to contribute to Frankish military efforts, in times of weak kings they were uncontrollable and liable to attempt independence. The Romanised Burgundian kingdom, however,

3150-522: The chamberlain Maginfred to be the supreme commanders of the contingents of the Ripuarian Franks, Frisians, Saxons and Thuringians, and kept the rest of the Frankish troops along with the Bavarians and Alamanni under his own command. A fleet was also built for the Danube. His campaign started only after the end of the harvest season. The two armies marched along the two banks of the Danube but

3255-672: The 3rd century AD as a term for several Germanic tribes who settled on the northern Rhine frontier of the Roman Empire , including the Bructeri , Ampsivarii , Chamavi , Chattuarii and Salians . While all of them had a tradition of participating in the Roman military, the Salians were allowed to settle within the Roman Empire. In 358, having already been living in the civitas of Batavia for some time, Emperor Julian defeated

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3360-664: The 580s. They forced the Byzantines to pay an annual tribute—initially 900 pounds of gold, but it quickly grew to over 1,600 pounds. The Avars closely cooperated with the Slav tribes which facilitated the Slavs' expansion both in the Balkan Peninsula and in Central Europe. Around 596, a Bavarian army attacked the Slavs on the river Drava but Bayan intervened and routed the Bavarians. Before long, he invaded Thuringia and forced

3465-533: The 6th century by notably conquering Soissons in 486 and Aquitaine in 507 following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, as well as establishing leadership over all the Frankish kingdoms on or near the Rhine frontier; thus founding what would come to be known as the Merovingian dynasty. The dynasty subsequently gained control over a significant part of what is now western and southern Germany. It

3570-449: The 7th century. The Late Avar period which started around 680 saw fundamental changes in the khaghanate. Isolated burials and other signs of nomadism disappear while large cemeteries used by generation indicate the sedentarization of the Avar society. By around 700, the course of the river Enns formed the khaganate's frontier with Bavaria. Conflicts between the Avars and Bavarians were not unusual. When Bishop Emmeram decided to leave for

3675-474: The Alemanni were, for the time being, restored to the Frankish fold. However, in southern Gaul, which was not under Arnulfing influence, the regions were pulling away from the royal court under leaders such as Savaric of Auxerre , Antenor of Provence , and Odo of Aquitaine . The reigns of Clovis IV and Childebert III from 691 until 711 have all the hallmarks of those of rois fainéants , though Childebert

3780-526: The Austrasian who had installed Dagobert II , Sigebert III's son, in their kingdom (briefly in opposition to Clovis III ). In 687 he was defeated by Pepin of Herstal , the Arnulfing mayor of Austrasia and the real power in that kingdom, at the Battle of Tertry and was forced to accept Pepin as sole mayor and dux et princeps Francorum : " Duke and Prince of the Franks ", a title which signifies, to

3885-488: The Austrasians demanded a king of their own again and Chlothar installed his younger brother Childeric II . During Chlothar's reign, the Franks had made an attack on northwestern Italy, but were driven off by Grimoald, King of the Lombards , near Rivoli . In 673, Chlothar III died and some Neustrian and Burgundian magnates invited Childeric to become king of the whole realm, but he soon upset some Neustrian magnates and he

3990-552: The Austrasians, who had been seen as a distinct people within the realm since the time of Gregory of Tours, who were to make the most strident moves for independence. The young Sigebert was dominated during his minority by the mayor, Grimoald the Elder , who convinced the childless king to adopt his own Merovingian-named son Childebert as his son and heir. After Dagobert's death in 639, the duke of Thuringia , Radulf , rebelled and tried to make himself king. He defeated Sigebert in what

4095-639: The Avar khagan Bayan I ( r.  562–602 ) accepted the Lombards ' offer for an alliance against the Gepids , and the allies invaded the Gepids' realm in the eastern regions of the Carpathian Basin . The Gepids could not resist, and the Avars conquered their lands. Early next year, the Lombards voluntarily abandoned the Basin's western region for northern Italy, and the Avars took possession of all

4200-458: The Avars. They attacked northern Italy and Bavaria, but both armies were defeated. In retaliation for the invasions, two Bavarian commanders, Graman and Otachar led troops across the Enns and routed the Avars on the plains along the river Ybbs . The Avars launched a new invasion of Bavaria, but they were again defeated and many of the Avars fleeing from the battlefield drowned in the Danube. The khagan sent envoys to Worms to start negotiations about

4305-526: The Avars. When Tassilo failed to obey Charlemagne's summons to attend an assembly at Worms in 787, Charlemagne invaded Bavaria, forcing Tassilo into submission. A year later, at an assembly in Ingelheim , Bavarians who were loyal to Charlemagne accused Tassilo and his Lombard wife Liutperga of conspiring with the Avars. They were found guilty and Tassilo was deposed. The historian Walter Pohl states that even though "the sources reflect Frankish propaganda, it

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4410-670: The Bavarians followed the route that Charlemagne had taken in 791, while the Alamannians crossed the Alps via the Brenner Pass to reach Avar territory. The Italian, Bavarian and Alamannian armies united in Lower Pannonia. They met no resistance while they were marching towards the Danube. The khagan, who had assumed power after the civil war, approached Pippin on the Danube accompanied by his wife and Avar dignitaries, including

4515-472: The Carantanians' loyalty through taking hostages and promoted Christianization of the Carantanians. Although the pagan Carantanians revolted at least three times, the Avars did not take advantage of the situation and refrained from invading Bavaria. In Francia, the Merovingian kings' authority quickly weakened in the 7th century. An aristocratic family, later known as Carolingians , assumed real power as

4620-672: The Carolingians. However, Charles invaded the Rhône Valley with his brother Childebrand and a Lombard army and devastated the region. It was because of the alliance against the Arabs that Charles was unable to support Pope Gregory III against the Lombards. Pontic steppes The Pontic–Caspian Steppe is a steppe extending across Eastern Europe to Central Asia , formed by the Caspian and Pontic steppes. It stretches from

4725-600: The Chamavi and Salians, allowing the latter to settle further away from the border, in Toxandria . Some of the early Frankish leaders, such as Flavius Bauto and Arbogast , were committed to the cause of the Romans, but other Frankish rulers, such as Mallobaudes , were active on Roman soil for other reasons. After the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after

4830-413: The Frankish kingdom later came to be known as Austrasia (the "eastern lands"), while the large Romanised Frankish kingdom in the west came to be known as Neustria . Chlodio's successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I , possibly his grandson, ruled a Salian kingdom from Tournai as a foederatus of the Romans. Childeric is chiefly important to history for bequeathing

4935-423: The Franks to his son Clovis , who began an effort to extend his authority over the other Frankish tribes and to expand their territorium south and west into Gaul . Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign (481–511) Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Kingdom of Soissons , defeated

5040-447: The Franks to pay a tribute for his withdrawal. According to gossips spreading in Francia around 610, Queen Brunhilda (d. 613) who administered Burgundy on behalf of her underage grandson Theuderic II ( r.  595–613 ) wanted to conclude an alliance with the Avars against Theuderic's elder brother Theudebert II of Austrasia ( r.  595–612 ). The Avars and their Slav allies laid siege to Constantinople in cooperation with

5145-457: The Gallo-Roman military, with Childeric and his son Clovis being called "King of the Franks" in the Gallo-Roman military, even before having any Frankish territorial kingdom. Once Clovis defeated his Roman competitor for power in northern Gaul, Syagrius , he turned to the kings of the Franks to the north and east, as well as other post-Roman kingdoms already existing in Gaul: Visigoths , Burgundians , and Alemanni . The original core territory of

5250-487: The Saxons again, and in 724 he defeated Ragenfrid and the rebellious Neustrians, ending the civil war phase of his rule. In 720, when Chilperic II died, he had appointed Theuderic IV king, but this last was a mere puppet of his. In 724 he forced his choice of Hugbert for the ducal succession upon the Bavarians and forced the Alemanni to assist him in his campaigns in Bavaria (725 and 726), where laws were promulgated in Theuderic's name. In 730 Alemannia had to be subjugated by

5355-417: The Saxons of Bessin , the Britons and the Alans of Armorica and Loire valley or the Taifals of Poitou to name a few prominent ones. By the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The exact date on which Clovis became "king of all Franks" is not known, but it happened sometime after the Battle of Vouillé , which

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5460-408: The Saxons' victory, Charlemagne abandoned the military campaign. He decided to build a canal linking the Rhine and the Danube. A navigable canal could have eased the movement of troops and supplies towards the khaganate but he abandoned this ambitious project by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a civil war broke out in the Avar Khaganate, likely not independently of the permanent Frankish pressure. During

5565-411: The Turkic and Slavic tribes in the Pontic steppes . The first confrontation between the Avars and Franks occurred when the Avar invasion of Thuringia around 562. On this occasion, the Neustrian king Sigebert I ( r.  561–575 ) routed them on the river Elbe . The Avars launched a new invasion of Francia in 566. This time they defeated Sigebert but withdrew in return for supplies of food. In 567,

5670-420: The Visigoths in 612. On the opposite end of his realm, the Alemanni had defeated Theuderic in a rebellion and the Franks were losing their hold on the trans-Rhenish tribes. In 610 Theudebert had extorted the Duchy of Alsace from Theuderic, beginning a long period of conflict over which kingdom was to have the region of Alsace, Burgundy or Austrasia, which was only terminated in the late seventh century. During

5775-416: The amalgamation of the conquerors and the native Gallo-Romans . The expansion of the Frankish realm, or Francia , continued during the reign of his descendants, known as the Merovingians . The Franks conquered Burgundy , Provence , and the Alpine region, and subjugated the neighboring Germanic tribes—the Thuringii , Alemanni and Bavarians . The Merovingian kings had direct control over the lands between

5880-579: The ancient Germanic practice of electing a war-leader at an assembly of the warriors. At the death of Clovis, his kingdom was divided territorially by his four adult sons in such a way that each son was granted a comparable portion of fiscal land , which was probably land once part of the Roman fisc, now seized by the Frankish government. Clovis's sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul. Theuderic I made his capital at Reims , Chlodomer at Orléans , Childebert I at Paris , and Chlothar I at Soissons . During their reigns,

5985-449: The assassinated Sigebert (575). Together the territory of Guntram and Childebert was well over thrice as large as the small realm of Chilperic's successor, Chlothar II . During this period Francia took on the tripartite character it was to have throughout the rest of its history, being composed of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy. When Guntram died in 592, Burgundy went to Childebert in its entirety, but he died in 595. His two sons divided

6090-406: The author of the Liber Historiae Francorum , the beginning of Pepin's "reign". Thereafter the Merovingian monarchs showed only sporadically, in our surviving records, any activities of a non-symbolic and self-willed nature. During the period of confusion in the 670s and 680s, attempts had been made to re-assert Frankish suzerainty over the Frisians, but to no avail. In 689, however, Pepin launched

6195-684: The borders. According to Pohl, the Franks probably wanted to seize lands across the Enns, but the Avars refused. Charlemagne came to Regensburg to make preparations for an invasion of the Avar Khaganate in early summer 791. The Royal Frankish Annals notes that the war was justified by the "excessive and intolerable outrage committed by the Avars". In preparation for the campaign, troops from Austrasia and Neustria assembled at Regensburg together with Saxons, Frisians , Ripuarian Franks , Thuringians, Alamanni and Bavarians. Charlemagne's younger son Louis came from Aquitania. He ordered his eldest son Pippin , King of Italy ( r.  780–810 ), to lead

6300-404: The brief minority of Sigebert II, the office of the Mayor of the Palace , which had for sometime been visible in the kingdoms of the Franks, came to the fore in its internal politics, with a faction of nobles coalescing around the persons of Warnachar II , Rado , and Pepin of Landen , to give the kingdom over to Chlothar in order to remove Brunhilda, the young king's regent, from power. Warnachar

6405-404: The conflict, the khagan and another Avar leader, the iugurro were murdered by their people. A third Avar leader, the tudun sent envoys to Charlemagne's camp near the Elbe and offered his subjection to the Frankish king. Taking advantage of the internal conflicts in the khaganate, Duke Eric of Friuli mustered troops for a surprise attack against the Avars in 795 or 796. Instead of leading

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6510-464: The conversion of the Frisians under Willibrord . However, Eastern Frisia ( Frisia Ulterior ) remained outside of Frankish suzerainty. Having achieved great successes against the Frisians, Pepin turned towards the Alemanni. In 709 he launched a war against Willehari , duke of the Ortenau , probably in an effort to force the succession of the young sons of the deceased Gotfrid on the ducal throne. This outside interference led to another war in 712 and

6615-493: The duchy of Vasconia was also part of his allotment. Charibert campaigned successfully against the Basques, but after his death they revolted again (632). At the same time the Bretons rose up against Frankish suzerainty. In 635 an army sent by Dagobert subdued the Basques, while threats of military action induced the Breton leader Judicael to relent, make peace with the Franks, and pay tribute. Meanwhile, Dagobert had Charibert's infant successor Chilperic assassinated and reunited

6720-432: The east of the river Tisza . The Franks emerged from a loose confederation of Germanic tribes dwelling along the lower course of the river Rhine during the Late Roman period. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire , the Frankish king Clovis I ( r.  481–511 ) conquered a Roman rump state in northern Gaul and seized southern Gaul from the Visigoths . He converted to Catholicism which facilitated

6825-417: The entire Frankish realm again (632), though he was forced by the strong Austrasian aristocracy to grant his own son Sigebert III to them as a subking in 633. This act was precipitated largely by the Austrasians' desire to be self-governing at a time when Neustrians dominated at the royal court. Chlothar had been the king at Paris for decades before becoming the king at Metz as well and the Merovingian monarchy

6930-408: The eve of preparing an expedition against Chlothar in 613, leaving a young son named Sigebert II . During their reigns, Theudebert and Theuderic campaigned successfully in Gascony , where they had established the Duchy of Gascony and brought the Basques to submission (602). This original Gascon conquest included lands south of the Pyrenees , namely Biscay and Gipuzkoa , but these were lost to

7035-482: The expansion of the First Turkic Khaganate in Central Asia, the Avars appeared on the European political scene in early 558. This year their delegation came to Constantinople and offered military support to the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ) in return for gifts, a yearly subsidy and a territory where they could settle. Justinian accepted the offer, and the Avars—reportedly 20,000 mounted warriors—continued their westward migration and conquered

7140-499: The fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus (411). Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it increasingly difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c. 422. Around 428, the king Chlodio , whose kingdom may have been in the civitas Tungrorum (with its capital in Tongeren ), launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum ( Cambrai ) and

7245-472: The following centuries. The conquest of the Kingdom of the Lombards in 774, and the subjugation of Bavaria in 788 by the Frankish king Charlemagne ( r.  768–814 ) alarmed the Avars. They invaded Italy and Bavaria, but they were forced to withdraw. In the summer of 791, after unsuccessful peace negotiations, Charlemagne invaded the khaganate along the river Danube from the west, while his son King Pippin of Italy ( r.  780–810 ) attacked from

7350-432: The hereditary holders of the important office of mayor of the palace . In 751, the Carolingian Pippin the Short ( r.  751–768 ) deposed the last Merovingian rule Childeric III ( r.  743–751 ) and assumed the title of king in 751. After the Frankish conquest of the Kingdom of the Lombards, Francia became the Avars' sole western neighbour but the tradition of Avar–Lombard alliance allegedly survived. Aio ,

7455-458: The katun and tarkhans. A contemporaneous panergy, De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica ("King Pippin's victory over the Avars"), states that an Avar named Unguimeri had convinced the khagan to submit to the Franks without resistance. The Avars who refused the khagan's reconciliatory policy withdrew to the lands to the east of the Tisza. Pippin crossed the Danube and seized much booty at the "ring" before destroying it. After his victory, Pippin held

7560-411: The king back on the condition that he receive his father's positions (718). There were no more active Merovingian kings after that point and Charles and his Carolingian heirs ruled the Franks. After 718 Charles Martel embarked on a series of wars intended to strengthen the Franks' hegemony in western Europe. In 718 he defeated the rebellious Saxons, in 719 he overran Western Frisia, in 723 he suppressed

7665-517: The kingdom by the joint action of father and son. When Chlothar died in 628, Dagobert, in accordance with his father's wishes, granted a subkingdom to his younger brother Charibert II . This subkingdom, commonly called Aquitaine, was a new creation. Dagobert, in his dealings with the Saxons, Alemans, and Thuringii, as well as the Slavs beyond the borders of Francia, upon whom he tried to force tribute but who instead defeated him under their king Samo at

7770-509: The kingdom, with the elder Theudebert II taking Austrasia plus Childebert's portion of Aquitaine, while his younger brother Theuderic II inherited Burgundy and Guntram's Aquitaine. United, the brothers sought to remove their father's cousin Chlothar II from power and they did succeed in conquering most of his kingdom, reducing him to only a few cities, but they failed to capture him. In 599 they routed his forces at Dormelles and seized

7875-426: The kingdom—not unlike the late Roman Empire —was conceived of as a single realm ruled collectively by several kings and the turn of events could result in the reunification of the whole realm under a single king. The Merovingian kings ruled by divine right and their kingship was symbolised daily by their long hair and initially by their acclamation, which was carried out by raising the king on a shield in accordance with

7980-886: The most prevalent theory in Indo-European studies , speculates that the Pontic–Caspian steppe was the homeland of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language . With the scientific advances in DNA genome mapping and the introduction of bioarchaeology , the Kurgan hypothesis is today widely considered to have been validated. The Pontic–Caspian steppe covers an area of 994,000 km (384,000 sq mi) of Central and Eastern Europe , that extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania , through Moldova , and southern and eastern Ukraine , through

8085-457: The murder of Galswintha , the wife of Chilperic, allegedly by his mistress (and second wife) Fredegund . Galswintha's sister, the wife of Sigebert, Brunhilda , incited her husband to war and the conflict between the two queens continued to plague relations until the next century. Guntram sought to keep the peace, though he also attempted twice (585 and 589) to conquer Septimania from the Goths, but

8190-863: The northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea , where it ends at the Ural-Caspian narrowing, which joins it with the Kazakh Steppe in Central Asia, making it a part of the larger Eurasian Steppe . Geopolitically, the Pontic-Caspian Steppe extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania through Moldova and eastern Ukraine , through

8295-509: The palace in all the realms, but soon there was a third candidate for the mayoralty of Austrasia in Pepin's illegitimate adult son, Charles Martel . After the defeat of Plectrude and Theudoald by the king (now Chilperic II ) and Ragenfrid, Charles briefly raised a king of his own, Chlothar IV , in opposition to Chilperic. Finally, at a battle near Soisson , Charles definitively defeated his rivals and forced them into hiding, eventually accepting

8400-618: The pestilence as Eastern equine encephalitis , a contagious disease spread by mosquitos. Pohl argues that it is "very likely that the disease had already affected the Avar horses, which may explain why the Franks encountered no resistance" during the campaign. Charlemagne was to abandon the campaign in the middle of October. His army returned to Bavaria via Savaria (now Szombathely in Hungary), while Theoderic and Maginfred led their troops across Bohemia. The Annales laureshamenses states that Charlemagne's campaign lasted for 52 days. It

8505-584: The plains along the Middle Danube and its tributaries. The Avar Khaganate was a multiethnic state with Slavs , Gepids and Bulgars living under Avar rule. Part of the local Romanized population, an important element of the bearers of the " Keszthely culture ", also survived in Pannonia . The Avars made regular raids against the Byzantine Empire and seized important Byzantine border forts in

8610-490: The regional differences between the three kingdoms of Francia and probably granted the nobles more control over judicial appointments. By 623 the Austrasians had begun to clamour for a king of their own, since Chlothar was so often absent from the kingdom and, because of his upbringing and previous rule in the Seine basin, was more or less an outsider there. Chlothar thus granted that his son Dagobert I would be their king and he

8715-401: The reigns of the early kings is almost certainly fabricated, often contradicting itself and other sources. Clovis' baptism, traditionally dated to 496, is now believed to have taken place in 508. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy . The Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance : dividing their lands among their sons. Even when multiple Merovingian kings ruled,

8820-459: The risky operation in person, he appointed the Slav Woynimir to command it. Bowlus proposes that Woynimir was a South Slav leader, while Pohl thinks that he was an ambitious Slav warrior in Frankish service. Woynimir led his troops as far as the khagan's residence, known as the "ring" and located likely in the plains between the Danube and the Tisza. Pohl argues that the khagan's seat was "most likely

8925-482: The rivers Loire and Rhine but the peripheries of Francia were governed by virtually autonomous rulers, among them the Agilolfing dukes of Bavaria. Francia was customarily divided among the kings' son which led to the development of three Frankish realms— Austrasia , Neustria and Burgundy . The frequent conflicts between the Merovingian kings contributed to the development of a powerful aristocracy. Fleeing from

9030-601: The sea, where the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex defines the southern edge of the steppes. The steppe extends to the western shore of the Caspian Sea in the Dagestan region of Russia, but the drier Caspian lowland desert lies between the steppe and the northwestern and northern shores of the Caspian. The Kazakh Steppe bounds the steppe to the east. The Ponto-Caspian seas are the remains of

9135-413: The shortage of trained warhorses after the equine epidemic. Charlemagne was preoccupied mainly with logistical projects in 792 and most of 793. He ordered the construction of portable bridges to facilitate river crossing. In 793, Charlemagne sent scarae to raid Avar territory. He left Regensburg for a new invasion of Avar territory but the Saxons rebelled and defeated Count Theoderic. After learning of

9240-552: The southeast. Pippin pillaged an Avar fortress and seized much booty before returning to Italy. Charlemagne's troops destroyed two Avar fortresses across the Enns River but an equine epidemic killed about 90% of his horses, forcing him to abandon the campaign. During the following two years, he was mainly preoccupied with logistic projects, probably to facilitate the movement of his troops. Taking advantage of an Avar civil war, Duke Eric of Friuli ( r.  789–799 ) dispatched

9345-501: The steppe; many of them went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of Central and Eastern Europe , West Asia , and South Asia . The term Ponto-Caspian region is used in biogeography with reference to the flora and fauna of these steppes, including animals from the Black, Caspian, and Azov Seas . Genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where horses were first domesticated . The Kurgan hypothesis ,

9450-658: The surviving brothers. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia . Theudebert was the first Frankish king to formally sever his ties to the Roman Emperor in Constantinople by striking gold coins with his own image on them and calling himself magnus rex (great king) because of his supposed suzerainty over peoples as far away as Pannonia . Theudebert interfered in

9555-583: The sword and its duke, Lantfrid , was killed. In 734 Charles fought against Eastern Frisia and finally subdued it. In the 730s the Umayyad conquerors of Spain , who had also subjugated Septimania , began advancing northwards into central Francia and the Loire valley . It was at this time (circa 736) that Maurontus , the dux of Provence, called in the Umayyads to aid him in resisting the expanding influence of

9660-499: The two armies pitched camp at Lorch near the frontier early in September. Clergymen accompanying the army ordered fasting to win divine favor on 5 September, although Charlemagne was reluctant to fast, according to his biographer, Einhard (d. 840). For three days, the consumption of meat was prohibited and the amount of the wine available to soldiers was limited. The clergy were singing psalms and reciting litanies , and each priest

9765-638: Was a minor for almost the whole of his reign. He was dominated by his mother Nanthild and the mayor of the Neustrian palace, Erchinoald . Erchinoald's successor, Ebroin , dominated the kingdom for the next fifteen years of near-constant civil war. On his death (656), Sigbert's son was shipped off to Ireland, while Grimoald's son Childebert reigned in Austrasia. Ebroin eventually reunited the entire Frankish kingdom for Clovis's successor Chlothar III by killing Grimoald and removing Childebert in 661. However,

9870-683: Was a serious reversal for the ruling dynasty (640). The king lost the support of many magnates while on campaign and the weakness of the monarchic institutions by that time are evident in his inability to effectively make war without the support of the magnates; in fact, he could not even provide his own bodyguard without the loyal aid of Grimoald and Adalgisel . He is often regarded as the first roi fainéant : "do-nothing king", not insofar as he "did nothing", but insofar as he accomplished little. Clovis II , Dagobert's successor in Neustria and Burgundy, which were thereafter attached yet ruled separately,

9975-496: Was assassinated (675). The reign of Theuderic III was to prove the end of the Merovingian dynasty's power. Theuderic III succeeded his brother Chlothar III in Neustria in 673, but Childeric II of Austrasia displaced him soon thereafter—until he died in 675, and Theuderic III retook his throne. When Dagobert II died in 679, Theuderic received Austrasia as well and became king of the whole Frankish realm. Thoroughly Neustrian in outlook, he allied with his mayor Berchar and made war on

10080-514: Was by building upon the basis of these Merovingian deeds that the subsequent Carolingian dynasty— through the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of Herstal , his son Charles Martel , grandson Pepin the Short , great-grandson Charlemagne , and great-great-grandson Louis the Pious — secured the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire by the early 9th century, which was by this point referred to as

10185-508: Was considered a significant military action: some charters issued at Freising were dated in reference to the campaign's year. At least two bishops—Sindpert of Regensburg and Angilram of Metz —died during the campaign but due to illness, not fighting the Avars. After concluding the campaign, Charlemagne returned to Regensburg. He stayed in Bavaria in 792 and most of 793, although he faced serious problems in other parts of his empire, including

10290-599: Was defeated both times. All the surviving brothers benefited at the death of Charibert, but Chilperic was also able to extend his authority during the period of war by bringing the Bretons to heel again. After his death, Guntram had to again force the Bretons to submit. In 587, the Treaty of Andelot — the text of which explicitly refers to the entire Frankish realm as Francia — between Brunhilda and Guntram secured his protection of her young son Childebert II , who had succeeded

10395-524: Was divided, in a replay of the events of fifty years prior, between his four sons, with the chief cities remaining the same. The eldest son, Charibert I , inherited the kingdom with its capital at Paris and ruled all of western Gaul. The second eldest, Guntram , inherited the old kingdom of the Burgundians, augmented by the lands of central France around the old capital of Orléans, which became his chief city, and most of Provence . The rest of Provence,

10500-475: Was duly acclaimed by the Austrasian warriors in the traditional fashion. Nonetheless, though Dagobert exercised true authority in his realm, Chlothar maintained ultimate control over the whole Frankish kingdom. During the joint reign of Chlothar and Dagobert, who have been called "the last ruling Merovingians", the Saxons, who had been loosely attached to Francia since the late 550s, rebelled under Berthoald, Duke of Saxony , and were defeated and reincorporated into

10605-400: Was ever after him to be a Neustrian monarchy first and foremost. Indeed, it is in the 640s that "Neustria" first appears in writing, its late appearance relative to "Austrasia" probably due to the fact that Neustrians (who formed the bulk of the authors of the time) called their region simply "Francia". Burgundia too defined itself in opposition to Neustria at about this time. However, it was

10710-573: Was himself already the mayor of the palace of Austrasia, while Rado and Pepin were to find themselves rewarded with mayoral offices after Chlothar's coup succeeded and Brunhilda and the ten-year-old king were killed. Immediately after his victory, Chlothar II promulgated the Edict of Paris (614), which has generally been viewed as a concession to the nobility, though this view has come under recent criticism. The Edict primarily sought to guarantee justice and end corruption in government, but it also entrenched

10815-465: Was preserved in its territoriality by the Franks and converted into one of their primary divisions, incorporating the central Gallic heartland of Chlodomer's realm with its capital at Orléans. The fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. On the early death of Chlodomer, his brother Chlothar had his young sons murdered in order to take a share of his kingdom, which was, in accordance with custom, divided between

10920-505: Was required to say a mass . The army set off for Avar territory after one week or two, presumably when news about Pippin's victory reached the camp at Lorch. On learning of the Frankish invasion, the Avars abandoned their fortresses at the confluence of the river Kamp with the Danube and at Cumeoberg (near present-day Krems an der Donau and Tulln an der Donau , both in Austria, respectively) without much resistance. The fortress at Kamp

11025-446: Was seized and destroyed by Maginfred. At Cumeoberg , Charlemagne's thirteen-year-old younger son, Louis was gilded with sword for the first time, but he soon returned to Francia. The Franks continued their invasion reaching as far as the river Rába . Here, according to a later version of the Royal Frankish Annals , a pestilence broke out in Charlemagne's camp killing about 90% of their horses. The historian Carroll Gillmor identifies

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