Misplaced Pages

#869130

76-570: Dentelin was a region of the Frankish Empire disputed between Austrasia and Neustria . Mentioned in the Chronicle of Fredegar , the Duchy of Dentelin included far north-eastern parts of modern France and south-western parts of Belgium . The cities of Boulogne-sur-Mer , Thérouanne , Tournai , Arras , and Cambrai lay within the duchy. Dentelin formed part of the inheritance of

152-679: 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

228-614: A constituent subkingdom of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia . The Carolingian kings also created a March of Neustria which was a frontier duchy against the Bretons and Vikings that lasted until the Capetian monarchy in the late 10th century, when the term was eclipsed as a European political or geographical term. The name Neustria is mostly explained as "new western land", although Taylor (1848) suggested

304-575: A significant part of what is now western and southern Germany. It 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

380-470: 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

456-465: 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

532-638: 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:

608-478: 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

684-576: 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 ;

760-634: The Capetian Miracle , no further margraves were appointed and "Neustria" was eclipsed as a European political term (present, however, in some Anglo-Norman chronicles and revived as synonymous with English possession of Normandy under Henry V by the St. Albans chronicler Thomas Walsingham in his Ypodigma Neustriae). Louis was chased from Le Mans in 858 following the assassination of Erispoe in November 857. The chief contemporary chronicles written from

836-562: 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

SECTION 10

#1732765701870

912-468: 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

988-602: 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

1064-594: The Merovingian king of Neustria Chlothar II , but was lost by him to his cousins, Theudebert II and Theuderic II , following the battle of Dormelles in 599. Chlothar, who outlasted his rival kinsmen and became sole Frankish king, retained Dentelin when he installed his son Dagobert I as king of Austrasia in 623. When Dagobert died in 639, Dentelin was included in Neustria, and remained part of that kingdom afterwards. Frankish Empire The Kingdom of

1140-554: The Norsemen , often called the Breton March and Norman March respectively. In 911, Robert I of France became margrave of both Marches and took the title demarchus . His family, the later Capetians , ruled the whole of Neustria until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected to the kingship. The subsidiary counts of Neustria had exceeded the margrave in power by that time and the peak of Viking and Breton raiding had passed. After

1216-614: 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

1292-463: 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,

1368-645: The rack and stretched for three days, then chained between four horses and eventually ripped limb from limb. Clotaire now ruled a united realm, but only for a short time as he made his son Dagobert I king of Austrasia. Dagobert's accession in Neustria resulted in another temporary unification. In Austrasia the Pippinid mayor Grimoald the Elder attempted a coup by forcing the Austrasian king Siegebert III to adopt his son Childebert who succeeded as "Childebert

1444-724: 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

1520-539: The Adopted". Grimoald and his son Childebert were arrested by Neustrian forces and executed in Paris. Clovis II , after this execution, again reunited the Austrasian kingdom with Neustria, although temporarily. During or soon after the reign of Clovis's son Chlothar III , the dynasty of Neustria, like that of Austrasia before it, ceded authority to its own mayor of the palace. In 678, Neustria, under Mayor Ebroin , subdued

1596-474: 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

SECTION 20

#1732765701870

1672-467: 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

1748-488: 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

1824-515: The Austrasians for the last time. Ebroin was murdered in 680. In 687, Pippin of Herstal , mayor of the palace of the King of Austrasia, defeated the Neustrians at Tertry . Neustria's mayor Berchar was assassinated shortly afterwards and following a marriage alliance ( c.  690 ) between Pippin's son Drogo and Berchar's widow Anstrud of Champagne , Pippin secured his position as mayor of

1900-500: 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

1976-716: The Bretons. In 817, Louis the Pious granted Neustria to his eldest son Lothair I , but following his rebellion in 831, he gave it to Pepin I of Aquitaine , and following the latter's death in 838, to Charles the Bald . Neustria, along with Aquitaine , formed the major part of Charles West Frankish kingdom carved out of the Empire by the Treaty of Verdun (843). Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he made Louis

2052-683: 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. Neustria The same term later referred to a smaller region between the Seine and the Loire rivers known as the regnum Neustriae ,

2128-600: 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

2204-413: 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

2280-762: The Franks ( Latin : Regnum Francorum ), also known as the Frankish Kingdom , 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,

2356-423: 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

Dentelin - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-582: 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

2508-705: The Neustrian palace. Pippin's descendants, the Carolingians , continued to rule the two realms as mayors. With Pope Stephen II 's blessing, after 751 the Carolingian Pippin the Short formally deposed the Merovingians and took control of the empire, he and his descendants ruling as kings. Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy then became united under one authority and, although it would split once again into various eastern and western divisions,

2584-709: 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

2660-687: 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

2736-588: The Stammerer king in 856. Louis married the daughter of the King of Brittany , Erispoe , and received the regnum from the Breton monarch with the consent of the Frankish magnates. This unique relationship for Neustria stressed how it had shrunk in size to definitely exclude the Île de France and Paris by this time, as it was distanced from the central authority of Charles the Bald and closer to that of Erispoe. Louis

2812-420: 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

2888-579: 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,

2964-449: 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

3040-599: 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

3116-508: 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

Dentelin - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-543: The control of the Franks. Constant re-divisions of territories by Clovis's descendants resulted in many rivalries that, for more than two hundred years, kept Neustria in almost constant warfare with Austrasia, the eastern portion of the Frankish Kingdom . Despite the wars, Neustria and Austrasia re-united briefly on several occasions. The first was under Clotaire I during his reign from 558 to 562. The struggle for power continued with Queen Fredegund of Neustria,

3268-518: 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

3344-475: The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were located close to 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

3420-548: 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

3496-459: The early 9th century, which was by this point referred to as 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

3572-417: 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

3648-571: 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

3724-499: 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

3800-418: The interpretation of "northeastern land". Nordisk familjebok (1913) even suggested "not the eastern land" ( icke östland ). Augustin Thierry (1825) assumed Neustria is simply a corruption of Westria , from West-rike "western realm". In any case, Neustria contrasts with the name Austrasia "eastern realm". The analogy to Austrasia is even more explicit in the variant Neustrasia . Neustria

3876-411: 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

SECTION 50

#1732765701870

3952-466: 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

4028-457: The kingdom of Austrasia , centred on 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

4104-449: 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

4180-426: 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

4256-404: The meaning of "land between the Seine and Loire " when it was given as a regnum ( kingdom ) by Charlemagne to his second son, Charles the Younger , in 790. At this time, the chief city of the kingdom appears to be Le Mans, where the royal court of Charles was established. Under the Carolingian dynasty , the chief duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of the Franks over

4332-405: 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

4408-403: The names "Neustria" and "Austrasia" gradually fell out of use. In 748, the brothers Pepin the Short and Carloman gave their younger brother Grifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that of Le Mans . This polity was termed the ducatus Cenomannicus , or Duchy of Maine, and this was an alternative name for the regnum of Neustria well into the 9th century. The term "Neustria" took on

4484-457: The northern part of what is now France. His son, Clovis I , succeeded in unifying most of Gaul under his rule in 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

4560-457: 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

4636-438: 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

SECTION 60

#1732765701870

4712-401: 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,

4788-533: 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

4864-422: 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

4940-410: The widow of King Chilperic I (reigned 566–584) and the mother of the new king Clotaire II (reigned 584–628), unleashing a bitter war. After his mother's death and burial in Saint Denis Basilica near Paris in 597, Clotaire II continued the struggle against Queen Brunhilda , and finally triumphed in 613 when Brunhilda's followers betrayed the old queen into his hands. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to

5016-524: 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,

5092-627: 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,

5168-415: Was also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period of Lombard domination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was called Austrasia, the same term as given to eastern Francia . The predecessor to Neustria was a Roman rump state, the Kingdom of Soissons . In 486 its ruler, Syagrius , lost the Battle of Soissons to the Frankish king Clovis I and the domain was thereafter under

5244-496: 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

5320-492: 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

5396-464: 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,

5472-475: 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

5548-400: 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

5624-573: 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

5700-465: 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

5776-534: Was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolingians. In 861, the Carolingian king Charles the Bald created the Marches of Neustria that were ruled by officials appointed by the crown, known as wardens , prefects or margraves . Originally, there were two marches, one against the Bretons and one against

#869130