Everything about Charibert totally explained
Charibert I (c.
517–November or December
567) was the
Merovingian King of Paris, the second-eldest son of
Chlothar I and
Ingund. His elder brother was
Gunthar, who died sometime before their father's death.
In
556, Chlothar sent Charibert and his next youngest brother
Guntram against their younger brother
Chramn. who was in revolt. Chramn was hiding out on
Black Mountain in the
Limousin. Negotiations failed and the two armies prepared for battle. A thunderstorm prevented any engagement and Chramn set forged letters to his brothers, falsely reporting their father's death. Charibert and Guntram immediately returned to
Burgundy to secure their positions.
On Chlothar's actual death in
561, the
Frankish kingdom was divided between his sons in a new configuration. Each son ruled a distinct realm, which wasn't necessarily geographically coherent but could contain two unconnected regions, from a chief city after which his kingdom is called. Charibert received
Neustria (the region between the
Somme and the
Loire),
Aquitaine, and
Novempopulana with
Paris as his capital. His chief cities were
Rouen,
Tours,
Poitiers,
Limoges,
Bordeaux,
Toulouse,
Cahors, and
Albi. Guntram received Burgundy, then
Sigebert received
Austrasia (including
Rheims) with his capital at
Metz, and the youngest brother
Chilperic received a compact kingdom with
Soissons as its capital.
The election of
bishops in the Merovingian lands was subject to manipulation and veto by the king. But once consecrated, the bishops were in control within the cities. In Tours, the bishop,
St. Gregory of Tours, invoking the wrath of
Saint Martin, extracted a
coronation oath from Charibert:
that he wouldn't burden the people with new laws and customs, but he'd retain only those under which they'd previously lived in the time of his father; and he promised that he wouldn't impose upon them any new ordinance which would result in loss to them.(External Link
)
Thus hampered in raising funds (largely as gifts in kind anyway) and under such obligations not to create new policy or law, Charibert's powers were severely limited. One royal estate and horse-breeding farm was illegally seized by the bishopric of Tours. Charibert couldn't recover it, much to the joy of Bishop Gregory.
Charibert and his wife Ingoberga had a daughter,
Bertha (539–c. 612). Charibert also had several concubines. By Merofleda, a wool-carder's daughter, and her sister Marcovefa, he'd daughters: Berteflede (a nun in Tours) and Clothilde (a nun in St. Croix, Poitiers). By Theodogilda (or Theudechild), a cowherd's daughter; Charibert had his only son, who died in infancy. This behavior resulted in his
excommunication, the first ever of a Merovingian king.
Charibert was scarcely more than king
at Paris when he married his daughter Bertha to
Ethelbert, the pagan
King of Kent. She took with her
Bishop Liudhard as her private
confessor. Her influence in the Kentish court was instrumental in the success of
St. Augustine of Canterbury's mission in
597.
Though Charibert was eloquent and learned in the law, he was one of the most dissolute of the early Merovingians. He was excommunicated, and his early death in
567 was brought on by his excesses. He was buried in
Blavia castellum, a military fort in the
Tractatus Armoricani. At his death his brothers divided his realm between them, agreeing at first to hold Paris in common. His surviving queen (out of four), Theudechild, proposed a marriage with Guntram, though a council held at Paris in
557 had outlawed such matches as incestuous. Guntram decided to house her more safely, though unwillingly, in a nunnery at
Arles.
The main source for Charibert's life is Gregory of Tours'
History of the Franks (Book IV, 3,16,22,26 and IX, 26), and from the English perspective Bede's
Ecclesiastic History of the English People.
Sources
- Bachrach, Bernard S. Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971.
- Historia Francorum Books I-IX at Medieval Sourcebook.
Further Information
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