Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

120 5. the western kingdoms
Childebert I in 558, Chlothar was able to unite all of the Frankish kingdoms
under himself. However, Chlothar faced problems within his own immediate
family through the ambitions of his eldest son Chramn, who had conspired
with Childebert, perhaps hoping to succeed to the latter’s kingdom,
and who rebelled in 560 in Brittany. He was defeated and burnt to death
along with his family.
The death of Chlothar I led to a new partition of the Frankish territories
amongst his four surviving sons: Charibert I (561–7), Sigebert I
(561–75), Chilperic I (561–84) and Guntramn (561–92). Each had a
primary residence – Paris, Rheims, Soissons and Orleans respectively – but,
as in the division following the death of Clovis, compact territorial kingdoms
were not created. Each brother had an interest in most parts of
Francia, and enclaves of one kingdom might be found in territory largely
belonging to another. Such apparent anomalies are probably explained by
the pattern of personal adherence to the various monarchs on the part of
the leading Frankish and Gallo-Roman (a distinction that was becoming
harder to make in most parts of Gaul) landowners. Changes in allegiance
could have considerable impact on the strength of the individual kingdoms,
and competition between the monarchs was intensified by the
increasing difficulties to be faced in trying to expand their territories. The
Frankish hegemony over peoples east of the Rhine became increasingly
tenuous at this time and was threatened by Avar pressure. The Lombards
established a kingdom in Italy after 568, and Visigothic resistance to
Frankish raids across the Pyrenees became more effective in the reign of
Reccared (586–601).
The death of Charibert I in 567 enabled his brothers to divide his
kingdom, but open conflict between them soon followed. Chilperic tried
to take Tours and Poitiers, which were in that part of Charibert’s former
kingdom claimed by Sigebert, and civil war ensued. Guntramn, who had a
territorial dispute of his own with Sigebert, was persuaded to join
Chilperic. Although forced to make peace in 574, Chilperic and Guntramn
resumed the fighting in 575. Following the defeat of Chilperic near Rheims,
Guntramn made a separate peace. Chilperic’s kingdom was only saved from
being overrun when, thanks probably to his wife Fredegund, hired assassins
murdered Sigebert. Sigebert’s kingdom passed to his son Childebert II
(575–96), who was still a minor. The same occurred after the murder of
Chilperic in 584, when his kingdom passed to his young son Chlothar II
(584–629). In both cases the presence of an under-age king exacerbated
factional conflicts amongst the aristocracy, jockeying for power and the
prospects of enhanced rewards, either at a local level or in the royal courts.
The premature death of his sons had left Guntramn with no male heirs,
and in 585 he came to an agreement with Childebert II, who thereby inherited
his uncle’s kingdom on his death in 592. This left Childebert as by far
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