Chlodomer, also spelled Clodomir or Clodomer (born c. 495) was the second of the four sons of Clovis I

Clovis I

Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...

, King of the Franks. On the death of his father, in 511, he divided the kingdom of the Franks

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 with his three brothers: Theuderic I

Theuderic I

Theuderic I was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534....

, Childebert I

Childebert I

Childebert I was the Frankish king of Paris, a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511...

, and Clotaire I

Clotaire I

Chlothar I , called the Old , King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born circa 497, in Soissons .-Life:...

. Although Theuderic, the eldest, had a better claim, Chlodomer divided half of the kingdom with his two other brothers. This was the kingdom of Orléans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

, taken from the former kingdom of Syagrius

Syagrius

Syagrius was the last Roman official in Gaul, whose defeat by king Clovis I of the Franks is considered the end of Roman rule outside of Italy. He came to this position through inheritance, for his father was Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias...

. This kingdom included, most notably, the bishopric

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s of Tours, Poitiers and Orléans. Chlodomer married Guntheuc

Guntheuc

Guntheuc was the wife of Chlodomer, king of Orléans. She gave him three children: Gunthar, Theudebald, and Clodoald .After Chlodomer's death, she married his brother Clotaire I, king of Soissons...

, with whom he had three sons: Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald

Clodoald

Saint Clodoald , better known as Cloud, was the son of King Chlodomer of Orleans.-Life:Clodoald was raised in Paris by his grandmother, Saint Clotilde. He was one of three brothers, all of whom were targeted for assassination by their uncle, Clotaire I...

.

In 523–24, possibly at the instigation of his mother Clotilde

Clotilde

Saint Clotilde , also known as Clothilde, Clotilda, Clotild, Rotilde or Chroctechildis, was the second wife of the Frankish king Clovis I...

, who was eager to avenge her nephew who had been assassinated by Sigismund of Burgundy

Sigismund of Burgundy

Sigismund was king of the Burgundians from 516 to his death. He was the son of king Gundobad, whom he succeeded in 516. Sigismund and his brother Godomar were defeated in battle by Clovis' sons and Godomar fled. Sigismund was taken by Chlodomer, King of Orléans, where he was kept as a prisoner. He...

, Chlodomer joined with his brothers in an expedition against the Burgundians

Burgundians

The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...

. After capturing Sigismund, Chlodomer returned to Orléans. However, Sigismund's brother Gondomar returned triumphantly to Burgundy at the head of the troops sent by his ally, the Ostrogoth

Ostrogoth

The Ostrogoths were a branch of the Goths , a Germanic tribe who developed a vast empire north of the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD and, in the late 5th century, under Theodoric the Great, established a Kingdom in Italy....

ic king Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...

. There, he massacred the garrison the Franks had left behind.

Although victorious, Chlodomer had Sigismund and his sons Gisald and Gondebaud assassinated on 1 May 524. He then led a second expedition against the Burgundians. He was killed on this expedition, in the spring or summer of the same year, at the Battle of Vézeronce

Battle of Vézeronce

The Battle of Vézeronce took place on June 25, 524 close to Vézeronce-Curtin in Isère. It was part of the Burgundian War initiated by the four successors of the Frankish king Clovis I: Childebert I, Chlodomir, Chlothar I, and Theuderic I....

. His three sons were entrusted to his mother until his widow married Clotaire I

Clotaire I

Chlothar I , called the Old , King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born circa 497, in Soissons .-Life:...

. Clotaire, however, had Chlodomer's children killed, although Clodoald managed to escape. Better known as Saint Cloud, he later became abbot of Nogent

Nogent

Nogent is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Nogent, in the Haute-Marne département* Nogent-l'Abbesse, in the Marne département* Nogent-l'Artaud, in the Aisne département* Nogent-sur-Aube, in the Aube département...

, having given up his hair, the symbol of the Frankish royalty, rather than giving up his life.

Further reading

• Bachrach, Bernard S.
  Bernard Bachrach
  Bernard S. Bachrach is an American historian and a professor of history at the University of Minnesota. He specialises in the Early Middle Ages, mainly on the topics of Medieval warfare, Medieval Jewry, and early Angevin history...
  
   (1972). Merovingian Military Organization, 481–751. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 0-81660-621-8.
• Geary, Patrick J. (1988). Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19504-458-4.
• James, Edward
  Edward James (historian)
  Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College, Dublin. He received a BA 1968; DPhil in 1975. He was a Lecturer, then College Lecturer, at the Department of Medieval History, University College Dublin from 1970-1978...
  
   (1991). The Franks. London: Blackwell, ISBN 0-63114-872-8.
• Oman, Charles
  Charles Oman
  Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...
  
   (1914). The Dark Ages, 476–918. London: Rivingtons.
• Wallace-Hadrill, J. M.
  John Michael Wallace-Hadrill
  John Michael Wallace-Hadrill CBE was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Manchester , a Senior Research Fellow of Merton College in the University of Oxford , Chichele Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford and a Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford...
  
   (1962). The Long-Haired Kings, and Other Studies in Frankish History. London: Methuen.
• Wood, Ian N. (1994). The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751. London: Longman, ISBN 0-58221-878-0.