How long did clovis reign

According to Gregory of Tours, Clovis was at a disadvantage in his fight against the Alamans and sought the aid of the God of his Christian wife Clotilde, promising that if he were given victory he would become a Christian. After the battle Clovis adopted Christianity and by so doing won the support of the Gallo-Roman bishops who controlled a significant portion of the wealth of Gaul and were exceedingly influential with the population.

Moreover, his conversion automatically made Clovis's wars into holy wars against heretics and nonbelievers. Many historians have seen Clovis's conversion as a shrewd political move; but it is also likely that the victory of Tolbiac was instrumental in his religious shift and that without a sign of some variety he might never have abandoned his ancestral gods. This victory effectively ended Western Roman Empire outside Italy. Clovis then went on a long and successful campaign to subdue neighboring Frankish tribes and other groups like Thuringians.

He forged alliances with others influential rulers and kept consolidating his territorial holdings. Clovis then made Paris his capital and constructed an abbey dedicated to saints Paul and Peter along the banks of Seine River.

His influence and military prowess elevated him to the position of the closest ally of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I. This conversion proved to be an important event as it led to widespread conversion among Franks.

Amongst the victims was the man in charge of the aqueduct, who showed Gundobar a way into the city. Godegesil was killed, leaving Gundobar as the sole king of the Burgundians. Gundobar and Clovis appear to have come to terms after this period of hostility. According to Isidore of Seville the Burgundians supported Clovis during his war with the Visigoths , and occupied Provence before being expelled by the Ostrogoths. Clovis's victories in the centre of France brought him into direct contact with the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse.

This was a sizable kingdom that included parts of Spain as well as Aquitaine and much of the Mediterranean coast of Gaul Septimania in the west and Provence in the east. This kingdom had been ruled by Alaric II since , and suffered from a division between its Arian Gothic rulers and largely Catholic population.

Although Alaric appears to have been more tolerant than his predecessors, this gulf did cause some conflict with his bishops, several of whom were forced into exile.

The first conflict between Clovis and Alaric is only recorded in the Chron. Caesaraugustanorum , a collection of marginal notes found in another chronicle. This conflict was apparently focused in Aquitaine, and began in c. The Franks captured Bordeaux in but were unable to hold onto it.

Gregory of Tours, who doesn't mention this conflict, does record a meeting between Alaric and Clovis on an island in the Loire in , at which the conflict was probably ended and the border restored at the Loire. The second and better documented war with the Visigoths broke out in , despite the best efforts of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths to preserve the peace. Clovis was supported by Sigibert, the king of the Ripuarian Franks, who sent his son, and possibly by the Burgundians.

He was also aided by the Eastern Emperor Anastasius, who sent a fleet to raid part of Theodoric's Italian coast, preventing him from interfering in Gaul. The two armies clashed at Vouille , near Poitiers Clovis was victorious, and Alaric II was killed during the battle. The Franks advanced into Aquitaine, plundered Toulouse and spent the winter at Bordeaux.

Part of their army began a siege of Arles , but in Clovis himself returned north to Tours. He was awarded an honorary consulate by Anastasius, probably at this period, and celebrated that and his victory at Tours. Despite the defeat the Visigoths retained a foothold in southern France. The Merovingian dynasty ruled most of modern France for another years. Death of Clovis I of the Franks. Clovis I died in Paris on November 27th , aged Medieval France Political. Popular articles.