Clovis I

Clovis roi des Francs bi François-Louis Dejuinne (1786–1844)

Clovis (c. 466–511) wis the first Keeng o the Franks tae unite aw the Frankish tribes unner ane ruler. He wis an aa the first Catholic King tae rule ower Gaul (Fraunce). He wis the son o Childeric I an Basina. In 481, when he wis fifteen, he succeedit his faither. The Salian Franks wur ane o twa Frankish tribes who wur then occupyin the aurie wast o the lawer Rhine, wi thair center in an aurie kent as Toxandrie, atween the Meuse an Scheldt (in wha is nou the Netherlands an Belgium). Clovis's pouer base wis tae the soothwast o this, aroond Tournai an Cambrai alang the modren frontier atween Fraunce an Belgium. Clovis conquered the neighborin Salian Frankish kinricks an established hissel as sole king o the Salian Franks afore his daith. The sma kirk in which he wis baptized is nou named Saint-Remi, an a statue o him bein baptized bi Saunt Remigius can be seen thare. Clovis an his wife Clotilde are buried in the St. Genevieve kirk (St. Pierre) in Paris. An important pairt o Clovis's legacy is that he reduced the pouer o the Romans in 486 bi beatin the Roman ruler Syagrius in the famous battle o Soissons.

Clovis wis convertit tae Catholicism, as opposed tae the Arian Christianity common amang the Goths who ruled maist o Gaul at the time, at the instigation o his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian Gothic princess who wis a Catholic in spite o the Arianism which surroondit her at court. He wis baptized in a sma kirk which wis on or near the site o the Cathedral o Rheims, whaur maist futur French keengs woud be crouned. This act wis o immense importance in the subsequent history o Wastren an Central Europe in general, for Clovis expandit his dominion ower amaist aw o the auld Roman province o Gaul (roughly modren Fraunce). He is considered the foonder o the Merovingian dynasty which ruled the Franks for the next twa centuries.