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MEROVINGIANS

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 172 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MEROVINGIANS , the name given to the first See also:

dynasty which reigned over the See also:kingdom of the See also:Franks. The name is taken from Merovech, one of the first See also:kings of the Salian Franks, who succeeded to Clodio in the See also:middle of the 5th See also:century, and soon became the centre of many legends. The chronicler known as Fredegarius Scholasticus relates that a See also:queen was once sitting by the seashore, when a See also:monster came out of the See also:sea, and by this monster she subsequently became the See also:mother of Merovech, but this myth is due to an See also:attempt to explain the See also:hero's name, which means " the sea-See also:born." At the See also:great See also:battle of See also:Mauriac (the Catalaunian See also:fields) in which See also:Aetius checked the invasion of the See also:Huns (451), there were See also:present in the See also:Roman See also:army a number of Frankish foederati, and a later document, the Vita lupi; states that Merovech (Merovaeus) was their See also:leader. Merovech was the See also:father of Childeric I. (457-481), and grandfather of See also:Clovis (481-511), under whom the Salian Franks conquered the whole of See also:Gaul, except the kingdom of See also:Burgundy, See also:Provence and Septimania. The See also:Sens of Clovis divided the dominions of their father between them, made themselves masters of Burgundy (532), and in addition received Provence from the See also:Ostrogoths (535); Septimania was not taken from the See also:Arabs till the See also:time of See also:Pippin, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty. From the See also:death of Clovis to that of Dagobert (639), the Merovingian kings displayed considerable See also:energy, both in their See also:foreign See also:wars and in the numerous wars against one another in which they found an outlet for their See also:barbarian instincts. After 639, however, the See also:race began to decline, one after another the kings succeeded to the See also:throne, Christo or a See also:Christian. The " See also:Panegyric " and See also:minor poems have been edited by B. G. See also:Niebuhr (1824); by I. See also:Bekker in the See also:Bonn Corpus scriptorumhist.

Byz. (1836) ; the " De Christo " in T. Birt's Claudian (1892), where the authorship of See also:

Merobaudes is upheld; see also A. See also:Ebert, Geschichte der Literatur See also:des Mittelalters i»s Abendlande (1889).

End of Article: MEROVINGIANS

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