His201 - wk4 - lect 1 - Franks - Geopolitics

His201 - Wk4 - Lect1- Clovis and Christianity in the Frankish Kingdom

Geopolitics - Geopolitics is the study that analyzes geography, history and social science with reference to spatial politics and patterns at various scales (ranging from the level of the state to international)


The Franks were largely pagan up until the 6th century.

Childeric (king. 456 - 481) followed by Clovis (king. 481 - 511)

Clovis succeeded his father when he was only 15. Immediately he received a show of support from bishop Remigius, from Riems. It's important to note that even though there was no emperor in Rome - the bishop was referring to Clovis as a new Roman emperor, shownig that he should maintain the status quo, maintain the relationships with the local political and economical partners. This beings to show the image of Clovis and Childeric as Romanized Franks.

Gregory of Tours' story about Clovis sounds like a replay of Constantine's conversion. This led Gregory to lable Clovis as 'the new Constantine'.

Clovis sent letters to Gaulish bishops, was baptised by Remigius, bishop of Riems.

Shows a political expediency. Clovis started to use the Gaulish bishops as political allies.

Clovis then moved from Tournai to Paris: Tribute to St. Denis, disciple of St. Paul and church of St. Genevieve.

You get the feeling that the aim of this whole project, the blending of Church and State, was to establish uniformity, unity, a diplomatic network to help him administer this expanding kingdom. What we have through all of this is the solid foundation of a Frankish kingdom that replaced the Roman empire in Gaul. The only people to adopt the Roman Christianity. Colonising culture - settling generations of its people into conquered territory. These two facets assist the foundation of the Frankish kingdom so that it may last.

Clovis' biography has been a victim of Whiggism. In other words there is the temptation to cast him as the originator of a modern institution. He did this by establishing and maintaining ties with some powerful contemporary institutions within the Church and the Roman empire.

Clovis' administration was not centralised. When Clovis died his kingdom was divided up between his young sons. One of these sons was illegitimate. Thus the division of these lands could not have been smooth. But essentially the sons were helped by outside interests. For each of them to have some sort of authority, they needed to continue the allegiances and alliances with the local bishops and authorities. It really isn't a simple case of Clovis unifying a version of modern day France, it's must more messy than that. This is far from the classic picture of the unified land with central administration. The over-arching point is that we cannot afford to be whiggish when studying these people.

Was Clovis Christian before conversion in 496? If Clovis was a barbaric pagan than why was the bishop trying to be friends with him? Perhaps Clovis' father, Childeric, was Christian. It is certainly possible to suggest that Clovis, his predecessors and his ancestors were working in conjunction with the Catholic Church and pandering to the Catholic people. It was not unified like it was under the Roman empire, but it continued to impact the political institutions that followed.