In
the 6th century, the Frankish Empire was divided among several kings of the Merovingian
Dynasty, all ruling at the same time. Sometimes, they would work together
against neighboring powers. Yet, they also fought amongst themselves, and when
they were not in open civil war, they plotted against each other from the
shadows. King Guntram of Burgundy (r. 561-593) began his reign in partnership
with three brothers, and all four of the siblings controlled portions of their
late father’s empire. Of the three brothers with whom Guntram shared power,
only one, King Charibert, was said to have met a natural death. His other two
siblings, King Sigebert and King Chilperic, were both stabbed to death by
assassins in 575 and 584 respectively. Sigibert was succeeded by his son,
Childebert II (r. 575-596), who was only five years old at the time, and
Chilperic was succeeded by his infant son Chlotar II (r. 584-629), who was born
the very same year his father was assassinated. Thus, with the death of
Chilperic in 584, the last survivor among the original four brothers, King
Guntram, became the undisputed patriarch of the Merovingian Dynasty, ruling
alongside two young nephews, one a teenager and the other an infant.
King
Childebert II, although only about fourteen years old in 584, showed ambition
at an early age, and he, like his younger rival, Chlotar II, had an extremely
competent mother, as well as a court of dukes and counts ready to fight for
their liege. Childebert II had long been an ally of Guntram against the erratic
and hostile ways of the late king King Chilperic, but in the years just prior
to Chilperic’s assassination, Childebert had defected to Chilperic’s side and
plotted attacks against Guntram. These attacks were fended off by Guntram and a
truce between uncle and nephew was reached. From then on, Guntram, despite the
ceasefire, understandably had a more distant and skeptical relationship with
Childebert II, so, when news of Chilperic’s assassination spread in 584, Guntram
acted immediately to make sure that he personally had a strong advantage
against the realms of his fellow Merovingian kings. He occupied Paris and also sent
troops to take over lands that had once belonged to Childebert’s father,
Sigebert, including the areas around Tours and Poitiers. King Guntram also
brought young Chlotar II under his protection and sheltered the infant king’s
mother, Queen Fredegund. Both of these moves angered young Childebert II; he
felt he had more right than Guntram to the lands once controlled by Sigebert,
and he also wanted custody of Fredegund, for she had participated in the
assassinations of Childebert’s father and aunt.
Not
long after Guntram’s occupation of Paris, Tours, Poitiers and other regions,
King Childebert II sent a group of bishops, dukes and counts from his realm to
negotiate with King Guntram about possibly transferring Sigebert’s old land to
Childebert II, and they also asked for Fredegund to be handed over so that she
would face justice for murder. Obviously, King Guntram was not interested in either
of these requests, and the debate between the king and the envoys became quite
testy. At one point in the heated discussions, one of the diplomats made the
horrid mistake of threatening Guntram with assassination. This was not
something that Guntram took lightly—after all, two of his co-king brothers had
been assassinated, and another of his brothers, Chramn, had been murdered
before they succeeded their father. Also, many numbers of Guntram’s uncles,
nephews, cousins and kinsmen had died due to intrigue or simply in civil war
against one another. As such, Guntram understandably felt great fear and
paranoia at the thought of assassinations, and such talk instantly caused him
to cease negotiations and to throw the envoys out of the city.
Guntram,
quite bitter and angry about the threat of assassination, prepared a spectacularly
messy and humiliating exit for Childebert’s rude diplomats. The peculiar scene
was described by Bishop (and historian) Gregory of Tours (c. 539-594), who
wrote of the incident in his History of the Franks, stating, “He ordered
decaying horse-dung to be flung over their heads as they went, wood-chips,
straw and hay which had gone mouldy, and even stinking mud from the town-gutters.
They were spattered all over with what was thrown at them, and they went their
way beyond measure outraged and insulted” (History of the Franks, VII.14).
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Punishment of Korah and Stoning of Moses, by Sandro Botticelli
(c. 15th century), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).
Sources:
- The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours, translated by Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Classics, 1971.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guntram-king-of-Burgundy
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chlotar-II
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Childebert-II
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