Merovingian dynasty

[Christa Jenneman]

The Salian tribes constituted a loose confederacy, that stood up together in order to negotiate with Roman authority. Each tribe was made up of extended familiar groups, gathered around a particular family, seen as specially renowned and noble. The importance of such a family bond was made clear by the Salic Law, that ordained that an individual has no right to protection in the case he is not part of a family.

[Christa Jenneman]

Ancient mythology and religion was pagan and Germanic in nature. Their polytheistic beliefs are thought to have flourished among the Salian Franks until the conversion of Clovis to Christianity, after which paganism withered slowly.

[Christa Jenneman]

History

The Salian Franks' original proximity to the sea is attested in the first historical records. In about 286 Carausius was put in charge of defending the coasts of the Straits of Dover against Saxon and Frankish pirates.[6] This changed when the Saxons drove them south into Roman territory. Among others, their history is attested by Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimus, who described their migrations towards the southern Netherlands, and Belgium. They first crossed the Rhine during the Roman upheavals and subsequent Germanic breakthrough in 260 AD. When peace had returned, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus allowed the Salians to settle in 297 AD amongst the Batavians, where they soon came to dominate the Batavian island in the Rhine delta.

[Christa Jenneman]

It is not known whether this people were obliged to serve the Roman army like the Batavians before them, or if they were assigned another territory close to the Black Sea, so the backgrounds of the seafaring Franks whose story was written down during the reign of emperor Probus (276-282), are not clear. The story tells of a large group which decided to hijack some Roman ships and return with them from Eastern Europe – reaching their homes in the Rhine estuaries without large losses through Greece, Sicily and Gibraltar, although not without causing mayhem.[7] Franks ceased to be associated with seafaring when other Germanic tribes, probably Saxons, drove them to the south. The Salians received protection from the Romans and in return were recruited by Constantius Gallus – together with the other inhabitants of the Batavian isle. However, this did not prevent the onslaught of the Germanic tribes to the north especially by the Chamavi. The subsequent "insolent" settlement of the Salians within Roman territory in Toxandria (between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium) was rejected by the future Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate who attacked them. The Salians surrendered to him in 358 AD accepting Roman terms[8].

[Christa Jenneman]

One particular Salian family comes to light of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time to become the Merovingians – Salian kings named after Childeric's mythical father Merovech whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements.

[Christa Jenneman]

One particular Salian family comes to light of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time to become the Merovingians – Salian kings named after Childeric's mythical father Merovech whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements.

[Christa Jenneman]

In 451, Flavius Aëtius, de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire, called upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by Attila's Huns. The Salian Franks answered the call and fought in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in a temporary alliance with Romans and Visigoths, which de facto ended the Hunnic threat to Western Europe.

[Christa Jenneman]

Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, became the absolute ruler of a Germanic kingdom of mixed Roman-Germanic population in 486. He consolidated his rule with victories over the Gallo-Romans and all the other Frankish tribes and established his capital in Paris. After he had beaten the Visigoths and the Alemanni his sons drove the Visigoths to Spain and subdued the Burgundians, Alemanni and Thuringians. After 250 years of this dynasty, however, marked by internecine struggles, a gradual decline occurred. The position in society of the Merovingians was taken over by Carolingians who again came from a northern area around the river Maas in what is now Belgium and southern Netherlands.

[Christa Jenneman]

In Gaul, a fusion of Roman and Germanic societies was occurring. During the period of Merovingian rule, the Franks reluctantly began to adopt Christianity following the baptism of Clovis I in 496, an event that inaugurated the alliance between the Frankish kingdom and the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike their Goth and Lombard counterparts, who adopted Arianism, the Salians adopted Catholic Christianity early on; they had an intimate relationship with their ecclesiastical hierarchy, subjects, and conquered territories.

[Christa Jenneman]

The division of the Frankish kingdom among Clovis’s four sons (511) was a precedent that would influence Frankish history for more than four centuries. By then the Salic Law had established the exclusive right to succession of male descendants. However, this principle turned out to be an exercise in interpretation, rather than the simple implementation of a new model of succession. No trace of an established practice of territorial division can in fact be discovered among Germanic peoples other than the Franks.

[Christa Jenneman]

By the 9th century, if not earlier, the division between Salian and Ripuarian Franks had in practice become virtually non-existent, but continued for some time to have implications for the legal system under which a person could go on trial. The adjective Salian as applied to the Frankish people is the origin of the name of the Salic Law.

[Christa Jenneman]

Footnotes

   1. ^ De Franken in Nederland - Dr.D.P.Blok, 1979, Bussum, Holland. ISBN 9022837394, p.17
   2. ^ F.Beyerle, Völksrechtliche Studien I-III, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung, germ. Abt. LXII 264vv, LXIII ivv; Ewig 450vv;487vv
   3. ^ The ethnonym is unrelated to the name for the dancing priests of Mars, who were also called Salii.
   4. ^ Perry, p. 48.
   5. ^ Chisholm 1910:35
   6. ^ Eutropius, Abridgement of Roman History Book IX:21
   7. ^ Zosimus 1814; Musset 1975:68.
   8. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, Book XVII-8

[Christa Jenneman]

Merovingians . . . the taming begins with Lady Clothilde

Katherine Christensen

The original founding father of the Franks, which was one subset of a number of Germanic tribes, was a great warlord by the name of Francio. He is remembered to have been a descendent of Japheth, a son of Noah, as were all the Germanic tribes.
Francio’s descendent, Merovech, is considered the founding name-sake of the Merovingian clan.
Now the Merovingians were fierce warrior-kings and very magnificent. One symbol of their power was their long thick dark hair, which they never permitted to be shorn. It is written that they were marked at birth with a cross over their hearts or backs representing the mightiness of their bloodline. Perhaps in these early Frankish tribes it was tattooed. For such a distinct mark to be placed thus at birth would be unusual indeed.
Known as the fisher-kings, they were said to possess mystic powers passed down from generation to generation, beginning with High King Merovech, grandson of Francio. The legend tells that King Merovech was sired by both a human father and a sea-beast called a quinotaur whom his mother coupled with when she was swimming in the sea.
To cut the hair of a Merovingian king was considered to be the highest humiliation, as it resulted in the loss of mystic abilities and his right to rule.

[Christa Jenneman]

At this time, the Germanic tribes did not follow the Christian faith. They followed the ancient religious beliefs held sacred by the Druid. Some texts indicate the Merovingian kings were Arch Druid themselves. Interestingly, similar to the ancient Egyptians, this line revered the honey bee as their signature talisman. The honeybee knows how to build, what some scholars consider the finest structure in nature, the honeycomb. It is made up of perfect hexagonal prisms. Some of the great stone circles the Druid used for astronomy and mystic ceremonies have similar dimensions. The Merovingians considered this powerful magic, and believed bees to be creatures of remarkable wisdom.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes, all descendents of Japheth mind you, fought fierce battles to claim these rich, newly unprotected lands. The fiercest tribes were the Lombards, the Burgonnians, the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Saxons. But the most feared was a tribe from the Far East called the Huns, led by the High King, Attila. They battled with great vigor for power. Many a former Roman citizen suffered under the constant clashes with these tribes.
Over time King Merovech, united with other Germanic tribes and the Roman general, Aetius, to conquer King Attila and the Huns. King Merovech’s bravery, fierceness, and mystic presence inspired unquestionable loyalty in all who beheld him. Eventually, he emerged from subsequent tribal skirmishes as the proven leader and overlord of a single large kingdom. This kingdom was referred to as Francia.

[Christa Jenneman]

The Roman Catholic Church documents that this noble clan was chosen by God to rule. The holy Christian fathers made it their mission to bond the church with the Merovingian line. Early Christian clergy preached and baptized the Germanic populations, establishing relations within families of noble Merovingian blood . . . especially with the ladies.
The early missionary’s charity to the poor, injured, and orphaned won the hearts of many a Merovingian queen and consort. Having the ear of a queen or consort meant having the ear of the king. Under the influence of these ladies, savage lords turned their heads toward to the Christian clergy and began to seek Christ’s help during skirmishes, rather than appealing to their former Pagan deities. Many a battle was won under the blessing of clerical missionaries and the shield of Christ.