Dagobert Ier

Dagobert Ier (born v. 602/605 - died the January 19th 638 or 639) was a King of the Francs of the dynasty mérovingienne, wire of Clotaire II, king of the Francs and Bertrude. It reigned on the Austrasie of 623 with 632, and as King of the Francs of 629 with 639.

Biography

In 623, yielding to the claims separatists the noble ones of Austrasie, his/her father appoints it king of this territory (amputee nevertheless areas in the west of the Ardenne S and the Vosges). It is with Metz that Dagobert resides then. Its tutors will be the Maire of the palate Pépin of Landen and Saint Arnoul, bishop of Metz, which was already the effective leaders of the region. With its majority, escaping the supervision, it requires that his/her father restore to him the provinces of Brie and of Champagne.

As of the death of Clotaire II (629), it is made appoint king of Burgundy, then drives out his younger brother Caribert II of the Neustrie, making him swear to give up the Gaulle definitively. It leaves him for territory only the kingdom of Aquitaine, created for the occasion. A few years later, the death of Caribert II enables him to recover Aquitaine, thus reconstituting the frank kingdom such as it was under the reign of his/her father. Consequently, it chooses to leave Austrasie, and to take Paris for capital, from its geographical position in the center of the kingdom.

It separates then from Pépin of Landen, trying to recover a little capacity which his/her father had let go to the mayors of the palate. It then chooses excellent advisers such as the Didier chancellor, the Dadon chief clerk (canonized under the name of Saint Ouen) and the Eligius goldsmith (future Saint Eloi). With their assistance, it will be occupied in priority of the interior matters of the large kingdom of the Francs and its reign will constitute a happy trève in anarchy mérovingienne and will bring a relative peace, thanks to its will to unify the government of the country. It will undertake a certain number of essential reforms:

It fights against the claims separatists of certain parts of the nobility, and continuing the work undertaken by Clotaire II, it manages to remove the successional practice known as of the “patrimoniality” which was, because of the disagreements of division, generator of many conflicts.

It also manages to reorganize the administration and the justice of the kingdom, and takes the initiative, on the councils of the former goldsmith Éloi, to eliminate all the monetary fraud, by centralizing with the palate the striking of the currency.

It also develops education and arts, and will make many important gifts with the clergy (it will found inter alia the Abbaye of Saint-Denis which will accommodate its tomb later a few years). It was in fact the last king mérovingien to direct personally the regnum francorum .

At the political level, Dagobert develops the diplomatic relations with the adjoining countries: it signs in 631 a treaty of “Perpetual Peace” with the Byzantine emperor Héraclius, an alliance with the Lombards in 632, and an agreement in 633 with the Saxons so that they help it to protect his borders from the Slaves of Samo. It also conducts military campaigns, in particular against the Gascon S (638), the Bretons, and especially the Slavic ones which will resist to him in 632.

But in 632, the nobility of Austrasie revolts, and to alleviate the spirits, Dagobert is constrained to give up the kingdom of Austrasie to his/her son Sigebert III which does not have whereas two years (it succeeds in nevertheless drawing aside this time Pépin of Landen of the station of Maire of the palate). They are then the noble ones of Neustrie which asserts their fastening with the Burgundy; they require and obtain that Dagobert gather the two areas, and that it places his son Clovis II at the head of this new kingdom.

With its death, its two heirs are still very young: Sigebert has eight years, and Clovis four; the unit of command disappears and the fights and anarchy begin again, the capacity of the mayors of the Palate, will increase with the detriment of the kings, because they benefit from it to handle the young sovereigns and to monopolize capacity definitively: it is the beginning of the time known as of the lazy Kings which will mark the end of the dynasty mérovingienne.

Before dying, king Dagobert had chosen to be buried, not with the Abbaye of Saint-Germain-of-Meadows, like his predecessors since Childebert Ier in 558, but with the news Basilique Saint-Denis, on the place where already rested since 570, Arégonde, the fourth wife of Clotaire Ier. De Dagobert, last single king of the regnum Francorum , there remains, the tomb which at the 13th century the king Louis IX made install.

Popular culture

In the French popular culture, Dagobert is especially known through the song Bon King Dagobert . This one seems to date from the French revolution. According to the legend, Dagobert was so inattentive that it was accustomed to putting its breeches (its braies, pants) at back. Myope, Dagobert had the practice, according to Wulfram of Strasbourg (8th century), to get footholds in the carpets and to fall, under the glances jellyfishes of the witnesses. Jovial fellow and popular, it very often laughed at his own person. The respect due to the king made pass his legendary distraction for a simple legend.

The purpose of this song written on a dance tune known as Fanfare of the Stag is not to transcribe an historical truth but rather to make fun of the king known Louis XVI inter alia for its personality distracted, and of the queen Marie-Antoinette through this old and badly known king.

See too

Genealogy of Mérovingiens
False Mérovingiens
Monarchs of France

Badge of the royalty coming from the Treasury of Saint-Denis, the Throne of Dagobert

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