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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-03 > 0825992991


From: Nathaniel Lane Taylor <>
Subject: Re: Clovis and Childebert of Cologne
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 02:29:51 GMT


In article <>,
GEN-MEDIEVAL <> wrote:

> In George Andrews Moriarty's article "The Origin of the
> Carolingians" (NEHGR Oct. 1944 p.309), he wrote the following:
>
> "Siegbert the Lame, King of Cologne, who had been a faithful ally of
> Clovis' . . ., was the son of Childebert, King of Cologne, and the
> grandson of an earlier Clovis, who was King of Cologne early in the fifth
> century . . . ."
>
> The sources cited for these statements--Gregory of Tour's
> _History of the Franks_, and (apparently) Guizot's History of France,
> vol. I, pp.152-3.
>
> My problem: I have looked in these sources, and I have found no mention
> of Childebert and Clovis. Sigebert the Lame and his descendants are
> named and described by Gregory of Tours, but Gregory says nothing of
> Sigebert's genealogy other than the fact that he was a kinsman of Clovis
> I, first Christian (Catholic) King of the Franks.
>
> So, what is the authority for these two kings? I'm sure they are
> named somewhere or other, but since Gregory never bothered to mention
> them the source(s) which do mention them must be post-Gregory. Was it
> Pseudo-Fredegar? (I have not yet examined Pseudo-Fredegar--is it
> available in an English translation?)

Fredegar is only available complete in the MGH Scriptores Rerum
Merovingicarum, vol. 2 (not in English). MOst of Book 4 (the seventh- and
eighth-century stuff) is avail. in trans. by Wallace Hadrill. Have you
checked Settipani's _Prehistoire des Capetiens_ for the best info. on
these guys?

Nat Taylor

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