Upon his death in 511, Clovis I st , the first Christian sovereign of the Franks, divides his prestigious kingdom between his four sons:Thierry, from a first marriage, and his half-brothers Clodomir, Childebert and Clotaire. Quickly, King Clotaire established himself as the shrewdest politician and the most ambitious of the four.
Clotaire I er the ambitious
After the disappearance of Clodomir, who died in arms in 524, Clotaire appropriated his share of the kingdom and married his widow , in defiance of Salic law since the deceased had 3 sons. Whatever, Clotaire manages to have them murdered (see my article on this subject). In 534, he marched on the Burgundian kingdom with Childebert, and the two brothers share their conquest, which considerably increases the area of the kingdom of the Franks. In 555, after the death of Thierry's grandson, a new part of the ancient kingdom of Clovis found itself without a king. Without consulting his last surviving brother, the deceitful Clotaire seizes this huge piece of territory , inexorably expanding its empire.
This new kingdom includes the unstable Aquitaine, reputed to be not very faithful to the Merovingians. King Clotaire decides to administer part of the province through his son Chramne , the eldest of the five boys left to him by his successive wives. He therefore delegates the young prince on the spot, with the title of viceroy of Auvergne.
Chramne does as he pleases
Chramne, born around 530, is the son of King Clotaire and probably his second wife Chunsine. Quickly, the child then the adolescent reveals himself in all respects to meet the King's expectations:handsome, intelligent, daring, courageous, unscrupulous. Worthy heir to his father , he quickly becomes his favorite among his offspring, because the most apt to succeed him... It is therefore with absolute confidence that Clotaire entrusts this combative boy barely out of adolescence with the post of viceroy of Auvergne. No doubt his abilities will match his moral qualities!
In reality, Chramne will largely exceed his rights. Perfect mirror of his father, he looks too much like Clotaire to remain calm and be satisfied with a puppet position. Behaving like a sovereign, he rules as a despot on his improvised subjects, whom he crushes with taxes. Certainly badly advised and encouraged in his excesses, he composes his government with his companions of fine parties and does not hesitate to "employ" the most beautiful girls of the local aristocracy for his pleasure and that of his accomplices.
Worse, the kinglet, still under the influence of lay people and bishops hostile to the Frankish kingdom, decided to create an independent kingdom of Aquitaine!
He easily obtains the support of his uncle Childebert , still green with rage that Clotaire appropriated the land of their late brother Thierry without consulting him. He promises his nephew to support his demands on one condition:that he help him to mount an army against Clotaire. Encouraged by these secret agreements, Chramne went to Limoges where he proclaimed the independence of Aquitaine under his aegis , and laid siege to Clermont.
Clotaire, amazed, cannot tolerate such insolence. Chramne is just a rebel and should be treated accordingly. But now Childebert, negotiating with the Saxons, manages to convince them to attack his brother's lands. Clotaire is faced with a dilemma :fight his rebellious heir or the enemies who threaten his borders?
He decides to put two of his sons to the test. He sends Charibert and Gontran in his place to fight. The two princes, delighted to be able to do battle with this half-brother whom they hate, enter Auvergne with their army and take the road to Limousin as far as the locality of Montagne-Noire, cited in the Mémoires of Bishop Gregory of Tours. They set up their camp and send a messenger to Chramne:that he submit and restore to the king their father the territories of which he has granted himself suzerainty without right. As expected, Chramne categorically refuses . The armies are preparing for the confrontation, when suddenly a violent storm soaks the ground and nips this fratricidal war in the bud.
The cunning Chramne, who has not the slightest intention of risking battle again, then devised a stratagem to get rid of his cumbersome half-brothers and continue the conquest of Auvergne as quickly as possible:he spread the terrible news of the death of Clotaire I er , killed by the Saxons .
While Gontran and Charibert return in panic to Metz, Chramne conquers Châlons, fails to lay siege to Dijon, then descends the Loire Valley and reaches Orléans. As if his insubordination and his rebellion towards Clotaire were not enough, our hothead adds disobedience to it by dispensing with his father's consent for his wedding. Overwhelmed with love, he marries Chalda , one of the two daughters of the Count of Orléans. Meanwhile, Gontran and Charibert are amazed to discover their father alive and well, having returned victorious from his campaign on the Rhine!
Uncle Childebert, informed of his brother's return, mobilizes his armies to face him and secure Chramne's rear. Alas, Childebert has the bad idea to die at this precise moment, after forty-seven years of reign. He leaves Clotaire, only son of Clovis still alive, legitimate king of the Franks... and Chramne without the slightest support.
Father's forgiveness?
Deprived of his uncle's indispensable forces, which turn against him since they are now subservient to Clotaire, the rebel implores his father's clemency. Unexpectedly, he forgives... We are in 559, four years after the beginning of the rebellion of Chramne. His father asks him to return to Paris with his wife and their two little girls, and has everyone placed under surveillance.
Is Clotaire then really sincere? Is he able to truly forgive his favorite son for his betrayal? Does he do comedy? Chramne, in any case, strongly doubts the sustainability of this unexpected return to grace and the good faith of his parent:he went too far.
This peace between father and son was short-lived. Both lived in just distrust, and knew each other too well to believe in a few demonstrations of friendship, the falsity of which they badly disguised.
Chramne's decision is made. One autumn night, he loses company with his father, taking with him Chalda and her little girls. Where can I find refuge? The family grows as far as Brittany (Armorica), where King Conomor reigns. The latter married Chalda's sister and therefore happens to be Chramne's brother-in-law.
Learning of the desertion of his heir, Clotaire I st goes into a black rage. He put together a considerable army and marched with his son Chilpéric against the in-laws of Chramne and Conomor:the Count and Countess of Orléans. Cornered, the latter believe they find refuge in the basilica of Saint-Martin in Tours , an inviolable place of asylum. But nothing stops the armies of Clotaire who, on his order or even going beyond his instructions, set fire to it. The basilica and its victims go up in smoke...
That settles Clotaire's business. Chramne and Conomor cannot let such a crime pass and are forced to come out of their burrow to in turn raise an army and confront that of the King of the Franks. The battle takes place not far from the coast, in order to offer a way out for Chramne and Conomor if things go wrong, the latter also having territories in England.
The Bretons are quickly routed, and Conomor loses his life. Chramne knows that the battle is lost and that he has only one solution left:escape. The ships await him near the battlefield, ready to set sail. But there is no question of leaving without his wife and daughters, arrested by Clotaire's army. He then makes a detour to rescue them. Recognized and surrounded by the Frankish soldiers, he did not have time to return to the port and was taken prisoner with his family and then delivered to the king.
Clotaire's revenge
The punishment, of rare violence, is equal to the disappointment of Clotaire, deceived by this heir in whom he placed all his hopes. He cannot forgive a second time. After having Chramne tortured to death in front of his wife and daughters, he locks up his dying son in a cottage. As long as you do, you might as well get rid of his daughter-in-law and his granddaughters, whom he also has tied up inside. After blocking off all the exits, he orders his soldiers to set fire to the hovel. Chramne and his family are thus burned alive without any mercy.
This barbaric act, more than the satisfaction of revenge, is above all a warning issued by King Clotaire to his surviving sons, cutting short any desire for independence... If they do not dare to play, they would lose ! This horrible end, which clashes in the bloody history of the Merovingians, did it weigh on Clotaire's conscience? We'll never know. Still, this crime certainly contributed to hastening his own death:the king died in 561, only a year after having had his son and his family put to death. He was about sixty-three years old. Coincidence, twist of fate? Who knows. Chramne, far from being a Saint, probably did not deserve such an atrocious end... And what about the three poor innocents who had asked nothing of anyone and paid for the rebellion of their husband and father?