As I understand it, the Frankish succession law meant that if there was only one son, he would take the throne and all Frankish land. Is this not correct?
The Legacy of the Merovingians
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As I understand it, the Frankish succession law meant that if there was only one son, he would take the throne and all Frankish land. Is this not correct?
Ares96 said:
That's true. Frankish custom was that the inheritance of a King should be split between his sons. That's one of the reasons Francia was splited in several kingdoms OTL, like Neustria or Austrasia. However, if there was only one son, then the Kingdom wouldn't be split.
Now, your Merovingian Kings were pretty "lucky" to only have one son as it went. If you plan to change that in the future, I fear you will need to change the Successoral Law. Another possibility would be that Royal Authority collapsed like it did OTL : the Mayors of the Palace became then de facto rulers, with one Frankish King to rule the whole kingdom as their puppet.
I'm not going to change the succession law until the 900s or so, but Francia will survive several divisions before then (that is the point of the TL, after all).
The New New Roman Empire!?
The Visigoths were infamous for their long and bloody civil wars during succession crises. ITTL the Moorish Kingdom (a small Roman remnant in modern-day Algeria) decided to exploit one such civil war and take control of Toletum. As much of the Hispanic peasantry in this period spoke Latin, the new Roman empire that was declared gained popular support very quickly, and the Visigoths fled to OTL Romania.
The Legacy of the Merovingians, chapter V
Fifty years of happiness: The reign of Childebert
Fifty years of happiness: The reign of Childebert
In the Year of Our Lord 551, with the passing of King Teudebert from a hunting accident a mere twenty-nine years old, his ten-year-old son Childebert became King of all the Franks. It was decided that just as with Theuderic fifty years prior, the crowning should be held off with until his coming of age six years later. Until then, Francia would be governed by Childebert's second cousin, Chlothar of Soissons.
Chlothar decided to focus his attention toward settling disputes between the other Frankish noblemen, as well as fostering peace throughout the realm ruled by him in Childebert's name. When the latter came of age in 557, Chlothar willingly stepped down from his position of de facto power, but would prove a constant advisor and ally to the young King.
In 562, Thuringia was being attacked by the Bavarii. Its ruler asked Childebert for protection, and the Frankish king agreed. In August that year, Thuringia became a Frankish sub-kingdom. Its nobles were forced to contribute men to Francia in the event of war, but when weighed against the protection from the barbarian threat, many of them saw the need for this, and there was no large revolt such as happened in Aquitania.
Teudebert married the Moorish princess Julia of Legio in 565, and this led to a thaw in relations between the two nations. Childebert even agreed to recognise the Moorish king as Roman Emperor. He also aided in the foundation of several semi-independent bishoprics inside Francia, thus establishing better relations with the Papacy. Overall, his reign is seen by historians as a very diplomatically successful one.
But all was not well in Francia. In 567 there was a large famine in Neustria [1] and Salia [2], and the following year was marked by a bubonic plague epidemic in Ripuaria [3] and Alemannia [4], which only ended after wiping out a third of the local population. Several new monasteries were established to help prevent the spread of diseases and other dangers.
In 574, another danger struck. Saxon tribes were pillaging Francian cities along the northern Rhine, and local nobles sent letters to Childebert asking for military aid. The king went north with some 7,000 soldiers in November, and by April the next year he had defeated the Saxons in the area. One of the most loyal noblemen around the Rhine was granted the subkingdom of Western Saxony, and the area was slowly populated by Frankish nobles and their serfs.
The rest of Childebert's reign was mostly quiet. His kingdom flourished, apart from two famines (in 581 and 588). Queen Julia had eight children, out of which five survived their infancy. Three of these were male, and when Childebert died in 604, his kingdom was split between them. Theuderic II (born in 572) became King of Metz and recieved overlordship of Ripuaria, Alemannia, Britannia Minor, western Neustria, Thuringia and Frisia , Chlothar (born in 579) became King of Paris and recieved overlordship of eastern Neustria and Aquitania, and Theudebald (born in 581) became King of Soissons and recieved overlordship of Salia, Austria [5] and West Saxony.
[1] Roughly OTL northern France.
[2] Roughly OTL Belgium.
[3] Roughly OTL northeastern France and southwestern Germany.
[4] Roughly the area of the OTL Alemannian dialect.
[5] OTL Rhineland, southern Hesse and northwestern Bavaria.
Next chapter:
Long Division: A Century of Decline
Long Division: A Century of Decline
Super cool, I am glad to see this up and running again. I am reading a book about the Franks and I'm in almost exactly the same period as the timeline is now. I really like the developments, it is cool to see Francia become a bit more developed earlier on.
Scipio
Scipio
They had a very interesting history. Obviously IOTL they were in disunion this whole time, due to their rather obstructive succession law. Ironic, isn't it, how killing off one of the best (if not THE best) leaders they ever had means that their kingdom gets better off?
HeavyWeaponsGuy
Banned
YES! I love Frank TLs, at the risk of sounding like I'm asking a stupid/obvious question, I must ask, will dear old Charles (not Martel, his boy) make an appearance
?YES! I love Frank TLs, at the risk of sounding like I'm asking a stupid/obvious question, I must ask, will dear old Charles (not Martel, his boy) make an appearance
He had but one son, Pepin the Short. Charlemagne was his grandson. And no, he is quite soundly butterflied away by the 250-years-prior-to-his-birth PoD.
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Interesting borders for the Frankish Kingdoms. Usually, the "foreign" countries, as Aquitaine, Auvergne or Provence were themselfs shared between the Frankish kings. Theuderic and Childebert are ignoring this, I suppose they had to regularly going south to avoid general rebellion.
Maybe the neighbourhood of the Romano-Moorish would make the Romans (southern Gaul) turn their hopes in them?
Really? Well, since my research aspires to lacklustre, I was tempted to heed your advice and edit the map. However, as I remembered, I have an important plot point in the TL around Aquitania, and so I won't do it.
Legacy of the Merovingians, chapter VI
Long Division: A Half-Century of Decline
Long Division: A Half-Century of Decline
King Childebert's death meant the establishment of three separate kingdoms in Francia, each under one of his sons. Theuderic became king of Metz, Chlothar king of Paris, and Theudebald king of Soissons. Neither of them was as politically skilled as Childebert or as militarily skilled as his predecessors (the latter is arguably apart from Theudebald, being battle hardened after defending his kingdom from northern barbarians). Francia was still one kingdom on paper, and the brothers were simply sharing the throne. In theory, all three were to fight would one of them get attacked. In practice, however, this seldom ever happened, and for all intents and purposes Francia was three separate kingdoms.
In 609, a band of loosely organised barbarians attacked Theudebald's kingdom. Neither Chlothar nor Theuderic lifted a finger to help. Theudebald won that war very narrowly, but it was clear that he might not be so lucky next time. However, the two senior kings remained in their kingdoms, sorting out internal problems. Theuderic had to settle disputed between the many nobles in his realm, and Chlothar effectively ruled his realm from Tolosa due to the Aquitan rebellion being reinvigorated.
As if these problems weren't bad enough, the plague from thirty years before returned in 612. It spread like wildfire throughout Francia, Burgundy and parts of Roman Italy, and when it petered out again over six million people had been killed.
The three brothers were all extremely prone to domination, especially by their queens. This showed itself when a feud between Theuderic's queen Galswintha and Chlothar's queen Plectrude almost led to civil war in 616. When Theuderic died three years later, his realm was to be split between his two sons. However, Chlothar decided to wage a brief campaign in Ripuaria, which led to the capture of Metz and the election of Theuderic's second (and weaker) son Grimoald as king of all of Theuderic's former domains, except for Britannia Minor and the parts of Neustria that were ruled by Theuderic, to which Chlothar laid claim. It is unknown whether this was Chlothar's own initiative, but it is highly likely that Plectrude was the one that convinced him, eager to punish the widow of Theuderic by ensuring the placement of a weak and loyal king in Metz.
In 627, another series of barbarian raids started, this time striking a blow at Thuringia. As overlord of the local subking, Grimoald traveled to the area to suppress the partisans. He was successful in his task, but never signed a treaty with the tribes or organised a subkingdom upon their lands. Instead, he decided to simply leave them be, and ordered the construction of several new fortresses in the hilly hinterlands of northern Thuringia. This chain of forts, commonly known as the Wall of Grimoald, was only finished in 653, and its construction would almost bleed the kingdom of Metz dry.
In April of 643, the Roman (Moorish) Emperor Tiberius declared war upon Chlothar and invaded Aquitania. He used the locals' Vulgar Latin language, as well as Aquitania having been a Roman domain, as a pretext for the invasion. As unrest among the locals was brewing (even more so than usually), they tended to view the Franks rather than the Romans as the enemies during the invasion. Thus, Tiberius' campaign was neither slow nor bloody, and when Chlothar's armies met up with the Romans the latter werewell-rested, well-fed and battle ready, whereas Chlothar's men were so tired from the long march and lack of supplies that they would probably have surrendered without a fight had their generals let them. By the end of the year, the Roman armies were in Paris, and Emperor Tiberius personally dictated the peace terms to Chlothar. All of Aquitania but the Loire valley was to be ceded, and the Franks must promise not to encroach upon Roman land (including that which was now ceded) again.
This was a hard blow dealt to Chlothar's kingdom, and indeed to all of Francia. The weak Grimoald still held the throne in Metz, his kingdom quickly running out of money due to the construction of the Wall of Grimoald. Theudebald still ruled in Soissons, however, his kingdom was plagued by the barbarians in the northeast. Chlothar had just lost a large piece of land to one Roman Empire, and the other might attack at any moment, the truce from Justinian's time having expired. When Chlothar died in 648, Francia was on the edge of oblivion. The man who took the throne of Paris would not only save his nation's existence, but bring it into a new golden age.
Next chapter:
Dagobert Rising
Dagobert Rising
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To be honest I don't know enough about the period to be able to do any of the above in an informed and intelligent manner.
It's very well written, though.
Is the legacy of the Merovingians going to be a new Roman Empire?
It's very well written, though.
Is the legacy of the Merovingians going to be a new Roman Empire?
That appears to be the general consensus. Thank you for the compliment though; I always felt more skilled at the mapping part.
Nope. We've got two of them already.
I see that Frisia is cut off from the rest of Grimoald/Theuderics kingdom
time for a rebellion??
Hmmm......