CLOVIS FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS: IT BECOMES CHRISTIAN
A.D. 486-511
FRANCOIS P.G. GUIZOT
Clovis, the sturdy Frank, wrought marvellous changes in Gaul. His
marriage to the Christian princess Clotilde was followed by the
conversion of himself and, gradually, that of his people. With a
well-disciplined army he pulled down and swept away the last
pillars of Roman power out of Gaul. Guizot gives a graphic account
of the transition of the Franks, during two hundred and fifty
years, from being isolated wandering tribes, each constantly
warring against the other, to a well-ordered Christian kingdom,
which led to the establishment of the French monarchy. The climax
of this period of transition came in the reign of Clovis, with whom
commences the real history of France. Under his strong hand the
various tribes were gradually brought under his sole rule.
When Clovis, at the age of fifteen, succeeded his father,
Childeric, as king of the Salian tribe, his people were mainly
pagans; the Salian domain was very limited, the treasury empty, and
there was no store of either grain or wine.
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