"Clovis," says Gregory of Tours, "put
on the tunic of purple and the chlamys and the diadem; then mounting his
horse, he scattered with his own hand and with much bounty gold and
silver among the people, on the road which lies between the gate of the
court belonging to the basilica of St. Martin and the church of the
city. From that day he was called consul and augustus. On leaving the
city of Tours he repaired to Paris, where he fixed the seat of his
government."
Paris was certainly the political centre of his dominions, the
intermediate point between the early settlements of his race and himself
in Gaul and his new Gallic conquests; but he lacked some of the
possessions nearest to him and most naturally, in his own opinion, his.
To the east, north, and south-west of Paris were settled some
independent Frankish tribes, governed by chieftains with the name of
kings. So soon as he had settled at Paris, it was the one fixed idea of
Clovis to reduce them all to subjection. He had conquered the
Burgundians and the Visigoths; it remained for him to conquer and unite
together all the Franks.
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