13 Facts About Chilperic I

Chilperic I was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.

Chilperic I's brothers compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Therouanne, Tournai and Boulogne fell to Chilperic's share.

Chilperic I, seeing that his brother was far from his lands, attacked Reims and took it.

Chilperic I later allied with Guntram against Sigebert, but Guntram changed sides due to fear of a large army Sigebert gathered past the Rhine and he crossed through Burgundy to bypass Chilperic I's strong defenses.

When Sigebert married Brunhilda, daughter of the Visigothic sovereign in Spain, Chilperic I wished to make a brilliant marriage.

Chilperic I had already repudiated his first wife, Audovera, and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called Fredegund.

Chilperic I accordingly dismissed Fredegund, and married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha.

Chilperic I then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram.

Chilperic I got the loyalty from the nobles who've sided with Sigebert, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine like Saintes and the territory in Auvergene which a large battle was done against Mummol, who was serving under Guntram.

In 578, Chilperic I sent an army to fight the Breton ruler Waroch II of the Bro-Wened along the Vilaine.

Chilperic I subsequently broke his oath but Chilperic's dominion over the Bretons was relatively secure, as evidenced by Venantius Fortunatus's celebration of it in a poem.

Chilperic I was buried in the Saint Vincent Basilica of Paris, later incorporated in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

An operetta on the subject, Chilperic I, was created by Herve, first performed in 1864.