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Case file s636 · Medieval Europe · 524
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524
Clovis I: Saint Remy baptise Clovis détail
Clovis I. Pethrus (talk). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
524 (Chlodomer, killed at the battle of Vézeronce)
Place
Paris, France
Field
Frankish kingdom of Orléans · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Frankish partible inheritance among a king's sons
Historical event
The division of Clovis's kingdom after 511
Religion
Clovis I: Ancient and traditional religions, Other Christian (recorded as Germanic paganism, Christianity on Wikidata; 5th-century Christians, 6th-century Christians, Converts to Christianity from Germanic paganism on Wikipedia)
Medieval EuropeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionMedievalEuropeFrance

Clovis's sons sent their mother scissors and a sword, then killed two of their dead brother's sons and split his kingdom

Clovis, king of the Franks, died in 511. Gregory of Tours writes that his four sons "received his kingdom and divided it among them in equal parts." Chlodomer, king at Orléans, was killed at Vézeronce in June 524. His widow married his brother Chlothar. His three young sons were raised by their grandmother, Queen Clotilda, in Paris. Gregory says their uncles Childebert and Chlothar had the children brought to them, then sent a man named Arcadius to Clotilda with "a pair of scissors and a naked sword." The choice was to have the boys shorn, which would bar them from kingship, or killed. She answered that she would rather see them dead than shorn. Chlothar seized the elder boy, aged ten, and killed him. The seven-year-old begged Childebert for mercy. Childebert handed him over, and he was killed too. The third boy, Clodoald, was saved "by the aid of brave men." The two kings divided Chlodomer's kingdom equally. Clodoald gave up any claim and entered religion. He founded a monastery at Novigentum near Paris and died a priest, about 560. The town is now Saint-Cloud.

What the law took from it

A rule that splits a kingdom among sons gives every uncle a share to gain from the death of a nephew.

Sources
  1. sourcebooks.fordham.eduScholarship
  2. encyclopedia.comPress
  3. worldhistory.orgPress
  4. medievalists.netPress
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Clovis's sons sent their mother scissors and a sword, then killed two of their dead brother's sons and split his kingdom,” story s636, https://www.celebrity.estate/clovis-524, updated 30 October 2026.

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Medieval EuropeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionMedievalEuropeFrance