Sigibert the Lame

No document gives the exact date of birth of Sigibert. It can definitely be said that he was born no earlier than 469 years and no later than 496 years .

In order to withstand the onslaught of neighboring Alemans , the Ripuar Franks entered into an alliance with the Burgundians , and in 469, the then Frankish Prince Sighemer married the Burgundian princess in Lyon . This was followed by a tense period of relations with the Salic Franks , since Gundioch , the king of the Burgundians and the magister militum (military master) of the Roman Empire was a rival with another magister militum Aegidius , who were allies of the Salic francs.

During the reign of Sigibert, peace, and even cooperation, between the Salic francs and the Ripuar francs was restored. Sigibert did not take part in the battle of Soissons in 486 , when Clovis fought with the governor of northern Galia Siagrius . Sigibert was busy defending the eastern borders of the Frankish kingdom from the Alemanni. In 496, the Alemans managed to conquer the kingdom of Ripuar francs and Sigibert called on his cousin Clovis for help. Two kings give battle at Tolbiac , defeat and expel the Alemannic. In the battle, Sigibert was wounded in the knee, which subsequently led to lameness and the king received the nickname "lame." This victory over the Alemanni probably turned into a seizure of the region with the city of Metz . Indeed, this region, formerly in the hands of the Alemanni in 480, is part of the Frankish kingdom, according to the cosmograph from Ravenna , who took this information from the Ostrogothic geographer Atanarich , who drew his maps between 496 and 507 .

In 507, Sigibert sent part of his troops, led by his son Chloderich , to help Hlodwig in his war with the Visigoth king Alaric II , who was ultimately defeated by the Franks at the battle of Vouillet (near Poitiers ) in Aquitaine . According to Gregory of Tours , at the end of this campaign, Clovis prompted Chloderic to kill his father, which he did on a hunt in the Bucon Forest . However, Godfroy Kurt , whose opinion was also supported by Georges Bordone , found inconsistencies in the story of Gregory of Tours and claimed that Sigibert was killed in an ambush, without any involvement from Chloderic.

Origin

Gregory of Tours says nothing about the origin of Sigibert, except that Clovis and Sigibert were relatives.

Some authors believe that Frankish kingdoms were ruled by members of the same dynasty . So Godfroix Kurt called the Frankish kings, eliminated by Clovis, the descendants of Chlodion Long-haired ; Karl Ferdinand Werner wrote about the division of various kingdoms between members of the same dynasty; Christian Settipani believed that the Frankish kings (Clovis, Ragnahar , Richer , Hararich and Sigibert Lame) come from Chlodion the Long-haired; and Franz Staeb referred to the " Merovingian dynasty on the Rhine" or the "Rhine branch of the Merovingian dynasty."

There is a genealogy compiled in Neustria between 584 and 629 , which, although it contains a number of errors, mentions Chlodeboud, the son of Chlodion, and claims that Chlodeboud is the forerunner of Chloderic. Another genealogy of Frankish kings, compiled in Australia in 629 or 639 , which is probably also an interpolation of the list of salic kings, also speaks of Chlodeboud, son of Chlodion.

In 469, Sidonius Apollinarius spoke in his letter of the arrival in Lyon of a prince named Sigimer, who was married to a princess of Burgundy. The description of his suit identifies this Sigimer as a Ripuar franc. Chloderic, Sigibert's eldest son, was born around 485 , so Sigibert was born at the latest in 465 and could not be the son of Sigimer, married in 469. He was more likely a brother and could be the son of Chlodebaud.

Descendants

Sigibert’s wife is unknown. From her, he had several children:

• Chloderich (c. 485-509) is the king of Cologne, as Gregory of Tours tells.
• Balderic, priest and co-founder of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Dam in Reims .
• Saint Beva or Boba, co-founder and first abbess of the monastery of Saint-Pierre-le-Dam in Reims . These last two names were given by Flodoard in his History of the Roman Church: it is specified here that they are the children of King Sigibert. Since the foundation was realized with the help of St. Remigius (437-533), this king cannot be Sigibert I. Chronologically, it could only be Sigibert Lame.

Hypothetical Genealogy

• Origin of the Arnulfings

• Godefroid Kurth , Clovis, le fondateur, Éditions Tallandier, 1896 (réimpr. 2000) ( ISBN 2-235-02266-9 ).
• Laurence Charlotte Feffer et Patrick Périn, Les Francs (tome 1 - A la conquête de la Gaule), Armand Collin Editeur, Paris, 1987 ( ISBN 2-200-37070-6 (erroneous) ).
• Karl Ferdinand Werner, Les Origines, avant l'an mil, Livre de Poche, coll. "Histoire de France (sous la direction de Jean Favier)", 1984 (réimpr. 1992) ( ISBN 2-253-06203-0 ) [détail des éditions]
• Georges Bordonove, Clovis, Pygmalion, coll. "Les Rois qui ont fait la France", 1988 ( ISBN 2-85704-241-7 (erroneous) ).
• Christian Settipani, Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne, Paris, 1989, 170 p. ( ISBN 2-906483-28-1 ).
• Christian Settipani, Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne - Addenda, Paris, 1990.
• Michel Rouche, Clovis, Éditions Fayard, 1996 ( ISBN 2-213-59632-8 ).
• Christian Settipani, "Clovis, un roi sans ancêtre?", Dans Gé-Magazine, no 153, octobre 1996.
• Franz Staab (de), "Les royaumes francs au Ve siècle" dans Clovis - Histoire et Mémoire - Actes du colloque international d'histoire de Reims, vol. 1, Presses Universitaires de la Sorbonne, décembre 1997 ( ISBN 2-84050-079-5 ).
• Christian Settipani, "L'apport de l'onomastique dans l'étude des généalogies carolingiennes", dans Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval, Prosopographica et genealogica, Oxford, 2000, 310 p. ( ISBN 1-900934-01-9 ).