Charibert II (after 618 – April 8, 632) of the Merovingian dynasty, was briefly king in Aquitaine, 629-631/2, with his capital at Toulouse. When Clotaire I, King of the Franks, died in 629, the kingdom passed undivided (an unusual inheritance among the Merovingians) to the elder son Dagobert I, who was already king of Austrasia. Charibert, a minor, was represented by his uncle Brodulf, in an unsuccessful bid for the kingdom of Neustria. In the negotiations that ensued, Dagobert ceded to his half-brother the traditionally independent realm of Aquitaine, specifically including Toulouse, Cahors, Agen, Perigueux and Saintes , which Charibert added to his possessions in Gascony, where he was married to Gisela, the heiress of Amand of Gascony. His fighting force subdued the resistance of the Basques, until the whole of the Basque territories was under his control.
Dagobert soon had Brodulf killed. In 631 Charibert stood godfather to Dagobert's son, Sigebert; however in 632, Charibert was assassinated by Dagobert's orders at Blaye, Gironde , and the Aquitaine passed again to Dagobert. Charibert's infant son Childeric was also murdered by Dagobert's men-at-arms, according to the mid-7th century chronicle of Fredegar. Both of them are buried in the early Romanesque Basilica of Saint-Romain at Blaye.
Charibert's surviving son, Boggis, Duke of Aquitaine, (ca 626 — ca 688), was the father of Saint Hubertus, who resigned his worldly claims to his younger brother, who began a line of Merovingian dukes of Aquitaine that lasted until 778, when the last, Loup II, was killed by Charlemagne.
See also the List_of_Frankish_Kings
External links
Further reading
- E. James The Franks, 1987
- I. Wood The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751 1994
- Gregory of Tours' history (translated bt L. Thorpe, 1974
- Chronicle of Fredegar, book IV (translated by J.M.Wallace-Hadrill, 1960
Last updated: 10-18-2005 15:07:42
