Merovech

Reign: 450 – 458
Life: 415–457

411 to 457) was the ancestor of the Merovingian dynasty, and the grandfather of its founder Clovis I. He was reportedly a king of the Salian Franks, but records of his existence are mixed with legend and myth. The most important written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that Merovech was said to be descended from Chlodio, a roughly contemporary Frankish warlord who pushed from the Silva Carbonaria in modern central Belgium as far south as the Somme, north of Paris in modern-day France. His supposed descendants, the kings Childeric I and Clovis I, are the first well-attested Merovingians. He may have been one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in Gaul in 451.

During Merovech's reign, Pope Leo I ruled Papacy, Marcian ruled Rome, and Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei ruled China.

Want to learn more? Further reading

The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751 by Ian Wood

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The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751

Ian Wood

Wood's standard survey, Merovech and the legendary origins of the Frankish dynasty.

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