Clovis I – Sixteen Years and
Reaching for the Throne
In AD 481 Clovis, son of Childeric was
only sixteen years old, when his father
died. He became the first king of the
Franks. But how did he grab his throne?
This question is asked in a wonderful new
exhibition in Mainz
How do you gain the support to wield the power, which Clovis ended up parading in Reims sometime in
the period 497 – 510, when he was baptised in the Cathedral in Reims together with 3000 of his warriors?
Especially, how do you gain their support, when you are only sixteen and your father has just died?
In the case of Clovis, we do in fact know much more about this than one should think. One reason is that
we possess the testament he mounted in form of the astounding burial of his father, Childeric. For some
years curators and archaeologists in Mainz have been thinking hard about how to understand this
remarkable “text”. Apart from a major publication, the result has been a fascinating new exhibit in
the RGZM.
The Tomb of Childeric
In a way the story is well known. In
1653 workers in Tournai literally struck
gold, when they found the grave of
Childeric, identified through his signetring. Although the finders tried to
scoop up the treasure and hide the
valuables, they were soon found out.
Although not all was recuperated,
enough was expropriated by the local
dignitaries to make it possible for JeanJaques Chifflet to publish a
comprehensive account of the finds
with elaborate and beautiful
copperplates. Later, this edition was
proven especially invaluable as the
treasures were stolen in 1831 and to
the most part melted down by the thieves. Only fragments of the original find are kept in the Bibliothèque
nationale in Paris in the Cabinet des médailles.
Early on RGZM had copies of these remnants made and today it is the only institution, which has as part
of its exhibition a full set of replicas. Currently the RGZM is building a whole new museum and as part of
this project experiments with new forms of exhibitions and installations are underway. First of these is
the teaching-installation presenting the history of Clovis and the burial of his father, Childeric.
Obama, Merkel and Clovis
One of the “tricks” used to catch the imagination of
both children and grown-ups is the use of Wordclouds
–
http://gdeltproject.org/gallery-word-cloud-leaders.ht
ml – of different modern rulers grabbing for power,
which we are incited to compare with a
reconstructed word-cloud of Clovis. “Yes, We Can”
claimed Obama famously, while Merkel is known for
her quiet insistence: “Wir schaffen es” (we can do
it). But what did Clovis say?
We don’t possess a verbatim rendering of his speech anymore, although he must have presented his case
orally. But we possess the next-best thing, the staging of the drama of the burial of his father. Apart from
a stupendous sacrifice of 21 horses, there must have been a procession, a eulogy and some dining and
wining. From this we can get a sense of the different components of his audience, although perhaps not
the exact sequence of the different acts in the drama.
Tumulus and the Sacrifice of the Horses
First of all, though, there must have been the
construction of a tumulus. The construction
of a burial mound with a diameter of app. 20
– 24 meters it must have required a
substantial workload. Depending on how flat
the tumulus was it must have held between
3000-3500 m3 of earth or equaled the work
of 3000-3500 workdays; which means a team
of a 100 men would have been 30 – 35 days
to do the job. But the, messages had to be
sent out to the far corners of the “known
world” of Childeric’s and Clovis, since we
know rather a lot about the different
participants.
We know (perhaps) about the somewhat exact diameter of the tumulus from the fact that a massive – and
we must presume – bloody and stress-full sacrifice of 21 horses took place. Three pits were found at
excavations, which were carried out in the 1980s. All-in-all 13 geldings, 5 stallions and 3 foals were
discovered. Compared to the number of horses found in other contemporary graves, this is a staggering
number. It is generally believed that this part of the ritual was staged to calm and enlist the household
troops, which might have accompanied Childeric back from an eight-year exile hew spent in Thuringia in
the mid 5th century. Clovis’ mother (Basina) was according to Libri Historiarum by Gregory of Tours from
the same region and might have called upon her family to back up her son.
The Roman-Barbaric Warrior
The corpse, with its neatly combed and perhaps plaited
hair was apparently dressed in its full regalia: wrapped
in a Roman paludamentum or draped military cloak,
held together by a golden fibula and with shoos and belt
buckles and a solid gold torc bracelet. In his hands
arms he probably held a Roman scepter. On his finger
was the famous signet-ring with is cuirassed
representation, also an important “Roman Symbol”.
Next to him was placed his weapons: a throwing axe, a
spear, a spatha and a short scramasax with scabbard.
All this was decorated in cloisonné gold and garnets. To
this should be added the famous golden bees and the
oxen head. The jury is still out whether they adorned
his cloak, his baldric or the harness of his horse. In his
grave was also deposited a significant part of his
treasure: more than a hundred golden solids plus a
significant number of silver coins (denarii and siliquae).
Presumably Childeric was fitted out this way in order to please and calm the “Roman” elite, which was
invited to bear witness to the event, amongst whom have presumably been the local bishops of Soissons
and Reims plus the warlord, Syagrius.
What more, who ever they were, illiterates they were not. Recent studies by Svante Fischer and Lennart
Lind of the types of coins, which were found in the grave, have documented that the three hoards were
composed in such a way that they would send a very specific signal to the literate part of the audience:
the 100 gold coins were all heavy-weight issues by legitimate and powerful Roman emperors, like for
instance Marcian, Leo I and Zeno, while issues from less powerful and worthy dignitaries had obviously
not been included in the selection. In the same way both the denarius hoard (200 coins) and the siliqua
hoard (1 coin) bore witness to “past Roman grandeur and connections to leading affinities in Barbaricum”
(Fischer, p. 30).
The Treasure
Solidus from the time of Leo I
The deposition of the coins represents the single largest hoard of solidi ever found in a grave. Further the
deposit of solidi was accompanied by a denarius hoard and a siliqua hoard, both “readable” by anyone,
who was inspecting the treasure close up as signifying really important Roman-Barbaric alliances. By
depositing the coins and letting his guests inspect them, Clovis was able to send an important message
about the powerful network, he was an important node in. But, by depositing such a massive count of
coins – and presumably placing them inside a purse decorated with cloissoné and garnets – he was able
to demonstrate to the wider audience that he was in command of the treasury; the source of the future
wealth of any armed men, who might follow him. Finally through the massive slaughter of the horses his
household troops must have experienced the same atmosphere as that, which ruled a battle – oozing
blood, horses screaming and trampling, sweat reeking from the hot carcasses, Gods whispering in the
foggy steam.
In short: Childeric was laid to rest as a statement to the future proves of Clovis as a mighty RomanBarbaric king and warrior on a grand scale able to provide wealth and treasure to his followers.
His was no (inclusive) statement like “Yes, we can” or “We shall make it”, but rather “I am in charge and
I shall provide”.
The installation of Clovis and the staging of his father’s burial is a remarkable well thought through
exhibition of a piece of history made profoundly relevant for people in the 21st century. It is accompanied
by a state-of-the art presentation of the general idea behind the installation, which also works very well
as an introduction. Well Done!
VISIT:
Codes der Macht. Mit 16 auf den Thron
RGZM | Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum im Kurfürstlichen Schloss
Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2
55116 Mainz
16.11.2015 and until further notice
SOURCE:
Codes der Macht – Über dass Project
READ MORE:
Codes der Macht. Mit 16 auf der Thron.By Dieter Quast and Antje KlugePinsker
Schnell & Steiner 2015
ISBN-10: 3795430925
ISBN-13: 978-3795430924
Das Grab des fränkischen Königs Childerich in Tournai und die Anastasis
Childerici von Jean-Jacques Chifflet aus dem Jahre 1655
By Dieter Quast
Schnell & Steiner2015
ISBN-10: 3795430933
ISBN-13: 978-3795430931
The Coins in the Grave of King Childeric
By Svante Fischer and Lennart Lind
In: Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 14 (2015), pp. 1-36
SEE MORE:
https://youtu.be/7EFhvzIapNA
Appendix:
Word Clouds from Speeches of Obama and Angela Merkel arguing for power