sons, make the history
of the Merovingian[24] dynasty a tale of cruelty and treachery whose
every page is stained with blood.

[Footnote 24: Merovee, second of the kings of the Salic Franks, was
fabled to be the issue of Clodio's wife and a sea monster.]

[Illustration: TOWER OF CLOVIS.]

Clovis, in 508, made Paris the official capital of his realm, and at
his death in 511 divided his possessions between his four
sons--Thierry, Clodomir, Childebert and Clothaire. Clodomir after a
short reign met his death in battle, leaving his children to the
guardianship of their grandmother, Clotilde. One day messengers came
to her in the old palace of the Caesars on the south bank of the Seine
from Childebert and Clothaire praying that their nephews might be
entrusted to them. Believing they were to be trained in kingly offices
that they might succeed their father in due time, Clotilde granted
their prayer and two of the children were sent to them in the palace
of the Cite. Soon came another messenger, bearing a pair of shears and
a naked sword, and Clotilde was bidden to determine the fate of her
wards and to choose for them between the cloister and the edge of the
sword. An angry exclamation escaped her: "If they are not to be raised
to the throne, I would rather see them dead than shorn." The messenger
waited to hear no more and hastened back to the two kings. Clothaire
then seized the elder of the children and stabbed him under the
armpit. The younger, at the sight of his brother's blood, flung
himself at Childebert's feet, burst into tears, and cried: "Help me,
dear father, let me not die even as my brother." Childebert's heart
was softened and he begged for the child's life. Clothaire's only
answer was a volley of insults and a threat of death if he protected
the victim. Childebert then disentwined the child's tender arms
clasping his knees--he was but six years of age--and pushed him to his
brother, who drove a dagger into his breast. The tutors and servants
of the children were then butchered, and Clothaire became at his
brother's death, in 558, sole king of the Franks.[25] The third child,
Clodoald, owing to the devotion of faithful servants escaped, and was
hidden for some time in Provence. Later in life he returned to Paris
and built a monastery at a place still known by his name (St. Cloud)
about two leagues from the city.

[Footnote 25: Among the wives of Clothaire was the gentle Radegonde,
who turned with horror f