After 613 the entire territorial patrimony-the realm of the Franks-was fortunate to come under the control of a single king, first Chlotar II and later Dagobert I. . . This was a period of comparative stability. By means of intimidation or diplomacy, the kings were able to hold together the disparate patchwork of Gaul with limited concessions to regional particularism.
193 From the middle of the sixth century, the Austrasian nobility profited from recurrent wars between the kings of Neustria and Austrasia. At the death of Chlotar I in 561, the kingdom of Austrasia passed to his son Sigebert I while his brother Chilperic I inherited Neustria. The two brothers proceeded to make war on each other. After the notorious Fredegund, wife of Chilperic, arranged for the murder of Sigebert, his widow, the Visigoth Brunhild, ruled Austrasia in the name of her son Childebert II and then on behalf of her grandsons Theudebert and Theuderic. When in turn these two brothers raised arms against each other, Chlotar II of Neustria, the son of Chilperic, sought to intervene and subdue Austrasia on his own account. Brunhild's authoritarian manner had disaffected the Austrasian nobility, and in 613 they rallied behind Chlotar II. Among the leading men who worked for the defeat and death of Brunhild figured two ancestors of the Carolingians, Arnulf and Pippin.
193 When King Chlotar II became conqueror and master of the entire Frankish realm in 613, he rewarded the noble families that had supported him. Around 614, Chlothar offered the vacant bishopric of Metz to Arnulf, whose administrative and religious merits the king appreciated. The duties of bishop of Metz were important ones owing to the town's role as capital of the Austrasian kingdom. A Merovingian bishop was more than the leader of his clergy; he was the watchful administrator who supervised the working of his town and assisted the king in political matters. Arnulf wielded an accumulation of administrative and religious duties, since he continued to hold his former duties as domesticus and palatinus (steward and courtier). Moreover, when Chlotar II chose to establish his ten-year-old son Dagobert at Metz, the king entrusted Arnulf with the upbringing of the young prince and the government of the realm. To share this heavy responsibility, Chlotar II named Pippin as mayor of the palace of Austrasia.
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