Kevin Patrick Mostyn Family - Person Sheet
Kevin Patrick Mostyn Family - Person Sheet
NameClodian King Of The Franks, 46G Grandfather
FatherFaramund King Of The Franks (-~428)
MotherArgotta Of The Salic Franks (~376-)
Web Notes notes for Clodian King Of The Franks
From the book "The Birth of France Warriors, Bishops and Long-Haired Kings" by Katharine Scherman, ISBN 0-394-56089-2, page 102:
After King Faramund died they raised up into his father's kingdom Clodion, his long-haired son. At this time they began to have long-haired kings. The date was about 428.
The significance of the long hair was ritually connected to the tradition of the dynasty and, like the dynasty itself, had no remarkable attribute that assured royalty. All the patriarchal families of the Franks wore their hair long: it was the style of the pre-Roman aristocratic German. When the barbarians came in contact with the short-clipped Romans, they style fell out of use. But a few leaders flaunted their preference for the uneffette hairdress of their forefathers-now modified so the royal tresses hung in long braids on either side of the face. The traditional coiffure, adopted by the Merovingians as exclusively their own, was first noted in the 6th century by Gregory of Tours. He wrote that when the Franks left Pannonia and colonized the banks of the Rhine they set up in each country district long-haired kings chosen from the foremost and most nobler family of their race. By Gregory's time it had become a symbolic act of Merovingian supremacy to forbid anyone but members of this family to have long hair. A scion of the house shorn of his locks was barred from the succession. So inextricably had their long hair become identified with this ruling family that the Merovingians have come down in history as the "Long-Haired Kings."
page 103:
Clodion was the first Frankish leader to occupy territory in Roman Gaul, taking Cambrai and pushing down to the Somme.
page 61:
The first member of the Merovingian dynasty to be historically identified was Clodion, in the pages of the 6th century "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours: "Clodion was a man of high birth and marked ability among his people, who was King of the Franks." This efficient wartime king lived in Dispargum (probably today's Lens in Belgium, about 30 miles SW of Brussels) in the territory ceded to the Franks by Emperor Julian in 358. About 431 Clodion crossed the great Roman road that ran from Bavay in the NW France to Cologne in W Germany. This strongly fortified line had for years resisted the intrusions of the barbarians, but Clodion breached it and invaded the territory of Arras in Belgica Secunda. He was routed by general Aetius and retreated, In 445 Clodian crossed the border again, defeated the Romans at Camaracum (Cambrai) and took possession of all the country around, down to the Somme. Though two years later he was bested once more by Aetius and passed out of history, his impact was indelible. By the beginning of the 6th century, despite the desperate heroism of the Gallo-Roman defenders, the Franks would be in possession of most of Rome's northern Gallic provinces with Clodion's descendants as their chosen kings.
After King Faramund died they raised up into his father's kingdom Clodion, his long-haired son. At this time they began to have long-haired kings. The date was about 428.
The significance of the long hair was ritually connected to the tradition of the dynasty and, like the dynasty itself, had no remarkable attribute that assured royalty. All the patriarchal families of the Franks wore their hair long: it was the style of the pre-Roman aristocratic German. When the barbarians came in contact with the short-clipped Romans, they style fell out of use. But a few leaders flaunted their preference for the uneffette hairdress of their forefathers-now modified so the royal tresses hung in long braids on either side of the face. The traditional coiffure, adopted by the Merovingians as exclusively their own, was first noted in the 6th century by Gregory of Tours. He wrote that when the Franks left Pannonia and colonized the banks of the Rhine they set up in each country district long-haired kings chosen from the foremost and most nobler family of their race. By Gregory's time it had become a symbolic act of Merovingian supremacy to forbid anyone but members of this family to have long hair. A scion of the house shorn of his locks was barred from the succession. So inextricably had their long hair become identified with this ruling family that the Merovingians have come down in history as the "Long-Haired Kings."
page 103:
Clodion was the first Frankish leader to occupy territory in Roman Gaul, taking Cambrai and pushing down to the Somme.
page 61:
The first member of the Merovingian dynasty to be historically identified was Clodion, in the pages of the 6th century "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours: "Clodion was a man of high birth and marked ability among his people, who was King of the Franks." This efficient wartime king lived in Dispargum (probably today's Lens in Belgium, about 30 miles SW of Brussels) in the territory ceded to the Franks by Emperor Julian in 358. About 431 Clodion crossed the great Roman road that ran from Bavay in the NW France to Cologne in W Germany. This strongly fortified line had for years resisted the intrusions of the barbarians, but Clodion breached it and invaded the territory of Arras in Belgica Secunda. He was routed by general Aetius and retreated, In 445 Clodian crossed the border again, defeated the Romans at Camaracum (Cambrai) and took possession of all the country around, down to the Somme. Though two years later he was bested once more by Aetius and passed out of history, his impact was indelible. By the beginning of the 6th century, despite the desperate heroism of the Gallo-Roman defenders, the Franks would be in possession of most of Rome's northern Gallic provinces with Clodion's descendants as their chosen kings.