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    The Merovingians: A Tale of Thugs & Miracles



    This is the second episode in a series covering the Holy Roman Empire.

    The Merovingians ruled Francia for 250 years. Too often, their reign is seen as a gap in the late antique period, a dark age preceding the Carolingian renaissance. But that is a disservice to the Merovingians, without whom there would have been no Carolingians, and no Charlemagne.

    Sources & further reading:
    – History of the Franks (Gregory of Tours)
    – Chronicle of Fredegar + Continuations
    – Liber Historiae Francorum
    – Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Peter H. Wilson)
    – The Merovingian Kingdoms (Ian Wood)
    – From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader (Alexander Callander Murray)

    Music & footage:
    – Scenes from Sopranos HBO
    – Blackadder BBC
    – Beethoven Symphony 9, Op. 125 – “Choral”: 2 Molto vivace
    – Beethoven Symphony 9 in D Minor “Choral”: 1 Allegro ma non troppo
    – Requiem II, Krie Molto espressivo
    – Chopin Fantaisie Impromptu
    – Verdi La forza del destino overture
    – Verdi Nabucco Act 3
    – Gyorgy Ligeti Atmospheres –
    – Gyorgy Ligeti Lux Aeterna
    – Carnival of the Animals
    -March and Canzona for Queen Mary’s Funeral
    – Gabriel Faure Pavane in F-sharp minor
    – Maurice Ravel Bolero

    0:00 – Thugs & Miracles
    3:38 – The sons of Clovis
    8:16 – The scissors or the sword
    10:21 – Attack on the Thuringians
    12:47 – Assassination attempt on Chlotaire
    14:13 – Childebert’s Visigothic adventure
    17:13 – Succession of Theudebert
    19:52 – The final victory of Chlotaire
    24:12 – Start of the great Merovingian feud
    28:26 – Assessment of Chilperic’s reign
    33:13 – The end of the great Merovingian feud
    37:05 – Introduction of the palace mayors
    44:55 – Introduction of Charles Martel (yes, THAT one)
    51:21 – The end of the Merovingians
    54:18 – Assessing Merovingian rule
    57:53 – Thugs & Miracles

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    45 Comments

    1. Empire-Builders on

      Hey all, hope you enjoy this one. Still got some catching up to do to turn all the audio-only episodes into proper videos. But I think they'll all end up being far more entertaining this way.

      I am a sucker for context, so we still have quite a bit of ground to cover before we get to the proper start of the Holy Roman Empire. Next episode will be about the Carolingians… and CHARLEMAGNE!

      (Corrections/clarifications will be added here)

    7. Karlmann Voigt on

      It was some real feudal shit. Pepin was a made guy, and there was nothing Childeric III could do about it. He just had to sit there and take it.

      In all seriousness though, very nice series. I hope you do a series on the Ottonians and maybe the Salians and Hohenstaufens at some point.

    12. Manic on

      The Sopranos intro was spot on. Just made my brother and dad watch this today (I had already listened to the podcast). They couldn’t believe how much like Game of Thrones these folks were. I instead said these are the folks Game of Thrones was based on lmao

    14. Ethan Staaf on

      In CK2, Theodoric Merovingi is the last of their line during the reign of Charlemagne and is cloistered. Sometimes if the Charlemagne ai plays poorly, his nobles can start a civil war to overthrow Charles and put Theo back on the throne

    15. Saxo Grammatikus on

      Glovis was not the first of the Merowinger. The first one is Chlodio supposed by Gregory of Tours or Merowech the Merohingi who fought with Rome against Attila. Even if we have not many evidence of them they certainly existed and was even the backbone of Glovis legitimacy as a King.
      That is my only critic point. Good video through.

    17. Junior James on

      Thank you so much for unraveling the darkest, most complex parts of medieval European history that my (Catholic) high school and college courses failed miserably to unpack or shed proper light on.

    19. Iɴɴᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴜs on

      I'd like to note that Charibert I is sometimes believed to have a son named Charibert of Hesbaye, of which the Counts of Hesbaye descend through the male line. These Counts of Hesbaye are believed to be the agnatic ancestors of a Robert III, Count of Worms, who would be the agnatic great-grandfather of a man named Hugh Capet.

      Of course, this would make the Capetians another (tentative) branch of the Merovingians.

    20. Cephas Oj on

      These guys act how i act in crusader kings, good to know im just not a deeply disturbed individual and this is just what happens when you give people all that power.

    24. Whitney Dahlin on

      Dude i LOVE your videos! Youre a fantastic story teller! I'm always totally invested and interested for the whole video! Im mostly commenting for the interaction because you really deserve way more subscriptions than you have!

    25. Courtney Smith on

      So all history has been erased and rewritten his story. Since this video has everything to do with me and the people that murdered me in every single lifetime let me share some real truth with you…

      I am the reincarnated Tsar Nicholas II of the Romanov Russian dynasty. I’d like to share my story, I just wrote on another YouTube but this is the truth…. Because the same people that murdered me murdered me as Abe Lincoln as Alexander the great as King Arthur as Joan of arc as all the great emperors and empresses kings queens even presidents trying to make a difference in this world. They poured acid on my body so I didn’t resurrect they had to destroy everyone of my bodies because I am immortal because I am Christ in the flesh. They have destroyed me and then us, they’ve wiped us out six times already they’re planning it again. They’ve erased all of history and re-wrote his story it ALL lies it is Hitler’s story. Please read this… Thank you I am pure love and the spirit of truth and I’ve conquered death that is who CHRIST is….

      of all Kronos became Zeus because he didn’t want anyone to recognize his name being associated with eating his children. But he’s the same person he changes his name and takes over identities all the time he is in fact Trump the mad king George Hitler that’s who Kronos is!!! If you research the wild man that’s him there’s actually a picture of him on my TikTok of him dressed as the pope because he was the pope he looked like a Sasquatch in the Popes attire. OK so the same Kronos who is a walking talking Draconian Draco (snake in the garden) raped me I am Eve and that’s how the serpent race got born. He’s a liar none of this is true. They did start to genetically modify my children into these reptiles. But they weren’t born that way originally the only one that was born that way is Cain who became Marduk Nimrod Genghis Khan Heimlich Himmler his name‘s Nick Defazio they are alive and well today. They’ve been murdering me in every lifetime and destroying my body because otherwise I would resurrect because I am immortal. So there was no heavenly place this is the kingdom of heaven this is my room and this belongs to me it’s my world it’s not theirs. They are Nazis by the way and they are mad their brains are broken they’re psychopaths serial killers pedophiles rapists murderers imposters counterfeits nothing Devine about these FAKE gods!!! do you know how they have to gain energy and power off rituals sodomizing and murdering my children otherwise they gain nothing they’re just witches and warlocks nothing special…. We’re actually killing each other they were like animals that’s what they want to do now is destroy the whole world. They’ve murdered me in every lifetime and I was a leader I was the greatest emperors empresses kings queens even presidents trying to make a difference for this world. And they’ve wiped us out erase history repopulated the earth with NPC‘s and rewrote his-story!!! It is all lies it’s William Tinsdale a.k.a. Francis Bacon a.k.a William Shakespeare all through the same person who wrote the Bible and all of the religious text the Hindu text the Talmud the Quran with mad king James a.k.a mad king George a.k.a Albert Pike all the same people!

    26. Robert Guildford on

      Just a cool reminder, this is approximately contemporary with Sutton Hoo and Vendel with their amazing helms, mabye as a result of them fighting as mercenaries in these wars?

    27. Soren on

      Just discovered this channel and I really enjoy the production and research quality. I think the issue is that you made the stated intention of the video series about the Holy Roman Empire when I feel like the Merovingians is a little too far removed to be related in a timely manner. I know I was a little thrown off starting a video about the HRE only to get a biopic ab Clovis and his ancestors in the mythical pagan forests of Belgica. That is not to say I found myself greatly enjoying it, finding myself extremely interested now in the Merovingian dynasty. It is one way to get people to learn about them but I think they are interesting all on their own. This title grabbing me immediately far more than the previous episode's.

    34. BCvetkov 853 on

      First video I've seen from you. Absolutely incredible.
      Great work. I can't wait to listen and watch more of your work! You definitely got a sub from me bro.

    35. Wirral Nomad on

      I never once realised or made any connection between Clovis and Louis but thinking about it Louis in the Latin alphabet which would have originally been used would be Lovis as there was no letter "u" and so a "v" was used, and that now makes me wonder if the modern pronunciation of the name Clovis is just that, "modern", did it used to be pronounced as "Cloowie" back in the day? Of course nobody will ever know and we can only assume for one or the other.

    42. John Hancock on

      The savage history of the Franks and other Germanic peoples is interesting because below the surface of society, these behaviors still emerge from time to time in the common people. If society were to collapse from war, ecological disaster, or economic collapse, some places in the west would resemble Merovingian times in society. Especially, with the increase of athesits and neo-pagans.

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