King Clovis Heeds Wife - (There are no atheists in foxholes!) approx. 496 A.D.

  Clovis was a king of the Franks who lived from about 466 A.D. to 511 A.D. and he began as a king of the Salian Franks (there were several divisions) taking over after his father Childeric in 481 A.D.. Clovis is today largely regarded as the Father of France, he was the first great king of the combined Franks, and he founded the Merovingian dynasty of Kings. He was big news for what would one day be the storied nation of France, and by the time he died the borders of his kingdom were a lot like modern France's. He also had the good fortune (especially from our present perspective) of being married to a fairly devout young Queen named Chlotilde in 493 A.D. when he was about 27 years old.

  Chlotilde was of Bergundian royal stock - a princess - and a niece of the joint kings of Bergundy named Godesil and Gundobald. More importantly to history perhaps, she was a Catholic and not an Arian. In that day of Christianity a debate raged which had been sparked off about 175 years earlier by a Christian named Arius. Arius was apparently from Libya and eventually died in 336 A.D. after a long life of being a bishop in various states of poor standing with the church's power figures. The bone of contention was whether Jesus was a created being - Arius's view - or pre-existent as was Yaweh His father, such as is described in the Gospel of John and a view supported then as now by the Catholic church.

  Various peoples were vying for power in those days of the last fading glimmers of the old Roman Empire, and many of those rivals were Christians who were Arian in their beliefs. Ostrogoths and Visigoths (meaning 'East Goths' and 'West Goths' respectively), the Vandaals, the Herulii, and the Almanni were all tearing apart the Roman's decaying empire in those centuries, and fighting each other or allying with each other as seemed most advantageous and as opportunity presented itself.  Some historians believe that these particular peoples (and certain other principal peoples of early Europe) were Israelite tribes - of the so called '10 lost Israelite tribes' wandered far and through many centuries from their area of deportation by the once powerful Assyrians in the 8th century B.C.

  Clovis was a bit pagan in his religious beliefs, but had tended towards Arianism it is thought with respect to his thoughts concerning Christianity. From the time of their marriage, however, Chlotilde tried to influence him in the Catholic direction, both in speech and by her noteworthy example of Christian womanhood. And Clovis did allow his children to be baptized Catholic; but he remained uncommitted to Catholicism himself.

  But there came a time in 496 A.D., the 15th year of Clovis's reign, when he was forced off of the fence on this issue. He was locked one certain day in a fierce clash with the Teutonic Almanni tribe's army in a battle referred to in history books as the Battle of Tubiac. It was fought about 30 miles east of the German-Belgian border of today.

  History records that the battle was going very poorly for Clovis, and the outcome looked grim. Attributing the fault, in his mind, to having prayed to his own pagan gods he had a moment of fear and doubt in this battle and he cried out to heaven. He told Jesus that - as the trusted Lord of his good wife Chlotilde - he, Clovis, would worship Him only, from that point on, if only the Lord would give him victory in this battle and be with him thereafter. The prayer was no more than uttered when some sort of irrational fear seemed to sweep through the Almanni forces, and they retreated in alarm from the scene of the battle.

  Clovis's forces took the day and so he was as good as his word, becoming baptized into the Catholic church in a ceremony at Rheims in 496 A.D. on Christmas Day.  St. Remy, the first bishop of Rheims, performed the ceremony. It is said that King Clovis, after his baptism, was the first of the European Kings to exhibit the "King's Touch" - the ability to heal his subjects of certain diseases by the laying on of the hands. Many kings who were descended from Clovis and some related kings at later times, certain kings of England for instance, were said to retain this gift and to have healed tens of thousands of their subjects all together, up until the time of the French Revolution ending their run! These kings often cured 'scrofula', a skin disease often affecting the back of the neck, which was very painful and apparently more common in those times.

  An example of the medical condition referred to as scrofula.                                                                                                                                

  Clovis - as a Catholic King - was absolutely essential to the Roman Catholic Church as an ardent (though politically astute) supporter of theirs with great military prowess and held in well counseled respect among the many pagan and Arian leaning peoples then raiding and conquering in Europe. Had God not raised him when he did to be what he became, there is little doubt that the faces, churches, and languages of Europe would be very much altered today. And no one can argue that the Frank's did not play a key role in the Crusades which came 500 years later. Clovis was very pivotal to his point in history and to what lay downstream in time. I suppose the rest of the world already knows this, but I have recently read that 'Louis' is merely the name 'Clovis' changed in pronunciation by small degrees throughout the years. Louis was by far the most common name of choice for Kings of France!

  Clovis and his Queen ended their days buried beside each other in a church they had co-founded together in Paris (Sainte Genevieve). He preceded her in death, and she spent her last days well known for her many pious works.