The events of the first decades of…
502 CE
The events of the first decades of Gundobad's reign are not well known.
Our only source is Gregory of Tours, who wrote almost a century later.
According to Gregory, Gundobad set about ridding himself of his brothers.
First slain was Gundomar, though little is known of this encounter.
Next killed was Chilperic.
According to Gregory, Gundobad had his wife drowned after tying a stone round her neck and Chilperic's two daughters driven into exile.
The older daughter, Chroma became a nun.
The other, Clotilde, had been seen by envoys of Clovis I, King of the Franks, who told their master of her beauty and intelligence.
Clovis then asked Gundobad for Clotilde's hand in marriage.
Gundobad was said to be afraid to deny him.
However, a letter written by Avitus, bishop of Vienne, consoling Gundobad on the death of an unnamed daughter, gives details that suggest there was more to the story.
According to the explication of Danuta Shanzer and Ian Wood of Avitus' notoriously difficult Latin, the bishop writes, "In the past, with ineffable tender-heartedness, you mourned the deaths of your brothers."
Further, Avitus alludes to Gundobad's intent to marry his deceased daughter to a foreign ruler, whom they suggest was Clovis: "Indeed," they write, "Clovis is really the only likely candidate as a prospective son-in-law for Gundobad shortly after 501."
If their reading is correct, then it is likely that Clotilde was offered to Clovis as a replacement, as an act of diplomacy not subservience.
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