History UsefulNotes / LEtatCestMoi

* ''Childebert the Adopted'' (reigned c. 656-661). Ruler of Austrasia. Adoptive son of Sigebert II. Actually son to Grimoald the Elder, the power-behind-the-throne for both kings. His lack of Merovingian blood was used as apolitical tool against him. Eventually leading to his deposition and death.

* ''Thierry III''

* ''Clotaire III'' (reigned 655-673). Ruler of Neustria and Burgundy. Briefly took over Austrasia in 661-662. His reign was marked by a plague that depopulated much of France. A contemporary plague in the British Isles is thought to be connected to the Frankish epidemic.
* ''Childebert the Adopted'' (reigned c. 656-661). Ruler of Austrasia. Adoptive son of Sigebert II. Actually son to Grimoald the Elder, the power-hehind-the-throne for both kings. His lack of Merovingian blood was used as apolitical tool against him. Eventually leading to his deposition and death.

* ''Childeric II''

* ''Clotaire III''

They're pretty much all throne-warmers after this point. From Clovis II through the end of the dynasty, the kings were powerless (and rather short-lived) and the REAL power lay with the ''maires du palais'' ("mayors of the palace").

* ''Clovis II'': Freed a slave and married her, making her Queen of France. Now ''that's'' RagsToRoyalty.

* ''Dagobert I''. There's a childrens' song about him in France, in which he always makes stupid mistakes (like putting his underwear on backwards). Was actually one of the most qualified Merovingians, and underwear didn't exist at the time.

* ''Chilperic I''' (reigned 561-584). Son of Clotaire I. Ruled Neustria. His second wife Galswintha was bumped off by the woman who would become wife #3, Fredegund. Brunhilda, the sister of wife #2 took it badly, and began a quarter-century feud with wife #3.
* ''Guntram'' (reigned 561-592). Son of Clotaire I. Ruled Burgundy. Famous for his warrior prowess and piety. Considered a champion of the Church.



* ''Clotaire II'', son of the aforementioned wife #3, inherited the feud, and ended it by having his mother's mortal enemy humiliated and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesomely]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunhilda_of_Austrasia#Third_regency killed]].

* ''Chlodomer'' (reigned 511-524). Son of Clovis I. Ruled from Orléans. Led a mostly successful campaign of conquest against the Burgundians, but was killed in the Battle of Vézeronce. His sons were underage and fell easy prey to his brothers. Who killed most of them and spit Chlodomer's realm among themselves. A surviving son became a monk, lated declared a saint.

* ''Chlodomer'' (reigned 511-524). Son of Clovis I. Ruled from Orléans. Led a mostly successful campaign of conquest against the burgundians, but was killed in the Battle of Vézeronce. His sons were underage and fell easy prey to his brothers. Who killed most of them and spit Chlodomer's realm among themselves. A surviving son became a monk, lated declared a saint.

* ''Chlodomer'' (reigned 511-524). Son of Clovis I. Ruled from Orléans.
* ''Theuderic I'' (reigned 511-534). Son of Clovis I. Ruled from Reims.
* ''Childebert I'' (reigned 511-558). Son of Clovis I. Initially ruled from Paris.
* ''Clotaire I'' (reigned 511-561). Son of Clovis I. Initially ruled from Soissons. Managed to united all Frankish areas under his rule, by outliving all other kings.

* ''Theudebald'' (reigned 548-555). Son of Theudebert I. A [[AChildShallLeadThem child ruler]] initially. Managed to preserve his traditional areas in France, but lost the Frankish-held areas of Italy to the Byzantines. Died in his teens after a prolonged illness.

* ''Caribert''
* ''Chilperic I'''s second wife was bumped off by the woman who would become wife #3. The sister of wife #2 took it badly, and began a quarter-century feud with wife #3.

* ''Clovis I'': in addition to uniting France, selecting a backwater Roman outpost (that would eventually become Paris) as his capital, and converting to Catholicism (the first barbarian king to do so; others had converted to the heretical Arian Christian sect), was also famous for [[DisproportionateRetribution bashing in a guy's head]] because the guy had [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vase_of_Soissons broken a vase.]]
* ''Childebert I''
* ''Clotaire I''

* ''Louis XIII'' was Henri and Marie's eldest son, and became king at the age of eight. His marriage to Anne, daughter of King Felipe III of Spain, was childless for an astonishing 23 years before Anne surprised everyone by giving birth to two sons. Richelieu became his lawful first minister, even if fictions [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade often portray him as a traitor]] - to be fair, he could be [[EvilChancellor very evil]] with his opponents. At the end of his reign, Louis had a [[HoYay passionate relationship]] with the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who tried to stir up shit with Richelieu and got beheaded for his trouble. Louis XIII and his queen appear as characters in Dumas' ''TheThreeMusketeers'' and the movies based on the novel. He died in 1643.

* As noted above, ''TheThreeMusketeers'' and other works set in TheCavalierYears tend to be set in the reign of Louis XIII.

----
!!Les Bourbons

* ''François II'' was Henri and Catherine's eldest son. Sickly and uninspiring, he married [[MaryOfScotland Mary, Queen of Scots]] before dying of an ear infection after reigning a year and a half. Both of his brothers became king after him.

They're pretty much all throne-warmers after this point. From Clovis II through the end of the dynasty, the kings were powerless (and rather short-lived) and the REAL power lay with the ''maires du palais'' (mayors of the palace).

* ''Clovis II'': freed a slave and married her, making her Queen of France. Now ''that's'' RagsToRoyalty.

* ''Pepin I'': his wife was called "Berthe au Grand Pied", or "Big-Footed Bertha". Yes, really.
* ''Charlemagne'': As popular imagery would have it, invented school, earning him the enmity of French children forever after. Also created the first version of the Holy Roman Empire.
* ''Louis the Pious'': Since his brothers died, he was able to keep the whole of Charlemagne's empire. The division of his empire led to the formation of West Francia and East Francia, which would ultimately lead to France and Germany respectively.

Clovis's descendants were the Merovingian dynasty, France's first ruling family. Clovis was a great king, though a bit on the ManipulativeBastard side, but he made one baaad decision when he decided to split France into four sub-realms, each headed by a king, with the High King hanging out in Paris [[hottip:* :He didn't have much choice in the matter, as the kingdom was considered his personal property and had to be shared equally between his heirs]]. Naturally, all of Clovis' offspring saw themselves in the top spot. Bloody feuding ensued, even descending to [[EvilUncle nephew-murdering]], as the kings fought for power.

* Dante speaks to Hugh Capet in Canto 20 of the ''[[TheDivineComedy Purgatorio]]'', where he is being purged of the sin of Avarice. Capet goes on to discuss the crimes of his descendants, even referring to himself as "the root of the evil tree which overshadows all Europe".

** Many of the crimes discussed are those of Philip IV (king when Dante was writing), who (among other things) had the gall to arrest Pope Boniface IV. Boniface IV, whom Dante had condemned to the Eighth Circle of Hell. Yeah, Dante didn't like the King of France.

* ''Philippe IV'' was Philippe III's eldest son by Isabel of Aragon. His mother was killed in 1271 after tumbling from her horse while pregnant. Philippe himself grew up to be good-looking (he was called ''le Bel'', the handsome) but cold and merciless -- his enemy the bishop of Pamiers declared he was neither man nor beast, but a statue. He is best known for [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome humiliating]] the pope Boniface VIII. He later [[MagnificentBastard got a French pope elected]], who moved to France (Avignon). The other thing he si remembered for is ordering the arrests, tortures, and executions of hundreds of TheKnightsTemplar in 1307 for heresy, [[{{Greed}} getting his hands on their fortune]] in the process. The pope Clement V was his pawn and conspirator in destroying the Knights Templar. The Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was burnt to death in March 1314; according to legend, [[APlagueOnBothYourHouses he cursed both Philippe and Clement and declared he'd meet them again before God before the year was out]]. Clement V died that April, followed by Philippe in November.

France has the bizarre and unenviable position of having no less than ''four'' claimants to the throne of France, each representing different dynasties[[hottip:*:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne_of_France#Later_pretenders See Here]]]]. Of course, given what they did to the last bunch...

* ''Clotaire II'', son of the aforementioned wife #3, inherited the feud, and ended it by having his mother's mortal enemy humiliated and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesomely]] killed.