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Wars, Assassinations & Politics

Historical Event

The Second Partition Civil War, 567–613 AD

Historical Accuracy

Gregory of Tours (through 591) and the Chronicle of Fredegar (591 onward) together provide unusually detailed, if not always neutral, coverage of this period; the 587 Treaty of Andelot is a genuine surviving primary legal document, not a later reconstruction. Modern historians Janet Nelson, Ian Wood, and Guy Halsall have all written extensively on this period as a definitive case study of Merovingian civil war dynamics, a reading this dossier's own master-timeline framing reflects accurately.

Historical Significance

Sources: - Gregory of Tours (through 591); Chronicle of Fredegar (591 onward); the Treaty of Andelot (587). Modern: Janet Nelson, Ian Wood, Guy Halsall.

This roughly 45-year span of civil war, assassination, and shifting alliance — from Galswintha's murder (568) through Brunhild's execution (613) — represents the second major generational recurrence of the succession instability first triggered by the 511 division of Clovis I's kingdom, and stands as one of the most thoroughly documented periods of internal Frankish political conflict in the entire Merovingian era.

Historical Era

567-613 AD

Book IV, Book V

Novel Relevance: - Book IV's historical spine (567-597 AD), with Brunhild's execution (613) landing exactly on the series' established Book V opening year — bridging two books' worth of chronology.

567-613 AD

Key Facts: - Spans roughly 567–613 AD, from the second partition of Francia among Chlothar I's sons through Brunhild's execution. - Centers on the rivalry between Queens Fredegund (Neustria) and Brunhild (Austrasia), spanning two full royal generations. - The 587 Treaty of Andelot is a genuine surviving primary legal document from this period. - Brunhild's 613 execution, ordered by Chlothar II, ends the conflict and reunites nearly all of Francia under a single king.

wars-assassinations-politics