Dagobert I

Dagobert I (603-639) ruled as king of the Franks from 629 to 639.

- King Dagobert I -

The son of King Clotaire II, Dagobert became king of Austrasia and on the death of his father, the sole king of the Franks. By 632 he had Bourgogne and Aquitaine under his rule, becoming the most powerful of the Merovingian kings and the most respected ruler in the West. He married five times.

As king, Dagobert I made Paris his capital. During his reign, he built the Altes Schloss[?] Castle in Meersburg[?], Germany which today is the oldest inhabited castle in that country. Devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the construction of the Saint Denis Basilica at the site of a Benedictine Monastery in Paris.

On Dagobert?s death, his kingdom was divided between his sons. The decentralized territory went into a severe decline from a series of weak, incompetent rulers. Over time, royal power gradually gave way to the noble families (the Old Noblesse[?]) who exercised feudal control over most of the land. The most important of these families would become the Carolingian dynasty.

Dagobert was the first of the French kings to be buried in the Royal tombs at Saint Denis Basilica.

King Dagobert was immortalized by the song The good king Dagobert.

Related articles

• Franks (main history of Frankish kingdoms)
• List of Frankish Kings