Ebroin

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Ebroin (in French, Ébroïn) (d.680 or 681) was the Frankish mayor of the palace of Neustria on two occasions; firstly from 658 to his deposition in 673 and secondly from 675 to his death in 680 or 681. In a violent and despotic career, he wished to impose the authority of Neustria, which was under his control, over Burgundy and Austrasia.

In 656, at the moment of his accession to power, Sigebert III, the king of Austrasia, had just died, and the Austrasian mayor of the palace, Grimoald the Elder, was attempting to usurp the authority by imposing his son Childebert the Adopted on the nobility as king. The great Austrasian nobles, however, appealed to the king of Neustria, Clovis II, and peace was re-established by the expedient of joining the kingdoms and exiling the child heir of Austrasia, Dagobert II. But in spite of a very firm policy, Ebroin was unable to maintain the unity, and while Clotaire III, son of Clovis II, reigned in Neustria and Burgundy, Ebroin was obliged sometime between 660 and 662 to give the Austrasians a king of their own, which Ebroin supplied from among the sons of Clovis II, whom he could expect to control. The boy-king Childeric II, brother of Clotaire III, was sent to Austrasia, with a special mayor of the palace, Wulfoald, to act as regent.

Ebroin endeavoured to maintain at any rate the union of Neustria and Burgundy, but the great Burgundian nobles wished to remain independent. They rose under Leodegar (or Léger), bishop of Autun, defeated Ebroin, and interned him in the monastery of Luxeuil (670). A proclamation was then issued to the effect that each kingdom should keep its own laws and customs, that there should be no further interchange of functionaries between the kingdoms, and that no one should again set up a tyranny like that of Ebroin. Soon, however, Leodegar was defeated by Wulfoald and the Austrasians, and was himself confined at Luxeuil in 673.

In the same year, taking advantage of the general anarchy, Ebroin and Leodegar left the cloister and soon found themselves once more face to face. Each looked for support to a different Merovingian king, Ebroin even proclaiming a false Merovingian imposter as sovereign. In this struggle Leodegar was vanquished; he was besieged in Autun, was forced to surrender and had his eyes put out, and, on 12 October 678, he was put to death after undergoing prolonged tortures. The Roman Catholic Church, the patron of the Arnulfings in the following century, honours him as a saint.

After Leodegar's death, Ebroin fought to became sole and absolute ruler of the Franks, imposing his authority over Neustria and Burgundy in 675 and subduing the Austrasians, whom he defeated in 678 at Bois-du-Fay, near Laon. His triumph, however, was short-lived; he was assassinated in 681, the victim of a combined attack of his numerous enemies. He was a man of great energy, but all his actions seem to have been dictated by no higher motives than ambition and lust of power.

[edit] Sources

[edit] Primary sources

  • Liber historiae Francorum, edited by B Krusch, in Mon. Germ. hist. script. rer. Merov. vol. ii.
  • Vita sancti Leodegarii, by Ursinus, a monk of St Maixent (Migne, Pair. Latina, vol. xcvi.)
  • Vita metrica in Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, vol. iii. (Mod. Germ. Hist.)

[edit] Secondary sources

Preceded by:
Erchinoald		 Mayor of the Palace of Neustria
658–673		 Succeeded by:
Wulfoald
Preceded by:
Leudesius		 Mayor of the Palace of Neustria
675–680		 Succeeded by:
Waratton
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