anonymous: The baptism of Clovis I and the battle of Tolbiac (1488 - 1538)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

An engraving by an unknown 15th/ 16th century French artist. This fine engraving shows two important episodes in the history of France. The Franks were a collection of Germanic people who had first appeared at the borders of the Roman empire during the 3rd century. During the next centuries the Franks eventually managed to establish a kingdom in what is now modern Northern France/ Belgium/ the South of the Netherlands. The Franks themselves were divided into various tribes of which the Salian Franks and the Ripuarians Franks are the best known. King Clovis I (A.D. 466-511) was king of the Salian Franks who succeeded his father as king in A.D. 481 at the age of 15. Clovius managed to unify all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler and extend his kingdom by military conquest to almost entire modern France - his rule is considered the beginning of the Merovingian empire which lasted for almost 300 years until it was succeeded by the Carolingian empire. An important episode in the live of king Clovis is his baptism and conversion to Christianity. According to saint Gregory of Tours, Clovis was waging war with the Alamanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River between Strasbourg and Augsburg. Clovis was married with the catholic Saint Clotilde (A.D. 470–545) who was trying to convince her husband to convert to Christianity. On the eve of the battle of Tolbiac Clovis made a vow that if he would win the battle, he would convert to Christianity. These two scenes are shown on the right side of the engraving. At the top of the right side Clovis and Clotilde are shown before a cross with the resulting battle in the lower right. After his victory over the Alamanni, Clovis and 3000 Franks were baptized on 25 December 496 in Rheims by saint Remigius (this is shown on the left side of the print). On the upper left is the coronation of Clovis visible as the first king of the Franks. The conversion of Clovis to Catholicism proved to be an important episode in the history of Western Europe as the catholic faith was extended into the entire Frankish kingdom and with that Western Europe. This engraving comes from 1488-1538.