they
would win the victory easily, but they were mistaken. Every time
that they made a charge upon the Franks they were beaten back by
the warriors of Clovis. The young king himself fought bravely at
the head of his men and with his own sword struck down a number
of the Romans. He tried to find Syagrius and fight with him; but
the Roman commander was nowhere to be found. Early in the battle
he had fled from the field, leaving his men to defend themselves
as best they could.

The Franks gained a great victory. With their gallant boy king
leading them on they drove the Roman's before them, and when the
battle was over they took possession of the city of Soissons. Clovis
afterwards conquered all the other Frankish chiefs and made himself
king of all the Franks.

III

Not very long after Clovis became king he heard of a beautiful
young girl, the niece of Gon'de-baud, king of Burgundy, and he
thought he would like to marry her. Her name was Clo-tilde', and
she was an orphan, for her wicked uncle Gondebaud had killed her
father and mother. Clovis sent one of his nobles to Gondebaud to
ask her for his wife. At first Gondebaud thought of refusing to
let the girl go. He feared that she might have him punished for
the murder of her parents if she became the wife of so powerful
a man as Clovis. But he was also afraid that by refusing he would
provoke the anger of Clovis; so he permitted the girl to be taken
to the court of the king of the Franks. Clovis was delighted when
he saw her; and they were immediately married.

Clotilde was a devout Christian, and she wished very much to convert
her husband, who, like most of his people, was a worshiper of the
heathen gods. But Clovis was not willing to give up his own religion.
Nevertheless Clotilde continued to do every thing she could to
persuade him to become a Christian.

[Illustration: CROSSING THE RHINE]

Soon after his marriage Clovis had a war with a tribe called the
Alemanni. This tribe had crossed the Rhine from Germany and taken
possession of some of the eastern provinces of Gaul. Clovis speedily
got his warriors together and marched against them. A battle was
fought at a place called Tolbiac, not far from the present city
of Cologne. In this battle the Franks were nearly beaten, for the
Alemanni were fierce and brave men and skillful fighters. When
Clovis saw his soldiers driven back several times he began to lose
hope, but at that moment he thought of his pious wife