, but was forced
to retreat. From this expedition he brought back to Paris a precious
relic, the tunic of St Vincent, in honour of which he built at the gates
of Paris the famous monastery of St Vincent, known later as St
Germain-des-Pres. He died without issue in 558, and was buried in the
abbey he had founded, where his tomb has been discovered.

See "Nouveaux documents sur le tombeau de Childebert a
Saint-Germain-des-Pres," in the _Bulletin de la Societe des
Antiquaires_ (1887).

CHILDEBERT II. (570-595), king of Austrasia, was a son of Sigebert. When
his father was assassinated in 575, Childebert was taken from Paris by
Gundobald, one of his faithful _leudes_, to Metz, where he was
recognized as sovereign. He was then only five years old, and during his
long minority the power was disputed between his mother Brunhilda and
the nobles. Chilperic, king at Paris, and King Gontran of Burgundy,
sought alliance with Childebert, who was adopted by both in turn. But
after the assassination of Chilperic in 584, and the dangers occasioned
to the Frankish monarchy by the expedition of Gundobald in 585,
Childebert threw himself unreservedly into the arms of Gontran. By the
pact of Andelot in 587 Childebert was recognized as Gontran's heir, and
with his uncle's help he quelled the revolts of the nobles and succeeded
in seizing the castle of Woewre. Many attempts were made on his life by
Fredegond, who was anxious to secure Gontran's inheritance for her son
Clotaire II. On the death of Gontran in 592 Childebert annexed the
kingdom of Burgundy, and even contemplated seizing Clotaire's estates
and becoming sole king of the Franks. He died, however, in 595.
Childebert II. had had relations with the Byzantine empire, and fought
in 585 in the name of the emperor Maurice against the Lombards in Italy.

CHILDEBERT III. was one of the last and feeblest of the Merovingians. A
son of King Theuderich III., he succeeded his brother Clovis III. in
695, and reigned until 711.

See B. Krusch, "Zur Chronologie der merowingischen Koenige," in
_Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte_, xxii. 451-490. (C. PF.)

CHILDERIC, the name of three Frankish kings.

CHILDERIC I. (c. 437-481), king of the Salian Franks, succeeded his
father Merwich (Merwing) as king about. 457. With his tribe he was
established around the town of Tournai, on lands which he had received
as a _foederatus_ of the Romans, and for some time he kept the p