Merovech

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Merovech

king of Salian Franks

Also known as: Mérovée, Meroveus, Merovich, Merowig, Merwech, Merwich

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 • Article History

Category: History & Society

Also spelled:: Merovich, Meroveus, Merwich, or Merowig

French:: Mérovée

German:: Merowech

Flourished:: c. ad 450

Flourished:: 425 - 475

House / Dynasty:: Merovingian dynasty

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Merovech (flourished c. ad 450) was the king of the Salian Franks from whom Frankish tradition held the Merovingian dynasty to have taken its name. He was the father of Childeric I (d. 481/482) and grandfather of Clovis I (c. 466–511).

Nothing definite is known of Merovech’s life, but an early myth made him the son of a sea god. He is mentioned in Gregory of Tours’s Histories and, according to later sources, fought against Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (451).

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