Kings of the Burgundians

The Burgundians had left Bornholm c.300 and settled near the Vistula. Jordanes relates that in this area they were thoroughly defeated by the Gepids in the 4th century and then moved to the Rhineland.

Gebicca (late 4th century – c.407) - Gebicca (also Gjúki, Gifica, Gifica, Gibica or Gebicar) was the King of the Burgundians in the late 4th century until his death in or around 407. He was the father of Gundomar I, Giselher, and Gunther.
He is mentioned in Widsith as Gifica and as Gjúki in the eddic poem Atlakviða, where he was the father of Gunnar (see Gunther). As one of the earliest kings of the Nibelungs, the clan is called the Gjúkungar.

Gundomar I (c.407 – 411), son of Gebicca - Gundomar I (also Gundimar, Godomar, or Godemar) was eldest son and successor of Gebicca, King of the Burgundians. He succeeded his father in 406 or 407 and reigned until 411. He was succeeded by his brother Giselher.
He is the historical basis for Gernot in the Nibelungenlied.

Giselher (c.407 – 411), son of Gebicca - Giselher is a king of Burgundy in the Nibelungenlied, brother to kings Gunther and Gernot. Historically, these may correspond to three sons of king Gebicca, Gundomar, Gislaharius (Giselher), and Gundaharius (Gunther), who ruled the Burgundians in the 410s.

Gunther (c.407 – 436), son of Gebicca - the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century. - see King Gunther

Flavius Aëtius moves the Burgundians into Sapaudia (Upper Rhône Basin).

Gunderic/Gundioc (436–473) - Gondioc (also Gundioc, Gundowech, died 473) was king of Burgundy following the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 436, succeeding Gundahar. Gondioc married the sister of Ricimer, the Gothic general at the time ruling the Western Roman Empire.
Gundobad, the son of Gondioc, succeeded Ricimer in 472, but abdicated after the death of his father in the following year as Gondioc was succeeded by his brother Chilperic I. After the death of Chilperic, Burgundy was divided among the sons of Gondioc, Gundobad, Chilperic II of Burgundy, Godomar and Godegisel.

division of the kingdom among the four sons of Gundioc:

1.Gundobad (473–516 in Lyon, king of all of Burgundy from 480), - Gundobad, Patrician of the Western Roman Empire (472-473) also became King of the Burgundians (473-516), after his father Gundioc of Burgundy, though he had to fight off three brothers to seize his title.
When the former Patrician Ricimer, who had been the power behind the throne for the Western Empire, died in 472, his nephew Gundobad seized the title. With his new power he elevated the current Count of the Domestics, Glycerius, to the position of Western Roman Emperor. Gundobad, however left office in 473, as his father, Gundioc, had died and he had inherited Burgundy along with his three brothers; Godegisel, Chilperic II and Gundomar.
But Gundobad was not content with his fractured portion of Burgundy, and turned against his brothers with hope of control over all the land.
In 486 he killed Gundomar, though little is known of this encounter.
In 493 he turned his sword against Chilperic, and drowned his wife. Gundobad exiled his two daughters, Chroma becoming a nun. The other, Clotilde, was found by the men of Clovis I, King of the Franks, who sent word to Gundobad, asking Clotilde's hand in marriage. Gundobad was too afraid to decline.
Gundobad's battle with Godegisel raged long. Unknowingly, both called upon Clovis trying to persuade him to join forces against the other. Clovis sided with Godegisel, who had offered him his pleasure of tribute and crushed Gundobad's force. Gundobad fled but King Clovis pursued him to Avignon. Gundobad feared the worst with Clovis's mighty army at the gates. But a man of wit called Aridius went from Gundobad to Clovis and charmed him into taking his advice, which was to spare Gundobad but force him into paying a yearly tribute.
Gundobad later broke his promise of tribute as he regained his power and besieged Godegisel, locked up in the city of Vienne. As famine devoured Vienne, Godegisel expelled the common people from the city for fear for himself. An outraged expelled artisan seeking vengeance on Godegisel went to Gundobad, and with his help he navigated the aqueduct and broke into the city. He murdered Godegisel in 501 in an Arian church along with the bishop.
Gundobad was now sole king of Burgundy. He made peace with the Franks, converted to Catholicism, and died peacefully succeeded by his son Sigismund in 516. He also had another son: Godomar. Godomar would succeed his brother after his death in 524.

2.Chilperic II (473–493 in Valence)

3.Gundomar/Godomar (473–486 in Vienne) - Gundomar I (also Gundimar, Godomar, or Godemar) was eldest son and successor of Gebicca, King of the Burgundians. He succeeded his father in 406 or 407 and reigned until 411. He was succeeded by his brother Giselher.

4.Godegisel (473–500, in Vienne and Geneva)

Sigismund, son of Gundobad (516–523) - He was the son of king Gundobad, whom he succeeded in 516.
See King Sigismund

Godomar or Gundimar, son of Gundobad (523–532) - Godomar (or Gundomar), son of king Gundobad, was king of Burgundy. He ruled Burgundy after his elder brother's death in 524 until 534.
Both he and his brother Sigismund of Burgundy were defeated in battle by Clovis' sons. Godomar fled and Sigismund was taken prisoner by Chlodomer, King of Orleans. Godomar then rallied the Burgundian army. With this army, he regained his territory. Meanwhile, Chlodomer ordered the death of Sigismund and marched with his brother Theuderic I, King of Metz, on Burgundy in 524. Godomar and his army fled, but Godomar was pursued. In 534, the Franks killed Godomar and took over the country of Burgundy.

Burgundy under Frankish Kings
Gradually conquered by the Frankish kings Childebert I and Clothar I from 532 – 534

Merovingian Kings

Childebert I, 534–558 (central parts) - the Frankish king of Paris, of the Merovingian dynasty. See King Childebert I

Theudebert I, 534–548 (northern parts) - Theudebert I (French: Thibert or Théodebert) (c. 500 – 547 or 548) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it's variously called—from 533 to his death in 548. His chief residence was Rheims in northeast Gaul.
He was the son of Theuderic I, king of Metz. In 533, he married Deuteria, a Gallo-Roman. Later, he abandoned Deuteria to marry Wisigarda (daughter of Wacho, king of the Lombards). His children were Theudebald and Berthoara.
About 516, he defeated the Scandinavian King Chlochilaich (a.k.a. Hygelac of Beowulf) who had invaded his realm.
In the year 532, Theudebert completed, together with Gunthar (son of his uncle King Clotaire I of Soissons), the reconquest of territories held by his grandfather Clovis I, which had been taken by the Goths following Clovis' death. After the death of Theuderic at the end of 534, Theudebert inherited his father's possessions, prevailing against the claims of his uncles King Childebert I of Paris and Clotaire. The childless Childebert then allied himself with his nephew, and split with him the inheritance of Chlodomer's lands in Burgundy. Soon afterward, he adopted Theudebert.
The Merovingian kings then joined to fight the Ostrogoths. Allying himself with the Gepids and the Lombards (through Wisigarda's marriage), Theudebert won the northern provinces as well as Rhaetia. Large parts of Venice were taken in 545, but Theudebert's party avoided a confrontation with the Byzantine Emperor.
Theudebert displayed both the gifts of his family and its flaws: high statesmanship and unruly sensualism, unthinking lust for power mixed with intelligent power politics and perfidiousness. He celebrated his coronation with the striking of gold coins with his own picture (as opposed to the Emperor's) and the staging of circus performances in Arles.
Theudebert died in the 14th year of his reign (at the end of 547 or the beginning of 548) and his son Theudebald succeeded him.

Chlothar I, 534–561 (southern parts), eventually uniting the entire kingdom - Chlothar I (or Chloderic, Chlothachar, Chlotar, Clothar, Clotaire, Chlotochar, or Hlothar, giving rise to Lothair; 497 – 561), called the Old (le Vieux), King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born about 497 in Soissons (now in Aisne département, Picardie, France).
On the death of his father in 511, he received, as his share of the kingdom, the town of Soissons, which he made his capital; the cities of Laon, Noyon, Cambrai, and Maastricht; and the lower course of the Meuse River. But he was very ambitious, and sought to extend his domain.
He was the chief instigator of the murder of his brother Chlodomer's children in 524, and his share of the spoils consisted of the cities of Tours and Poitiers. He took part in various expeditions against Burgundy and, after the destruction of that kingdom in 534, obtained Grenoble, Die, and some of the neighbouring cities.
When the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks, he received the cities of Orange, Carpentras, and Gap. In 531, he marched against the Thuringii with his nephew Theudebert I and in 542, with his brother Childebert I against the Visigoths of Spain. On the death of his great-nephew Theodebald in 555, Clotaire annexed his territories. On Childebert's death in 558 he became sole king of the Franks.
He also ruled over the greater part of Germany, made expeditions into Saxony, and for some time exacted from the Saxons an annual tribute of 500 cows. The end of his reign was troubled by internal dissensions, his son Chram rising against him on several occasions. Following Chram into Brittany, where the rebel had taken refuge, Clotaire shut him up with his wife and children in a cottage, which he set on fire. Overwhelmed with remorse, he went to Tours to implore forgiveness at the tomb of St Martin, and died shortly afterwards.

Guntram (561–592) - He was a son (third eldest, second eldest surviving) of Chlothar I and Ingunda. On his father's death (561), he became king of a fourth of the kingdom of the Franks, and made his capital at Orléans. See King Guntram

Childebert II, 592–595 - Childebert II (570-595) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 575 until his death in 595, the eldest and succeeding son of Sigebert I, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted and succeeding son of his uncle Guntram. See King Childebert II

Theuderic II, 595–613 - king of Burgundy (595-613) and Austrasia (612-613), was the second son of Childebert II.
See King Theuderic

United with Neustria under one king, but with separate administration (613–751)

Carolingian Kings

Pippin the Younger, 751–768 - best known as father of Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse) See Pepin III

Carloman, 768–771 - Carloman (751 – December 4, 771) was the king of the Franks from 768 through 771. He was the second son of Pippin the Younger and Bertrada of Laon. see Franks Carloman

Charlemagne, 771–814 - see Franks King Charlemagne

Louis the Pious, 814–840 - see Franks King Louis the Pious

Lothar I, 840–855, king under his father since 817 - Lothair I (German: Lothar, French: Lothaire, Italian: Lotario) (795 – 23 September 855), king of Italy (818 – 855) and Holy Roman Emperor (840 – 855) see Franks King Lothar I

The sons of Louis the Pious divided the Frankish kingdom in the treaty of Verdun in 843. Burgundy was divided between the brothers

1. Charles the Bald, who received the smaller part, west of the river Saone. This entity was officially called regnum burgundiae (kingdom of Burgundy), but since the King of France delegated administrations to Dukes, the territory became known as the Duchy of Burgundy or Bourgogne. See Franks King Charles the Bald
2. Lothar I received the larger part, east of the river Saone, which retained the name of Kingdom of Burgundy
After Lothar's death in 855, his realm was divided between his sons. The Burgundian territories were divided between:

1. Lothair II, who received the northern parts.
2. Charles, who received the southern parts including Provence, Lyon and Vienne. His realm was called the regnum provinciae (kingdom of Provence). - Charles was the Carolingian King of Provence from 855 until his early death in 863.Charles was the youngest son of Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. His father divided his realm of the Middle Franks (Lotharingia) between his three sons: the eldest, Louis, received Italy and the emperorship; Lothair II received Lotharingia (modern Lorraine and the Low Countries); and the youngest, Charles, received Upper and Lower Burgundy (Arles and Provence). In 860, he defeated his uncle, Charles the Bald, who had attempted to conquer his realm.

Kingdom of Upper Burgundy

Lothair II (835 - August 8, 869), was the second son of Emperor Lothair I and Ermengarde of Tours. Upon his father's death in 855, he received as his kingdom a territory west of the Rhine stretching from the North Sea to the Jura mountains. It became known as Regnum Lotharii and early in the 10th century as Lotharingia or Lorraine, a designation subsequently applied only to the duchy of Lorraine). His elder brother Louis II received northern Italy and the title of Emperor, and his younger brother Charles received the western parts of his father's domains, Burgundy and the Provence.
On the death of his brother Charles in 863, Lothair added some lands south of the Jura to this realm, but except for a few feeble expeditions against the Norman pirates he seems to have done little for its government or its defense.
Lothair's reign was chiefly occupied by his efforts to obtain a divorce from his wife Theutberga, a sister of Hucbert, abbot of St Maurice (d. 864), and his relations with his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German were influenced by his desire to obtain their support for this endeavor. Although quarrels and reconciliations between the three kings followed each other in quick succession, in general it may be said that Louis favoured the divorce, and Charles opposed it, while neither lost sight of the fact that Lothair had no sons to inherit his lands. Lothair, whose desire for the divorce was prompted by his affection for a woman named Waldrada, put away Theutberga, but Hucbert took up arms on her behalf, and after she had submitted successfully to the ordeal of water, Lothair was compelled to restore her in 858. Still pursuing his purpose, he won the support of his brother, Emperor Louis II, by a cession of lands and obtained the consent of the local clergy to the divorce and to his marriage with Waldrada, which took place in 862.
A synod of Frankish bishops met at Metz in 863 and confirmed this decision, but Teutberga fled to the court of Charles the Bald, and Pope Nicholas I voided the decision of the synod. An attack on Rome by the emperor was without result, and in 865 Lothair, threatened with excommunication and convinced that Louis and Charles at their recent meeting had discussed the partition of his kingdom, again took back his wife. Teutberga, however, either from inclination or compulsion, now expressed her desire for a divorce, and Lothair went to Italy to obtain the assent of the new pope, Adrian II. Placing a favourable interpretation upon the words of the pope, he had set out on the return journey, when he was seized with fever and died at Piacenza on the August 8, 869. He left, by Waldrada, a son Hugo who was declared illegitimate, and his kingdom was divided between his uncles Charles the Bald and Louis the German by the Treaty of Mersen.

Rudolf I (888–912) - Rudolph I, born 859, died October 25, 912, King of (Upper or Transjurane) Burgundy from his election in 888 until his death.
Rudolph belonged to the elder Welf family and was the son of Conrad, Count of Auxerre, from whom he inherited the lay abbacy of St Maurice en Valais, making him the most powerful magnate in Upper Burgundy - present-day western Switzerland and the Franche Comté.
After the deposition and death of Charles the Fat, the nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy met at St Maurice and elected Rudolph as king. Apparently on the basis of this election, Rudolph claimed the whole of Lotharingia, taking much of modern Lorraine and Alsace - but his claim was contested by Arnulf of Carinthia, the new king of East Francia or Germany, who rapidly forced Rudolph to abandon Lotharingia in return for recognition as king of Burgundy. However, hostilities between Rudolph and Arnulf seem to have continued intermittently until 894.
Rudolph's relationships with his other neighbors were friendlier. His sister Adelaide married Richard the Justiciar, duke of Burgundy (the present day Burgundy, part of west Francia), and his daughters, another Adelaide, married Louis the Blind of Provence (Lower Burgundy), and Willa, married Boso of Tuscany.
Rudolph was succeeded as king of Burgundy by his son, Rudolph II.
(This Rudolph is frequently confused with his nephew Rudolph of France, who was the second duke of Burgundy and ninth king of France.)

Rudolf II (912–937) - Rudolf II (died July 11, 937) was king of Upper Burgundy (912–937), Lower Burgundy (Provence) (933–937), and Italy (effective, 922–926—claim abandoned 933). He was the son of Rudolf I, king of Upper Burgundy. He married Bertha of Swabia.
Following his ascension to the throne in 912, Rudolf was asked by several Italian nobles to intervene in Italy on their behalf against Emperor Berengar in 922. Having entering Italy, he was crowned King of the Lombards at Pavia. In 923, he defeated Berengar at Piacenza; Berengar was murdered the following year, possibly at the instigation of Rudolf. The king then ruled Upper Burgundy and Italy together, residing alternately in both kingdoms.
However, in 926 the Italian nobility turned against him and requested that Hugh of Arles, the effective ruler of Provence (or Lower Burgundy), rule them instead. Rudolf returned to Upper Burgundy to protect himself, assuring Hugh's coronation as King of Italy in the process. The Italians then switched sides again, declaring that they wished for Rudolf to reclaim the throne. To prevent this, Hugh and Rudolf signed a treaty in 933, granting Rudolf rule of Lower Burgundy in exchange for his renunciation of all claims on the Italian throne. He married his daughter Adelaide to Hugh's son Lothar. The two Burgundian kingdoms unified, Rudolf ruled until his death in 937. He was succeeded by Conrad.

In 933 Rudolph ceded his claims to the kingdom of Italy to Hugh of Arles and in return gained the kingdom of Provence, thus reuniting the two territories.

Conrad I (937–993) - Conrad the Peaceful (c.925 – 19 October 993) was the king of Burgundy from 937 until his death. He was the son of King Rudolph II, the first king of a united Burgundy. Conrad is sometimes numbered Conrad I as king of Burgundy and as Conrad III of Provence, since he inherited Provence in 948.
His reign was peaceful (hence his byname) and he was popular with his subjects. The only war in which he got involved was a simultaneous invasion of Saracens and Magyars in which he played them off against each other. He then routed them in combat.
He married Matilda, daughter of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony. They had at least five children:
Bertha (967 – 16 January 1016), married Odo I, Count of Blois, and then Robert II of France
Matilda (born 969), possibly married Robert, Count of Geneva
Rudolph (971 – 6 September 1032)
Gerberga (born 965), married Herman II, Duke of Swabia
He was secondly married to Adelaide of Bellay. They were parents to at least one daughter:
Gisela (975 – 21 July 1006), married Henry II, Duke of Bavaria

Rudolph III (993–1032) - Rudolf III of Burgundy (called Rudolf der Faule in German, and Rodolphe le Fainéant meaning sluggard or lazy or - le Pieux the Pious in French) (born 993; died September 6, 1032) was the last King of an independent Burgundy. He was the son of Conrad, King of Burgundy and the last male member of the Burgundian group of the Elder Welfs family.
Rudolf's reign was marked with turbulence. Unable to placate the increasingly powerful nobility, he also had to deal with encroachments of power on the part of Otto-William, Count of Besançon until 995, and duke of Burgundy thereafter, as well as Henry II, king of Germany. Henry succeeded in forcing Rudolf to name him as his successor in 1016. When Henry died, the new king, Conrad II, also forced Rudolf to make him his heir. Rudolf died in 1032, at the age of thirty-nine, with no surviving issue; Conrad claimed the Kingdom of Burgundy and incorporated it as a third kingdom alongside Germany and Italy within the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1032 the kingdom of Burgundy was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire as a third kingdom, with the King of Germany or Emperor as King of Burgundy.

Kingdom of Burgundy (Arelat) as part of the Holy Roman Empire

Salian (Frankish) Dynasty
Conrad II, king 1032-1039, emperor since 1027
Henry III, king 1039, emperor 1046-1056
Henry IV, king 1056, emperor 1084-1105
Henry V, king 1105-1125, emperor 1111-1125

Supplinburger
Lothar III, king 1125-1137, emperor 1133-1137

Staufen (or Hohenstaufen dynasty)
Conrad III, king 1138-1152
Frederick I Barbarossa, king 1152, emperor 1155-1190
Henry VI, king 1190, emperor 1191-1197
Philip of Swabia, rival king 1198-1208
Otto IV of Brunswick (House of Welf), rival king 1208-1215, emperor 1209-1215
Frederick II, king 1212, emperor 1220-1250
Conrad IV, king 1237-1254 (until 1250 under his father)

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