Dagobert I (c. 603–January 19, 639) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power.

left: Portrait medallion of Dagobert I by Jean Dassier (1676–1763)

Rise to power

Portrait medallion of Dagobert I by Jean Dassier (1676–1763)Dagobert was the eldest son of Clotaire II and Berthetrude, (also Haldetrude), daughter of Richomer of Burgundy and Gertrude, Abbess of Hamaland. Clotaire II had reigned alone over all the Franks since 613, and Dagobert became the king of Austrasia when her independent nobles demanded a king of their own. In 623, Clotaire installed his son Dagobert in Austrasia.

On the death of his father in 629, Dagobert inherited the Neustrian and Burgundian kingdoms. His half-brother Charibert, son of Sichilde, claimed Neustria but Dagobert opposed him. Brodulf, the brother of Sichilde, petitioned Dagobert on behalf of his young nephew, but Dagobert assassinated him and gave his younger sibling Aquitaine.

Charibert died in 632 and his son Chilperic was assassinated on Dagobert's orders. By 632, Dagobert had Burgundy and Aquitaine firmly under his rule, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in many years and the most respected ruler in the West.

Reign

Also in 632, the nobles of Austrasia revolted under the mayor of the palace, Pepin of Landen. In 634, Dagobert appeased the rebellious nobles by putting his three-year-old son, Sigebert III, on the throne, thereby ceding royal power in the easternmost of his realms, just as his father had done for him eleven years earlier.

As king, Dagobert made Paris his capital. During his reign, he built the Altes Schloss in Meersburg (in modern Germany), which today is the oldest inhabited castle in that country. Devoutly religious, Dagobert was also responsible for the construction of the Saint Denis Basilica at the site of a Benedictine monastery in Paris.

In 631, Dagobert led three armies against Samo, the Slavic king, but his Austrasian forces were defeated at Wogastisburg.

Death and legacy

Dagobert died in 639 and was the first of French kings to be buried in the royal tombs at Saint Denis. His second son, Clovis II, from his marriage to Nanthild, inherited the rest of his kingdom at a young age.

The pattern of division and assassination which characterise even the strong king Dagobert's reign continued for the next century until Pepin the Short finally deposed the last Merovingian king in 751, establishing the Carolingian dynasty. The Merovingian boy-kings remained ineffective rulers who inherited the throne as young children and lived only long enough to produce a male heir or two, while real power lay in the hands of the noble families (the Old Noblesse) who exercised feudal control over most of the land.

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