Clothar I

Chlothar I, sometime called "the Old" (French: le Vieux), (died c. December 561) also anglicised as Clotaire from the original French version, was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I.

With his eldest brother Theuderic (c. 485 – 533/34) being the son of Clovis I and his first wife, Chlothar followed his two elder brothers Chlodomer (495–524) and Childebert I (496–558) as third surviving son of Clovis I and his second wife Queen Clotilde, lastly followed by their sister Clotilde (500–531). The name 'Chlothar' means "glory".

In 511, Chlothar I and his three brothers, Theuderic, Chlodomer and Childebert, inherited their shares of their father's kingdom. Chlothar spent most of his life in a campaign to expand his territories at the expense of his relatives and neighbouring realms in all directions.

His brothers avoided outright war by cooperating with Chlothar's attacks on neighbouring lands in concert or by invading lands when their rulers died. The spoils were shared between the participating brothers. By the end of his life, Chlothar had managed to reunite Francia by surviving his brothers and seizing their territories after they died. But upon his own death, the Kingdom of the Franks was once again divided between his own four surviving sons. A fifth son had rebelled and was killed, along with his family.