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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 4, 22. The Division of the Kingdom Between His Sons

Now Chilperic, after the funeral of his father, took possession of the treasures which were amassed in the royal villa of Berny; he then sought those Franks whom he deemed best able to serve him and won them by gifts to his allegiance. Soon after, he entered Paris, and seized the residence of King Childebert. But it was not given him to hold it long, for his brothers made common cause to drive him forth; and thus the four, Charibert, Guntram, Chilperic, and Sigibert, made lawful division, and the kingdom of Childebert, with Paris for his capital, fell to Charibert; the kingdom of Chlodomer to Guntram, his capital Orleans; to Chilperic the kingdom of his father Lothar, with his royal seat at Soissons. Sigibert, for his part, received the kingdom of Theuderic, with his residence at Reims.