The early Christian centuries are full of the sound of conflict.  In the fourth century the principal tribes in Western Germany were the Franks and the Alemanni, the former of whom maintained a constant strife with the Saxons, who pressed heavily upon their rear.  The Franks occupied the lower portion of the river, near to its mouth, whilst the Alemanni dwelt on the portion to the bounds of Helvetia and Switzerland.  At this period great racial upheavals appear to have been taking place further east.  By the beginning of the sixth century the Saxons seem to have penetrated almost to the north-western Rhine, where the Franks were now supreme.

The Merovingians

In the middle of the fifth century arose the powerful dynasty of the Merovingians, one of the most picturesque royal houses in the roll of history.  In their records we see the clash of barbarism with advancement, the bizarre tints of a semi-civilization unequalled in rude magnificence.  Giant shadows of forgotten kings stalk across the canvas, their royal purple intermingling with the shaggy fell of the bear and wolf.  One, Chilperic, a subtle grammarian and the inventor of new alphabetic symbols, is yet the most implacable of his race, the murderer of his wife, the heartless slayer of hundreds, to whom human life is as that of cattle skilled in the administration of poison, a picturesque cut-throat.  Others are weaklings, faineants; but one, the most dread woman in Frankish history, Fredegonda, the queen of Chilperic, towers above all in this masque of slaughter and treachery.

Tradition makes claim that Andernach was the cradle of the Merovingian dynasty.  In proof of this are shown the extensive ruins of the palace of these ancient Frankish kings.  Merovig, from whom the race derived its name, was said to be the son of Clodio, but legend relates far otherwise.  In name and origin he was literally a child of the Rhine, his father being a water-monster who seized the wife of Clodio while bathing in that river.  In time she gave birth to a child, more monster than man, the spine being covered with bristles, fingers and toes webbed, eyes covered with a film, and thighs and legs horny with large shining scales.  Clodio, though aware of the real paternity of this creature, adopted it as his own son, as did King Minos in the case of the Minotaur, giving him the name Merovig from his piscatory origin.  On Clodio’s death the demi-monster succeeded to the throne, and from him sprang a long line of sovereigns, worthless and imbecile for the most part.

Childeric, the son and successor of Merovig, enraged his people to such a degree by his excesses that they drove him from throne and country.  One friend alone remained to him, Winomadus, who, having no female relations to suffer by the king’s attentions, did not find the friendship so irksome as others; indeed, had been a partner in his licentious pleasures.  He undertook to watch over the interests of Childeric