184 Clovis I
belts. Wool and material from vegetable fiber of various
degrees of excellence and comfort were used by all classes.
Along with great differences related to class, the use of all
these materials varied according to occasion, age, gender,
season, occupation, and climate. The color and dyes used
in clothing varied according to price and accessibility by
social and economic status. SUMPTUARY LAWSwere written
to prevent ostentatious displays by social climbers and to
limit the expenditure of citizens on clothing. The JEWS
and other groups were required to wear distinctive cloth-
ing at various times and in several places during the Mid-
dle Ages. The cloth trade and manufacture were among
the most important commercial and industrial activities of
the Middle Ages. Various fashionable looks dominated
courts during the later Middle Ages.
See also ANTI-JUDAISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM; CLERGY
AND CLERICAL STATUS; HERALDRY AND HERALDS; SOCIAL STA-
TUS AND STRUCTURE; WEAPONS AND WEAPONRY.
Further reading:C. Willet Cunnington, Handbook of
English Mediaeval Costume,2d ed. (London: Faber, 1969);
Joan Evans, Dress in Mediaeval France(Oxford: Claren-
don Press, 1952); Karel C. Innemee, Ecclesiastical Dress
in the Medieval Near East(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992); James
Laver, ed., Costume of the Western World: Fashions of the
Renaissance in England, France, Spain and Holland(New
York: Harper & Brothers, 1951); Stella Mary Newton,
Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince: A Study of the Years,
1340–1365(1980; reprint, Woodbridge, England: Boydell
Press, 1999); Alfred Rulens, A History of Jewish Costume
(New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1957); Françoise Pipon-
nier and Perrine Mane, Dress in the Middle Ages,trans.
Caroline Beamish (1995; reprint, New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1997).
Clovis I (Chlodovechs, Clodovic) (ca. 465–511) Frankish
and Merovingian king
The Frankish king Clovis I founded the MEROVINGIAN
kingdom of Gaul, the most successful of the Germanic
states of the fifth century. Born in 465/456, he has been
regarded as the founder of the French nation. The son
of Childeric I (d. 481) and Basina, Clovis inherited the
kingship of the western FRANKSin 481/482, at the age of
- In 486 he led his army against Soissons, the last of
the Gallo-Roman strongholds, and defeated the Roman
governor, Syagrius. He then engaged in a series of cam-
paigns against other barbarian kingdoms. During one of
these military ventures Clovis converted to non-ARIAN
Christianity. According to GREGORY OFTOURS, almost
the only source on him, Clovis was at a disadvantage in
his fight against the Alamans and sought the aid of the
GOD of his Christian wife, Clotilde (ca. 470–545),
promising that if he were given victory he would
become a Christian. In 506 Clovis inflicted a crushing
defeat on the Alamans at Tolbiac, and he took this as a
sign to convert.
CONVERSION AND CONSOLIDATION
After the battle Clovis adopted Christianity and in so
doing won the support of the Gallo-Roman bishops, who
controlled a significant portion of the wealth of Gaul and
were exceedingly influential with the population. His
conversion made his wars holy wars against HERETICS
or Arians and nonbelievers. Many historians have seen
Clovis’s conversion as a shrewd political move.
Within the Frankish portion of his kingdom Clovis,
who was ruthless in his desire for power, gradually elimi-
nated the other kings who had previously been his allies,
and by a combination of military success and treachery
he emerged as the supreme ruler in Gaul and was recog-
nized by the Eastern emperor as consul in Gaul.DOMESTIC POLICIES
This period of Frankish expansion, begun in 486, cli-
maxed with a battle against the VISIGOTHSat Vouillé in
507 when he took control of most of southern Gaul. Clo-
vis then turned to the government of his newly con-
quered territories. His reign, which combined elements of
Germanic kingship with the support of traditional Roman
fiscal and administrative systems, owed much of its suc-
cess to the cooperation of Clovis and his regime with the
Gallo-Roman episcopate. His policy toward the church
was essentially overlordship tempered with considerationClovis, king of the Franks, 16th-cent. engraving (Courtesy
Library of Congress)