The Bourbons
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The Bourbons *
The painting depicts the baptism of Clovis, the first king of the Franks. © Gallica, BNF
About the dynastyThe Merovingians extend from a semi-legendary figure called Merovech (Mérovée). He was a chief of the Salian Franks, who were most likely allies or mercenaries of the Roman Empire which dominated the continent at the time. Childeric, said to be either Merovech’s son or grandson, was a Rex (king) under Roman law, and ruled over northern Gaul (Central and Northern France). Childeric’s son, Clovis, would become the famous first king of the Franks, transforming Gaul into a kingdom by converting to Christianity.
History with Myra
The Bourbons
From Henry IV to the last king France ever had — Versailles, the Revolution, the guillotine, and the two restorations that followed. Tap any name.
Dates on each card are reign years. The numbered badges give the order in which each ruled France. Sons are set out left to right by seniority; princes who never reigned carry no number.
♛ a celebrated queen⚭ principal consorttap a name for her story
Three heirs who never reigned. Louis XIV outlived his son, his grandson and his eldest great-grandson, so the crown skipped two generations to a five-year-old — and Louis XV's own son died nine years before him. Those princes carry no number, because they never ruled. Napoleon is included as ⑥ because he ruled France between Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, though he was no Bourbon. The dashed line on the right runs down the Orléans branch from Louis XIV's brother to Louis-Philippe, whose fall in 1848 ended monarchy in France for good.