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Birth:          ABT  415 
Death:          ABT  458 

Notes
defeated Atilla the Hun in 451
son or soninlaw of Clodion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovech
Merovech (French: Mérovée, Latin: Meroveus or Merovius, reconstructed Frankish: 
*Mariwig;[1] died 453/457) is the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty 
of the Salian Franks (although either Childeric I, his supposed son, or Clovis I, his 
supposed grandson, may in fact be the founder), which later became the dominant 
Frankish tribe. He is said to be one of several barbarian warlords and kings that joined 
forces with the Roman general Aetius against the Huns under Attila on the 
Catalaunian fields in Gaul. The first Frankish royal dynasty called themselves 
Merovingians ("descendants of Meroveus") after him, although no other historical 
evidence exists that Merovech ever lived.
Name[edit]

It has been suggested that Merovech refers to the Dutch river Merwede,[2] once 
called Merwe or Merowe. Although this river was historically a main subsidiary of the 
Rhine, in modern times it is a tributary of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta; the area 
where, according to Roman historians, the Salian Franks once dwelled.

His name is also close to Marwig, lit. "famed fight" (compare modern Dutch mare 
"news, rumour"/vermaard "famous" as well as (ge)vecht "fight" with -vech).[3]

Evidence for existence[edit]

There is little information about him in the later histories of the Franks. Gregory of 
Tours only names him once as the father of Childeric I while putting doubt on his 
descent from Chlodio.[4] Many admit today that this formulation finds its explanation in 
a legend reported by Fredegar.[5] The Chronicle of Fredegar interpolated on this 
reference by Gregory by adding Merovech was the son of the queen, Chlodio's wife; 
but his father was a sea-god, bestea Neptuni.[6] Some researchers have noted that 
Merovech, the Frankish chieftain, may have been the namesake of a certain god or 
demigod honored by the Franks prior to their conversion to Christianity.

Clodio, the sometime putative father of Merovech, is said to have been defeated by 
Flavius Aëtius at Vicus Helena in Artois in 448. Ian S. Wood would therefore place his 
son somewhere in the second half of the fifth century.[7]

Another theory[8] considers this legend to be the creation of a mythological past 
needed to back up the fast-rising Frankish rule in Western Europe.

Reference in popular culture[edit]

The legend about Merovech's conception was adapted in 1982 by Michael Baigent, 
Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln in their book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, as 
the seed of a new idea. They hypothesized that this "descended from a fish" legend 
was actually referring to the concept that the Merovingian line had married into the 
bloodline of Jesus Christ, since the symbol for early Christians had also been a fish. 
This theory, with no other basis than the authors' hypothesis, was further popularized 
in 2003 via Dan Brown's bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code.[9][10]

Parents
____ Clodion "the Hairy" (ABT  392 -  448)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
____ Merovech (ABT  415 - ABT  458)

Marriage To ----- ----- ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- 
____ Childeric I (ABT  436 - ABT  481)

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