The First Rois Fainéants (S2: E7)

This week we’re going to take a look at the end of Dagobert and the legacy he left. Going through all of the literature written about this king, one thing stands out time and time again: he is referred to as the last great Merovingian King, the last to expand the Kingdom and truly wield power before the dawn of les rois fainéants, the “do-nothing kings.” If I didn’t know better, and I were willing to take these assessments at face value, I would be tempted to believe that Dagobert was a swash-buckling leader, ready to lead Francia into a new generation but cut short in his prime, a man with “the ruthless energy of a Clovis and the cunning of a Charlemagne.” But the problem with surface-level assessments is this: when you scratch them, the veneer usually comes off quickly and the truth, for better or worse, is often messy.

And in this case, it's "do-I-compare-him-to-Hitler-or-Torquemada"-level messy. Because most people seem to leave the whole part about Dagobert's pogrom conveniently outside of the narrative...

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