Merovech

king of Salian Franks
External Websites
Also known as: Mérovée, Meroveus, Merovich, Merowig, Merwech, Merwich
Quick Facts
Also spelled:
Merovich, Meroveus, Merwich, or Merowig
French:
Mérovée
German:
Merowech
Flourished:
c. ad 450
Flourished:
425 - 475
House / Dynasty:
Merovingian dynasty

Merovech (flourished c. ad 450) was the king of the Salian Franks from whom Frankish tradition held the Merovingian dynasty to have taken its name. He was the father of Childeric I (d. 481/482) and grandfather of Clovis I (c. 466–511).

Nothing definite is known of Merovech’s life, but an early myth made him the son of a sea god. He is mentioned in Gregory of Tours’s Histories and, according to later sources, fought against Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (451).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.