hildéric, son of Meroveus, died in 481. His son Clovis would put the Merovingian dynasty on the throne of Frankish Gaul and leave his indelible seal upon the kingdom. In order to take uncontested power, he began by sorting out his inheritance problems: he killed Rigomer, king of Le Mans, and the latter's brother, Raghenaer, king of Cambrai. Both were of the Merovingian family, namely his own. For political purposes and in the manner of Constantine, he garnered support from the Church : After the battle of Soissons (486), where he defeated Syagrius, the last representative of the now-dead Roman empire, and after the famous episode in which he punished one of his warriors for breaking the "vase de Soissons" belonging to the church in Reims, he married Clotilde, a Christian princess, in 493.

For the battle of Tolbiac (496), he was baptized and adopted the Christian religion. After going first to Orleans and then to Tours at the urging of Rémy, bishop of Rheims, who convinced him of the miraculous benefits of Saint Martin, he announced at the tomb of the saint his desire to convert to Christianity.

Tours, contested by the Visigoths based in southern Gaul, changed hands several times before being taken permanently by the Franks.

*

Under the authority of this "barbarian" king, the church at Orleans became very powerful. To the profit of the church and its leaders, Clovis confiscated the territory and made generous donations to the episcopate and monastic institutions. The bishopric of Orleans came into possession of « La Fauconnerie» one of the towers of the Roman fortification, and a vast tract of land outside the city was attached to it.

Clovis also made a gift to Euspicius, a monk in his entourage, of the territory of MICY, located at the juncture of the Loire and the Loiret, for a monastery. He attached to it the lands of Chaingy and Ligny. In addition to this territory, it is said that Micy also included the entire length of the Loiret river, exclusive fishing rights on the Loire, and the right to collect salt as a toll from any boat carrying that cargo between Chaingy and the Rollin river.

Euspicius and his nephew Maximinus founded an abbey at Micy that very soon became a veritable seed-bed of missionaries and teachers for the population. It had what was probably the largest library of the time, and we will soon meet some notable personalities who attended its school.

*

After his victory over the Arian Visigoths at Vouillé, near Poitiers, sur les Wisigoths ariens, Clovis returned to Tours to give thanks at the basilica of Saint Martin, which he showered with gifts.

In an enigmatic ceremony, he assumed the insignia of the "consulate," which was bestowed upon him by the Byzantine emperor, Anastasius, and even the purple robe and diadem associated with the title of Augustus. Clovis was thus essentially recognized as the inheritor of the western Roman empire.
The pope personally congratulated him, as did the emperor of the eastern Roman empire. The Byzantine emperor's congratulations were brought by Avitus, an evangelist and descendant of an old family of Auvergne. A relative, perhaps one of Avitus's uncles also named Avitus, was at the same time bishop of Geneva. And Geneva was the home and capital of the kingdom of Clotilde's family .

In Orleans in July 511, Clovis assembled the first national council of the Gauls.
This event fixed the relationship between the church and state on one hand, and, on the other, between the ruling classes and the people, especially concerning their rights and duties, laws and customs. The alliance of the throne and altar was henceforth sealed. Beginning as a minor Frankish king, Clovis had become king of the Franks and inheritor of the empire of the Gauls. As for the bishops, they were charged with the civil administration and justice system in their domains. Clovis was encouraged, at the council, to enlarge the Frankish kingdom into the south of Gaul, which was still ruled by the Visigoths of Arian persuasion. Let us now let him go his way; we shall see what was going on in Orleans.

*

In a few years, the monastery at Micy acquired an influence that brought a number of disciples to join the work of Maximinus, who would soon be called Saint-Mesmin.
He plowed, drained, embanked, cleaned up, improved and cultivated a marshy tract of land; it became a model of agriculture.
He also built an abbey for the monks, houses and adjoining buildings that would become the village of Saint-Mesmin,mills on the Loiret to grind grain from the harvests, and a Hôtel-Dieu to receive the ill; the south bank of the Loire had an unhealthy climate at the time because of its many swamps.

It appears that the work put into improving the land also affected the fallow souls and marshy minds of his contemporaries, which no doubt explains the reputation for saintliness that Mesmin acquired in his lifetime.
People talked of a dragon with a pestilential breath that lived in the countryside, in a cave along the banks of the Loire, and which Mesmin fought. The truth is probably more dialectic than fantastic, because the cave in question was a Druid meeting place that must have been an obstacle to the monk's evangelical mission.
Both died: the dragon in 510, according to the legend; Saint Mesmin, from a lingering fever in 520, still a young man.

The body of the holy man was buried in the cave on the banks of the Loire. It had been, people said, the lair of the dragon.

*

Avitus, who had delivered the mail to Clovis from the eastern emperor, was attracted by the reputation of Mesmin. He had been at Micy but left it for a few years after Mesmin's death. With two fellow monks, he had gone to seek peace in Sologne, at a place called "lively-quake", so called probably because of the fevers that were widespread in that marshy area at the time. Of his two companions, one was named Viator; he became Saint-Viâtre. The other was Laetius, who also became a saint, Saint-Lié.

The monks of the monastery sought out Avitus, found him, and elected him abbot. His election was confirmed by the bishop of Orleans. Viator remained at "lively-quake" and founded a town that would bear his name. Laetius sought solitude in the forest of Orleans. The town of Saint-Lie would later be founded there.

Avitus administered the monastery of Micy for quite a long time. Then, again feeling a longing for solitude, he retired deep into a forest near Châteaudun. He devoted himself to a rigorously ascetic life and founded a new monastery that would be named the monastery of Moustier-Saint-Avit.
After his death, the people of Chateaudun argued with those in Orleans over the privilege of keeping his relics. The bishop of Orleans settled the dispute by dismembering the saint's body. He gave the inhabitants of Chateaudun the arm and hand that had blessed them, but he gave the rest to Orleans. The remains were buried in the church dedicated to Saint-George; it would later take the name of Saint-Avit.

*

At this time (about 590), there lived, in land bordering Chaingy, (a domain dependent upon Micy, as we have already noted), a man named Agylus, viscount of Orleans.
One of his slaves fled, and Agylus gave chase. The slave took refuge in the cave of the dragon, at the sepulcher of Saint Mesmin, in the domain of Micy. Agylus and his horse were miraculously rendered immobile as they stepped onto monastery lands and could move again only when Agylus decided to break off pursuit.
Later, he would donate a part of his lands to Micy and another part to the abbey of Saint-Aignan at Orleans. He would be called Saint-AY as would his domain. It is today a charming little town overlooking the Loire between Orleans and Meung.

*

After Clovis died in 511, his legitimate sons Clodomir, Childebert et Clotaire, all born of Clotilde, as well as his eldest son Theodoric (Thierry), born of his first, Rhenish Frankish wife, engaged in a bloody rivalry. Clodomir inherited for a while the kingdom of Orleans. After several fratricidal coups, Clotaire was in control by 558. But he died in his turn in 561, leaving several children who would struggle bitterly among themselves for two generations until his grandson Clotaire II reigned supreme in 613.

In an atmosphere of incessant wars and internal strife that lasted for a century, it is understandable that civilization would not seem to be making much progress.
However, in that dark age when barbarians were still barbarians, other men were striving to light the way...

*