The Franks, inhabiting both sides of the Rhine, held a leading position among the German tribes about the middle of the fifth century, three hundred years before the time of Charlemagne. They invaded Gaul from the north and subdued that part of it occupied by the Alemanni[6] and Burgundians,[7] and securely established themselves in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country, southern Gaul being occupied by the West Goths.[8] About this period Clovis[9] made his appearance among the Franks. He was brave to the extreme of hardihood and at the same time thoroughly unprincipled. He ruled over one family[10] of Franks, relatives of his being chiefs of the others. The family ancestor of the Franks was Merovæus, from whom the Merovingians derived their name. Notwithstanding their relationship, the Frank chiefs were in continual strife with each other, but Clovis at last secured a kind of sovereignty over all the families and forced his relations to furnish him with warriors. As soon as this was accomplished, he set about making his power absolute and suppressing their mutual quarrels, as he was determined they should assist him in further invasions of Gaul. The only remnant of Roman power left in Gaul (that part of it lying between the Seine and the Loire) still maintained its political independence. It was against this region, which was under the rule of the Roman patrician Syagrius, that Clovis next directed his operations. He provoked him to war, defeated him, and forced the West Goth King, Alaric the Second (who was ultimately slain in battle by Clovis), with whom Syagrius sought shelter, to give him up. He then strangled him in prison. Clovis next made war against the Burgundians, who, as has been said, occupied the southeastern part of Gaul and were ruled at that time by two brothers, Gundobald and Godegisel. Both fell victims to his cruelty. One of the dead brothers left a daughter Clotilde, for whose hand Clovis appealed to her uncle, the Burgundian chief. The uncle did not dare refuse Clovis’s request, and Clotilde, the Christian, became his wife. She immediately set about the task of converting him, but did not succeed at that time. His purpose was to secure her inheritance, not her religious faith.