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584-613] but the soldiers tore up the roofing and killed him with the tiles (587). Thus, thanks to the inflexible determination of Brunhild, the Austrasian aristocracy was vanquished. The queen also succeeded in baffling all the plots devised against her and Childebert II by Fredegund, who since 584 had governed Neustria in the name of her infant son Chlotar II. She succeeded so well that when Guntram died on 28 March 593, Childebert was able to enter upon his heritage without the slightest opposition. And when Childebert in turn was carried off by disease while still young, Brunhild's authority was uncontested. Childebert's two sons Theodebert and Theodoric divided his kingdom between them, the former taking Austrasia, and the latter, Burgundy. In reality their grandmother Brunhild continued to rule in their name. Her authority extended over both Austrasia and Burgundy and she imposed the same measures upon both countries. The aristocracy, lay and ecclesiastical, were obliged to conform to her laws. Regarding the royal authority as a trust on behalf of her grandsons, she was determined on leaving it to them intact. She had the satisfaction of seeing her rival Fredegund die in 597; and her grandsons on several occasions defeated Chlotar II, who lost the greater part of his territories.

But the great nobles of Austrasia rose in wrath against her, and Theodebert himself repudiated her tutelage. The incensed Brunhild withdrew to Burgundy, where she continued to rule. There she broke down all resistance, had the patrician Egila put to death, exiled Didier, bishop of Vienne, nominated her followers to every post of emolument, and levied the taxes with the utmost rigour. But she knew that the Burgundian rebels were encouraged by those of Austrasia. It was in Austrasia that she must strike the decisive blow, and in her thirst for power she did not hesitate to set Theodoric against Theodebert and so to provoke a fratricidal struggle. The king of Austrasia was defeated on the banks of the Moselle, in the neighbourhood of Toul, taken to Zülpich and there put to death. Brunhild was now triumphant, but just in the moment of her triumph her grandson Theodoric died (613) in his palace of Metz, at the age of twenty-seven. Breaking with the Merovingian tradition of dividing the kingdom, Brunhild caused the eldest son to be declared sole king, in the hope of reigning in his name. But all the living forces of Austrasia banded themselves together to oppose her ambition. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, and Pepin, the two founders of the Carolingian family, appealed to Chlotar II the son of Fredegund. Brunhild made a magnificent effort to stand up against the storm, but she found herself deserted on all hands, and was taken prisoner on the shores of the Lake of Neuchâtel. Her great-grandsons were killed, or at any rate disappear from history. Brunhild herself was tortured for three days, set upon a camel as a mark of derision, and then tied by her hair, one arm, and one foot, to the tail of a vicious horse, which was then lashed to fury.