ABSTRACT
A widespread view of Merovingian kingship regards it as a species of archaic Germanic rulership founded on the idea of divine descent. Ready and more plausible contexts for the scraps of evidence cited for this theory are explored in this chapter, especially the famous account of Merovech’s birth in Fredegar (Chron. III 9). Rather than revealing a species of archaic Germanic myth, Fredegar’s tale shows the continued fascination and reworking of Latin etymological speculation on name origins and the putative historical conditions that were imagined to give rise to them.
