Queen dowager
Clodoald was the son of King Chlodomer of Orléans and his wife Guntheuc. He was one of three brothers, raised in Paris by their grandmother, the Queen dowager Clotilde. Clodoald's brothers, Theodoald and Gunther, were killed by Clotaire when they were ten and nine respectively, but Clodoald survived by escaping to Provence. Salic law required the division of the kingdom among the sons of Chlodomer. However, the boys' uncles, Childebert I, king of Paris, and his brother Clotaire I, king of Soissons, coveted the kingdom of Orléans and determined to murder the nephews.